Son (music)
Encyclopedia
The Son cubano is a style of music
that originated in Cuba
and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish
canción
and the Spanish guitar
with Africa
n rhythms and percussion instrument
s of Bantu and Arará
origin. The Cuban son is one of the most influential and widespread forms of Latin American music: its derivatives and fusions, particularly salsa
, have spread across the world.
The word son (literally meaning 'sound' in Spanish) has also come to be used for other traditional rural musical styles of Spanish-speaking countries. For example, in Mexico the Son Jarocho
of Veracruz
and the Son Huasteco
of the Sierra Huasteca constitute distinct popular musical styles. They are not derived from the Cuban son.
and reached Havana
around 1910. It was at this time that the son most likely adopted the clave rhythm from the Havana-based rumba
. Cuban historians and musicologists no longer believe that son is related to the story of Ma Teodora.
Son can be viewed as a stylistically pivotal genre linking the culture of the Afro-Cuban
underclasses with that of mainstream society. From the lowest social strata it has proceeded to ascend and strengthen its style, influencing other genres in the process.
The first known son group was the Cuarteto Oriental, formed in 1916 by the Martínez brothers: Gerardo Martínez (claves
), Guillermo Castilla (botija), Ricardo Martínez (tres) and Nery Cabrera (maracas
). Recording began in 1918 with Sexteto Habanero
(a re-named Cuarteto Oriental). Sexteto Boloña was also launched that year, but did not record until the mid-1920s.
The emergence of son in the 1910s significantly increased the interaction of African-derived and Iberian-derived cultures. It also gave black musicians not only a source of income by performing, but also allowed them to enter a market that had been previously reserved for European style music only. In Cuba of the 1910s, African cultural retentions of any sort were considered “barbaric” or vulgar. Even those that were considered progressive intellectuals still believed in notions of white superiority. Therefore, African-influenced music to most Cubans at the time was nothing more than erratic music played by children. Because of this, the growing popularity of sones among the black and white working classes caused considerable anxiety among those devoted to European music.
Popularization began in earnest with the arrival of radio
broadcasting
in 1922, which came at the same time as Havana's reputation as an attraction for Americans evading Prohibition
laws, and the city became a haven for the Mafia
, prostitution
and gambling
, and also became a second home for trendy and influential bands from New York City
. The son experienced a period of transformation from 1925 to 1928, when it evolved from a marginal genre of music to perhaps the most popular type of music in Cuba. A turning point that made this transformation possible occurred when then president Machado
publicly asked La Sonora Matancera to perform at his birthday party. In addition, the acceptance of son as a popular music genre in other countries contributed to more acceptance of son in mainstream Cuba
.
A few years later, in the late 1920s, son sextets became septets and son's popularity continued to grow with artists like Septeto Nacional
and its leader, Ignacio Piñeiro
(Echale salsita - Donde estabas a noche). In 1928, Rita Montaner
's El Manicero became the first Cuban song to be a major hit in Paris
and elsewhere in Europe
. In 1930, Don Azpiazu
's Havana Casino Orchestra took the song to the United States, where it also became a big hit.
In the 1940s, Arsenio Rodríguez
became the most influential player of son. He used improvised solos, toques, conga
s and extra trumpet
s, percussion and piano
s, although all these elements had been used previously (Papauba - Para bailar son montuno). Beny Moré (known as the El Bárbaro del Ritmo, "The Master of Rhythm") further evolved the genre, adding guaracha
, bolero
and mambo influences. He was perhaps the greatest sonero (Castellano que bueno baila usted - Vertiente Camaguey ); another sonero has been Roberto Faz.
With the arrival of chachachá and mambo in the United States, son also became extremely popular. After the Cuban Revolution
separated Cuba from the U.S., son, mambo and rumba
, along with other forms of Afro-Cuban music contributed to the development of salsa music
, initially in New York.
The mass popularization of son music led to an increase valorization of Afro-Cuban
street culture and of the artists who created it. It also opened the door for other music genres with Afro-Cuban roots to become popular in Cuba and throughout the world.
, claves
, and maracas
were expanded to include bongos, keyed cornets or trumpets, and marimbula, forming the sextets and the septets of the 1920s. Later these conjuntos added piano
, other percussion instruments, more trumpets, and even dance orchestra
instruments in the style of jazz
big bands.
By the late 1930s, the heyday of “classic son” had largely ended. The sextetos and septetos that had enjoyed wide commercial popularity increasingly lost ground to jazz
bands and amplified conjuntos. The very music that son had helped to create, was now replacing son as the more popular and most requested music in Cuba. Original son conjuntos were faced with the option to disband and refocus on newer styles of Cuban music or go back to their roots to perform solely in the Afro-Cuban
community.
By the late 1940s, son had lost its controversiality even among conservative Cubans which made it even less appealing to Cubans. A development that led to the decrease in popularity of the original son occurred in the 1940s. The son grew more sophisticated as it was adopted by conjuntos, which displaced sextetos and septetos. This led to big bands replacing the conjuntos, which managed to keep its flavor despite elaborate arrangements.
During the 1940s and 1950s, the tourism boom in Cuba and the popularity of jazz and American music in general fostered the development of big bands and combos on the island. These bands consisted of a relatively small horn section, piano
, bass
, a full array of Cuban percussion instruments and a vocalist fronting the ensemble. Their polished sound and “cosmopolitan” – read “commercial” – repertoire captivated both Cuban and foreign Audiences.
The commercialism of this new music movement led Cuban nightclub owners to recognize the revenue potential of hosting these types of bands to attract the growing flow of tourists. Additionally, as a result of the increasing popularity of big band music and in an effort to increase revenues, the recording industry focused on producing newer types of music and essentially removing son from their music repertoires. These developments were a big blow to the prospects of son and its popularity even amongst Cubans.
styles of music continue using the essential style of the son.
Another important contribution of the son was the introduction of the drum
to mainstream music. The increase in popularity of the son unveiled the huge potential of music with Afro-Cuban
rhythms. This led to the development and mass distribution of newer types of Latin music. Additionally, genres of the later 1940s such as mambo manifest many characteristics derived from son. Charanga
orchestras, also developed dance music heavily influenced by son.
Perhaps the most significant contribution of son is its influence on present day Latin music. Son specifically is considered to be the foundation on which salsa
was created.
Although the son continues to be a very important musical foundation for all kinds of Latin music it is no longer a popular music genre in Cuba. Younger generations of Cubans prefer the faster, dance-oriented music such as timba
or salsa
. Older generations continue to preserve the son as one of the music
genres they listen to, specifically in Oriente, where they tend to maintain more traditional versions of the son compared to Havana
.
The demise of the USSR (Cuba’s major economic mainstay) in 1991 forced Cuba to encourage tourism to attract sorely needed foreign currency. Along with tourism, music became one of Cuba’s major assets. The Buena Vista Social Club
album and film as well as a stream of CDs triggered a worldwide Cuban music boom. In addition to the original Buena Vista Social Club
album, there has been a stream of solo CDs by the members of the “club”. These individuals were subsequently offered individual contracts, ensuring a continued flow of CDs that include many original Cuban son classics.
Thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club
album, film, and follow-up solo albums there has been a revival of the traditional son and a rediscovery of older son performers who had often fallen by the wayside. Although most Cubans don’t see the value of the Buena Vista Social Club
album and feel it doesn’t represent present time Cuba, it has introduced the Cuban son to younger generations of people from around the world that had never heard of son. It has also introduced an important part of Cuban music history to foreign audiences.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
that originated in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
canción
Canción
Canción is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate. Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, polos and boleros; also in Italian light operetta, French romanza, and the slow waltz...
and the Spanish guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n rhythms and percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
s of Bantu and Arará
Arará
Arará is a minority group in Cuba , Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean who descend from Fon, Ewe, Popo, Mahi and other ethnic groups in Dahomey...
origin. The Cuban son is one of the most influential and widespread forms of Latin American music: its derivatives and fusions, particularly salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, have spread across the world.
The word son (literally meaning 'sound' in Spanish) has also come to be used for other traditional rural musical styles of Spanish-speaking countries. For example, in Mexico the Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...
of Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
and the Son Huasteco
Huapango
Huapango is a corruption of the Nahuatl word huapanco that textually means on top of the wood platform according to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española . Today huapango refers to a musical style that originated in and is played throughout the La Huasteca region in Mexico...
of the Sierra Huasteca constitute distinct popular musical styles. They are not derived from the Cuban son.
Development
The evidence is that son is a relatively recent musical invention, probably no earlier than the end of the 19th century. Son arose in the Cuban province of OrienteProvinces of Cuba
Administratively, Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and one special municipality not included in any province. The last modification was approved in August 2010 , splitting Havana province into two new provinces: Artemisa and Mayabeque...
and reached Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
around 1910. It was at this time that the son most likely adopted the clave rhythm from the Havana-based rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
. Cuban historians and musicologists no longer believe that son is related to the story of Ma Teodora.
Son can be viewed as a stylistically pivotal genre linking the culture of the Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
underclasses with that of mainstream society. From the lowest social strata it has proceeded to ascend and strengthen its style, influencing other genres in the process.
The first known son group was the Cuarteto Oriental, formed in 1916 by the Martínez brothers: Gerardo Martínez (claves
Claves
Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...
), Guillermo Castilla (botija), Ricardo Martínez (tres) and Nery Cabrera (maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
). Recording began in 1918 with Sexteto Habanero
Sexteto Habanero
The Sexteto Habanero was a famous Cuban musical group which was founded in 1920. It played an important part in the early history of the son.In 1917 four musicians from Oriente, calling themselves Cuarteto Oriental, recorded four numbers for Columbia Records in Havana. The numbers are listed in a...
(a re-named Cuarteto Oriental). Sexteto Boloña was also launched that year, but did not record until the mid-1920s.
The emergence of son in the 1910s significantly increased the interaction of African-derived and Iberian-derived cultures. It also gave black musicians not only a source of income by performing, but also allowed them to enter a market that had been previously reserved for European style music only. In Cuba of the 1910s, African cultural retentions of any sort were considered “barbaric” or vulgar. Even those that were considered progressive intellectuals still believed in notions of white superiority. Therefore, African-influenced music to most Cubans at the time was nothing more than erratic music played by children. Because of this, the growing popularity of sones among the black and white working classes caused considerable anxiety among those devoted to European music.
Popularization began in earnest with the arrival of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
in 1922, which came at the same time as Havana's reputation as an attraction for Americans evading Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
laws, and the city became a haven for the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, and also became a second home for trendy and influential bands from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The son experienced a period of transformation from 1925 to 1928, when it evolved from a marginal genre of music to perhaps the most popular type of music in Cuba. A turning point that made this transformation possible occurred when then president Machado
Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado y Morales was President of Cuba and a general of the Cuban War of Independence...
publicly asked La Sonora Matancera to perform at his birthday party. In addition, the acceptance of son as a popular music genre in other countries contributed to more acceptance of son in mainstream Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
A few years later, in the late 1920s, son sextets became septets and son's popularity continued to grow with artists like Septeto Nacional
Septeto Nacional
Septeto Nacional , or the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro, is a group credited with expanding the Son musical style before Arsenio Rodríguez. It added the trumpet to percussion, vocals, and strings. The group started as a sextet in 1927 in Central Havana...
and its leader, Ignacio Piñeiro
Ignacio Piñeiro
Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez was a black Cuban musician and composer whose career started in rumba, and flowered in the rise of the son. He was one of the most important composers of son music; in total he wrote about 327 numbers, mostly sones.Piñeiro was a brilliant rumbero who worked with musical...
(Echale salsita - Donde estabas a noche). In 1928, Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner, born Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda , was a Cuban singer, pianist, actress and star of stage, film, radio and television. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette , and she was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on...
's El Manicero became the first Cuban song to be a major hit in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and elsewhere in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In 1930, Don Azpiazu
Don Azpiazu
Don Azpiazú was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 30s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musical instruments to a wide audience in the USA...
's Havana Casino Orchestra took the song to the United States, where it also became a big hit.
In the 1940s, Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez
Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...
became the most influential player of son. He used improvised solos, toques, conga
Conga
The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
s and extra trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, percussion and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
s, although all these elements had been used previously (Papauba - Para bailar son montuno). Beny Moré (known as the El Bárbaro del Ritmo, "The Master of Rhythm") further evolved the genre, adding guaracha
Guaracha
The guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular music, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic...
, bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
and mambo influences. He was perhaps the greatest sonero (Castellano que bueno baila usted - Vertiente Camaguey ); another sonero has been Roberto Faz.
With the arrival of chachachá and mambo in the United States, son also became extremely popular. After the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
separated Cuba from the U.S., son, mambo and rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
, along with other forms of Afro-Cuban music contributed to the development of salsa music
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, initially in New York.
The mass popularization of son music led to an increase valorization of Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
street culture and of the artists who created it. It also opened the door for other music genres with Afro-Cuban roots to become popular in Cuba and throughout the world.
Evolution and legacy of Cuban Son
The original son ensembles of tresTres
The tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A tres player is called a tresero in Cuba and a tresista in Puerto Rico.-Cuban tres:In Cuba, the son was created as a song and a salon dance genre...
, claves
Claves
Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...
, and maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
were expanded to include bongos, keyed cornets or trumpets, and marimbula, forming the sextets and the septets of the 1920s. Later these conjuntos added piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, other percussion instruments, more trumpets, and even dance orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
instruments in the style of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
big bands.
By the late 1930s, the heyday of “classic son” had largely ended. The sextetos and septetos that had enjoyed wide commercial popularity increasingly lost ground to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands and amplified conjuntos. The very music that son had helped to create, was now replacing son as the more popular and most requested music in Cuba. Original son conjuntos were faced with the option to disband and refocus on newer styles of Cuban music or go back to their roots to perform solely in the Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
community.
By the late 1940s, son had lost its controversiality even among conservative Cubans which made it even less appealing to Cubans. A development that led to the decrease in popularity of the original son occurred in the 1940s. The son grew more sophisticated as it was adopted by conjuntos, which displaced sextetos and septetos. This led to big bands replacing the conjuntos, which managed to keep its flavor despite elaborate arrangements.
During the 1940s and 1950s, the tourism boom in Cuba and the popularity of jazz and American music in general fostered the development of big bands and combos on the island. These bands consisted of a relatively small horn section, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, a full array of Cuban percussion instruments and a vocalist fronting the ensemble. Their polished sound and “cosmopolitan” – read “commercial” – repertoire captivated both Cuban and foreign Audiences.
The commercialism of this new music movement led Cuban nightclub owners to recognize the revenue potential of hosting these types of bands to attract the growing flow of tourists. Additionally, as a result of the increasing popularity of big band music and in an effort to increase revenues, the recording industry focused on producing newer types of music and essentially removing son from their music repertoires. These developments were a big blow to the prospects of son and its popularity even amongst Cubans.
Current state of Son
At present the traditional-style son is seldom heard, but has been assimilated into other genres and is present in them. Thus, other types of popular Cuban music and other LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
styles of music continue using the essential style of the son.
Another important contribution of the son was the introduction of the drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
to mainstream music. The increase in popularity of the son unveiled the huge potential of music with Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
rhythms. This led to the development and mass distribution of newer types of Latin music. Additionally, genres of the later 1940s such as mambo manifest many characteristics derived from son. Charanga
Charanga
Charanga is a term given to traditional ensembles of Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra....
orchestras, also developed dance music heavily influenced by son.
Perhaps the most significant contribution of son is its influence on present day Latin music. Son specifically is considered to be the foundation on which salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
was created.
Although the son continues to be a very important musical foundation for all kinds of Latin music it is no longer a popular music genre in Cuba. Younger generations of Cubans prefer the faster, dance-oriented music such as timba
Timba
Timba is a Cuban genre of music sometimes referred as salsa cubana . However, the historical development of timba has been quite independent of the development of salsa in the United States and Puerto Rico and the music has its own trademark aspects due to the Cuban embargo and strong Afro-Cuban...
or salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
. Older generations continue to preserve the son as one of the music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
genres they listen to, specifically in Oriente, where they tend to maintain more traditional versions of the son compared to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.
The demise of the USSR (Cuba’s major economic mainstay) in 1991 forced Cuba to encourage tourism to attract sorely needed foreign currency. Along with tourism, music became one of Cuba’s major assets. The Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...
album and film as well as a stream of CDs triggered a worldwide Cuban music boom. In addition to the original Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...
album, there has been a stream of solo CDs by the members of the “club”. These individuals were subsequently offered individual contracts, ensuring a continued flow of CDs that include many original Cuban son classics.
Thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...
album, film, and follow-up solo albums there has been a revival of the traditional son and a rediscovery of older son performers who had often fallen by the wayside. Although most Cubans don’t see the value of the Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...
album and feel it doesn’t represent present time Cuba, it has introduced the Cuban son to younger generations of people from around the world that had never heard of son. It has also introduced an important part of Cuban music history to foreign audiences.
External links
- Video of son performed by Cutumba
- History of cuban music, with section about son (in Spanish)
- "Valle Son Music" Traditional and Contemporary Son from Viñales, Cuba