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Son cubano () is a genre of music and dance that originated in the highlands of Oriente Province during the late 19th century. It is a Syncretism genre that blends elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Hispanic components are the vocal style, lyrical metre and the primacy of the tres, derived from the Classical guitar. On the other hand, its characteristic clave rhythm, call and response structure and percussion section (bongo drum, maracas, etc.) are all rooted in traditions of Bantu peoples origin.
Around 1909 the son reached Havana, where the first recordings were made in 1917. This marked the start of its expansion throughout the island, becoming Cuba's most popular and influential genre. While early groups had between three and five members, during the 1920s the sexteto (sextet) became the genre's primary format. By the 1930s, many bands had incorporated a trumpet, becoming septetos, and in the 1940s a larger type of ensemble featuring congas and piano became the norm: the conjunto. The son became one of the main ingredients in the jam sessions known as that flourished during the 1950s.
The international presence of the son can be traced back to the 1930s when many bands toured Europe and North America, leading to ballroom adaptations of the genre such as the American rhumba. Similarly, radio broadcasts of son became popular in West Africa and the Congos, leading to the development of hybrid genres such as Congolese rumba. In the 1960s, New York's music scene prompted the rapid success of salsa music, a combination of son and other Latin American styles primarily recorded by Puerto Ricans. While salsa achieved international popularity during the second half of the 20th century, in Cuba son evolved into other styles such as songo music and timba, the latter of which is sometimes known as "Cuban salsa".
Son singers are generally known as soneros, and the verb sonear describes not only their singing but also their vocal improvisation. The adjective soneado refers to songs and styles which incorporate the tempo and syncopation of the son, or even its . Generally, there is an explicit difference between styles that incorporate elements of the son partially or totally, as evidenced by the distinction between bolero soneado and bolero-son. The term sonora refers to conjuntos with smoother trumpet sections such as Sonora Matancera and Sonora Ponceña. (2025). 9781441132253, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781441132253
Musicologist Peter Manuel proposed an alternative hypothesis according to which a great deal of the son's structure originated from the contradanza in Havana around the second half of the 19th century. The contradanza included many of the traits that are shown in the son, such as duets with melodies in parallel thirds, the presence of a suggested clave rhythm, implicit short vocal refrains borrowed from popular songs, distinctive syncopations, as well as the two-parts song form with an ostinato section.
p. 89 Around 1910 the son most likely adopted the clave rhythm from the Havana-based Cuban rumba, which had been developed in the late 19th century in Havana and Matanzas.Peñalosa (2009: 83) The Clave Matrix; Afro-Cuban Rhythm: Its Principles and African Origins. Redway, CA: Bembe Inc. .
After Sindo Garay settled in Havana in 1906, many other trovadores followed him hoping to obtain a recording contract with one of the American Companies such as RCA Victor and Columbia Records. Those trovadores from different parts of the country met others who already lived in Havana such as María Teresa Vera and Rafael Zequeira. They brought their repertoires of canciones (Cuban songs) and boleros that also included rumbas, guarachas and rural rumbitas.
Famous trovador Chico Ibáñez said that he composed his first "montuno" called "Pobre Evaristo" (Poor Evaristo) in 1906: "It was a tonada with three or four words that you put on, and after it, we placed a repeated phrase, the real montuno to be sung by everybody…".Giro, Radamés:Los motivos del son. Panorama de la música popular cubana. Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, Cuba, 1998, p. 201. Ned Sublette states about another famous trovador and sonero: "As a child, Miguel Matamoros played danzones and sones on his harmonica to entertain the workers at a local cigar factory. He said: 'the sones that were composed at that time were nothing more than two or three words that were repeated all night long.Sublette, Ned: Cuba and its music. Chicago Review Press, Inc., 2004. P. 367
A partial list of trovadores that recorded rumbas, guarachas and sones in Havana at the beginning of the 20th century included: Sindo Garay, Manuel Corona, María Teresa Vera, Alberto Villalón, José Castillo, Juan Cruz, Juan de la Cruz, Nano León, Román Martínez, as well as the duos of Floro and Zorrilla, Pablito and Luna, Zalazar and Oriche, and also Adolfo Colombo, who was not a trovador but a soloist at Teatro Alhambra.Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal: Discografía de la Música Cubana. Editorial Corripio C. por A., República Dominicana, 1994.
In the Havana neighborhoods, the son groups played in any possible format they could gather and most of them were semi-professional. One of those groups, The Apaches, was invited in 1916 to a party held by President Mario Menocal at the exclusive Vedado Tennis Club, and that same year some members of the group were reorganized in a quartet named Cuarteto Oriental.Sublette Ned: Cuba and its music. Chicago Review Press, Inc., 2004, p. 335. Those members were: Ricardo Martínez from Santiago de Cuba (conductor and tres), Gerardo Martínez (first voice and clave), Guillermo Castillo (botijuela), and Felipe Neri Cabrera (maracas). According to Jesús Blanco, quoted by Díaz Ayala, after a few months from its foundation the bongocero Joaquín Velazco joined the group.Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal: Discografía de la Música Cubana. Editorial Corripio C. por A., República Dominicana, 1994, p. 318.
In 1917, the Cuarteto Oriental recorded the first son documented on the catalog of Columbia Records which was entered as "Pare motorista-son santiaguero". Unexpectedly, a fifth member of the quartet is mentioned, Carlos Godínez, who was a soldier in the standing army ( Ejército Permanente). Subsequently, the RCA Victor contracted Godínez in 1918 to organize a group and record several songs. For that recording, the new group was called "Sexteto Habanero Godínez", which included: Carlos Godínez (conductor and tresero), María Teresa Vera (first voice and clave), Manuel Corona (second voice and guitar), Sinsonte (third voice and maracas), Alfredo Boloña (bongo), and another unknown performer who was not included in the list.Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal: Discografía de la Música Cubana. Editorial Corripio C. por A., República Dominicana, 1994, p. 319.
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. The city became a haven for the Mafia, gambling and prostitution in Cuba, 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 Gerardo 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.Moore, R. "Afrocubanismo and Son." The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Ed. Chomsky, Carr, and Smorkaloff. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. 195–196. Print. At that time many sextets were founded such as Boloña, Agabama, Botón de Rosa and the famous Sexteto Occidente conducted by María Teresa Vera.
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 anoche"). 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.
The instrumentation was expanded to include cornets or trumpets, 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.Argeliers, L. "Notes toward a Panorama of Popular and Folk Music." Essays on Cuban Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives. Ed. Peter Manuel. Maryland: Univ. Press of America, 1991. 21. Print.
They synthesized the style of the sextets and septets, adapting it to their ensemble. The different rhythmic layers of the son style were distributed between their three voices, guitars and maracas. Cueto plucked the strings of his guitar instead of strumming them as it was usual, providing the patterns of the guajeo in the treble range, and the syncopated rhythms of the tumbao on the bass strings. The counterpoint was completed by the first guitar, played by Matamoros.Giro, Radamés: Los Motivos del son. Panorama de la música popular cubana. Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, Cuba, 1998, p. 203. They also occasionally included other instruments such as the bongo, and later they decided to expand the trio format to create a son conjunto by adding a piano, more guitars, tres and other voices. This project was joined by such important figures as Lorenzo Hierrezuelo, Francisco Repilado (Compay Segundo) and Beny Moré.
In 1928, they travelled to New York with a recording contract by RCA Victor, and their first album caused such a great impact in the public that they soon became very famous at a national as well as an international level. The Trío Matamoros maintained great prominence until their official retirement in 1960.
By the late 1940s, son had lost its controversiality even among conservative Cubans which made it even less appealing to Cubans.Moore, R. "Afrocubanismo and Son." The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Ed. Chomsky, Carr, and Smorkaloff. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. 199. Print. 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.Leymarie, Isabelle. "Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz." New York: Continuum Publishing, 2002. 121. Print.
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, double 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 amongst even Cubans.
With the arrival of cha-cha-chá and mambo in the United States, son also became extremely popular. After the Cuban Revolution separated Cuba from the U.S., son, mambo and Cuban rumba, along with other forms of Afro-Cuban music contributed to the development of salsa music, initially in New York.Leymarie, Isabelle. "Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz." New York: Continuum Publishing, 2002. 130. Print.
The mass popularization of son music led to an increased 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.
Another important contribution of the son was the introduction of the drum to mainstream music. The increase in popularity of the son unveiled the 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 is specifically considered to be the foundation on which Salsa music was created.Argeliers, L. "Notes toward a Panorama of Popular and Folk Music." Essays on Cuban Music: North American and Cuban Perspectives. Ed. Peter Manuel. Maryland: Univ. Press of America, 1991. 160. Print.
Although the "classic 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 son-derivatives such as timba or Salsa music. Older generations continue to preserve the son as one of the music genres they listen to, specifically in Oriente Province, where they tend to maintain more traditional versions of the son compared to Havana.Leymarie, Isabelle. "Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz." New York: Continuum Publishing, 2002. 252. Print.
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.Leymarie, Isabelle. "Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz." New York: Continuum Publishing, 2002. 145. Print. 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.Leymarie, Isabelle. "Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz." New York: Continuum Publishing, 2002. 256. Print. Although most Cubans don’t see the value of the Buena Vista Social Club album and feel it doesn't represent present-day Cuba, it has introduced the Cuban son to younger generations of people from around the world who had never heard of son. It has also introduced foreign audiences to an important part of Cuban music history.
Later on, the double bass replaced the marímbula and bongo drum and a trumpet were added, giving rise to sextetos and septetos.
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