The son, with its distinctive three-two beat marked on the claves (left), was born at the end of the nineteenth century in the mountains of eastern Cuba and developed its distinct flavor in Havana and Matanzas in the 1920's after hybridization with the rumba. Racial unrest in the early part of the twentieth century caused the authorities to move western soldiers to eastern Cuba and vice versa, so soldiers would not be forced to use violence against relatives or neighbors. This action resulted in the mingling of the two musical forms, as western soilders brought the rumba to the east and eastern soilders brought the son to the west.

The rumba, a distinctly street genre developed in the solares of Havana and Matanzas at the turn of the century, is a creolization of the yuka and makuta drummings of Congolese origin. The conga, another street dance associated with carnival celebrations, has both Congolese and Arará elements. The rumba remained confined to the solares and urban backstreets around Havana harbor, only to invade dance halls in the late thirties and early forties.

The son, however, took dance halls by storm in Cuba and the United States, where it curiously became known as "rhumba," although true rumba was to remain unknown in American dance halls for another ten years or so. While the rumba is exclusively percussion and voice, the son is played on rural, rudimentary instruments like the guitar, the tres (a Cuban folk guitar), cajones (empty codfish boxes) or bongos, maracas (a dry gourd filled with seeds or pellets), and the indispensable claves. Bass and a trumpet were added later. Son was typically played by ensembles of six or seven musicians, and one of the best known ensembles was the Sexteto/Septeto Habanero of 1925-1931.

1. Audio:
Cabo de la guardia, siento un tiro.
This recording from 1926 of the Sexteto Habanero shows the typical son instrumentation played on guitar, tres, and percussion: bongos, maracas and claves. Sonero groups at this time played mostly for lower class gatherings, while the charanga orchestras (playing on European instruments such as violins and clarinets) dominated the middle and upper class dance circles.

2. Audio:
A Malanga
This fast rumba chronicles the funeral of the famous Matanzas rumbero Cheo Malanga, supposedly the killer of the equally famous Havana rumbero Papá Montero. Ostensibly over the love of the beautiful mulata Gabriela, the real reason for the killing may have been a cabildo (social and religious clan) struggle for musical dominance. Rumbas and the drums associated with them (congas and quintos) were only played in the solares of Havana and Matanzas, backstreets around Havana harbor and carnival celebrations until the late thirties and early forties.

3. Video:
Class screening of "The Last Rumba of Papá Montero" (Octavio Cortazar, Cuba, 1992.)