Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance. It originates in
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
as a combination of the musical traditions of Spanish colonizers and of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves. It is secular, with no religious connections. The details of how it developed are not fully known.
The term spread in the 1930s and 1940s to the faster popular music of Cuba (the
Peanut Vendor was a classic), where it was used as a catch-all term, rather as salsa today.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Rumba' Start a new discussion about 'Rumba' Answer questions from other users |
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance. It originates in
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
as a combination of the musical traditions of Spanish colonizers and of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves. It is secular, with no religious connections. The details of how it developed are not fully known.
The term spread in the 1930s and 1940s to the faster popular music of Cuba (the
Peanut Vendor was a classic), where it was used as a catch-all term, rather as salsa today. Also, the term is used in the international Latin-American dance syllabus, where it is a misnomer: the music used for this slower dance is the bolero-son.
The term is also used today for various styles of popular music from Spain, as part of the so-called
Cantes de ida y vueltaCantes de ida y vuelta is a Spanish expression literally meaning roundtrip songs. It refers to a group of flamenco musical forms or palos with diverse musical features, which share their origin in Latin America . The styles of this group originated in the interplay between Spanish musical...
, or music that developed between both sides of the atlantic. Flamenco Rumba in particular is more related to the Guaracha, an ancestor of Cuban Rumba.
Types
- Cuban Rumba
In Cuban music, Rumba is a generic term covering a variety of musical rhythms and associated dances. The rumba has its influences in the music brought to Cuba by Spanish colonizers as well as Africans brought to Cuba as slaves. Rumba developed in the Cuban provinces of Havana and Matanzas in the...
, percussion, song and dance styles that owe their origin to African slaves in Cuba.
- Rumba (dance)
Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.First, it means Cuban event of African style, organically related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. There are several styles of this rumba, the most common being the guaguancó....
, international dance styles that correspond to slower Cuban music, such as the bolero-son.
- Flamenco Rumba, a style of flamenco music from Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
also known as Gypsy Rumba or Rumba Gitana.
- African Rumba, a style of music that originated in Congo, and evolved into Soukous music.