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History of Son and Cuban Music

With roots on the island of Cuba, Son Cubano is a style of music that first became popular in the second half of the 19th century, and which formed the origin of modern Salsa. It combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African-derived rhythms and percussion instruments.

Son grew from Spanish, African, French Creole and native musical influences, arising first in Oriente province, reaching Havana around the 1880s. The most influential group from this period was the Trio Oriental, who stabilized the sextet format that soon came to dominate son bands. In 1912, recording began with groups like Sexteto Habanero (a re-named Trio Oriental) and Sexteto Boloña, and popularization began in earnest with the arrival of radio broadcasting in 1922. These developments came at the same time as Havana's reputation grew as an attraction for Americans evading Prohibition laws. 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. 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. Piñeiro experimented and by fusing son with other genres of music, formed guajira-son, bolero-son and guaracha-son. In 1928, Rita Montaner's "El Manisero" became the first Cuban song to be a major hit in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. In 1930, the Havana Orchestra took the song to the United States, where it also became a big hit.

In the 1940s Arsenio Rodríguez became the most influential performer of son, creating the modern Afro-Cuban sound, the son montuno. Rodriguez’ innovations included the addition of improvised solos, congas, extra trumpets, and piano to the septet. Beny Moré (known as the "Barbarian of Rhythm" - El Bárbaro del Ritmo) further evolved the genre, adding guaracha, bolero and mambo influences, helping make him extraordinarily popular. He is now cited as perhaps the greatest sonero.

With the arrival of “pop” chachachá and mambo in the United States, son also became extremely popular here but was usually called rumba, which more properly refers to a specific genre of percussive street music. Son, mambo and rumba, along with other forms of Latin music, contributed to the development of salsa, which quickly became one of the most popular forms of Latin music.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(view the original article here)

More info……

ARTICLES

“Salsa Notes” – British website with bi-monthly historical notes and links – excellent and in-depth

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Interviews with Buena Vista Social Club musicians (PBS)

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