The
son montuno is a style of the Cuban son, but exactly what it means is not an easy question to answer. The son itself is the most important genre of Cuban popular music. In addition, it is perhaps the most flexible of all forms of Latin-American music. Its great strength is its fusion between European and African musical traditions.
The son arose in
Orienteright|thumb|300px|The seal of the Province of Oriente.Oriente was one of six provinces of Cuba until 1976. It was known as "Santiago de Cuba Province" before 1905. The name is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country. The provincial capital was Santiago de Cuba...
, merging the Spanish guitar and lyrical traditions with African percussion and rhythms. We now know that its history as a distinct form is relatively recent.
The
son montuno is a style of the Cuban son, but exactly what it means is not an easy question to answer. The son itself is the most important genre of Cuban popular music. In addition, it is perhaps the most flexible of all forms of Latin-American music. Its great strength is its fusion between European and African musical traditions.
The son arose in
Orienteright|thumb|300px|The seal of the Province of Oriente.Oriente was one of six provinces of Cuba until 1976. It was known as "Santiago de Cuba Province" before 1905. The name is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country. The provincial capital was Santiago de Cuba...
, merging the Spanish guitar and lyrical traditions with African percussion and rhythms. We now know that its history as a distinct form is relatively recent. There is no evidence that it goes back further than the end of the nineteenth century. It moved from Oriente to Havana in about 1909, carried by members of the
Permanente (the Army), who were sent out of their areas of origin as a matter of policy. The first recordings were in 1918.
There are many types of son, of which the
son montuno is one. The term has been used in several ways. Probably the 'montuno' originally referred to its origin in the mountainous regions of eastern Cuba; eventually it was used more to describe the final up-tempo section of a son, with its semi-improvisation, repetitive vocal refrain and brash instrumental climax. The term was being used in the 1920s, when son sextetos set up in Havana and competed strongly with the older
danzonDanzón was once called the official dance of Cuba, but it is no longer an active musical form. Like the habanera, the danzón evolved from the Contradanza, originally of English origin, brought to Cuba by French colonists fleeing the Haitian Revolution in the 1790s...
es.
Later developments
Arsenio RodríguezArsenio 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...
contributed to its later development. He added instrumental solos; he also added
guaguancóGuaguancó is a sub-genre of Cuban rumba, a complex rhythmic music and dance style. The traditional line-up consists of:* three drums, similar to conga drums: the tumba , llamador , and quinto...
influence, increased the importance of the
trumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
s and
tresThe tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rican tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument.- Cuban tres :In Cuba, among the criollo class, the son was created as a song and a salon dance genre...
, and added instruments such as the congas and
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
Benny MoréBenny Moré is considered by many fans of Cuban music as the greatest Cuban singer of all time. He was gifted with an innate musicality and fluid tenor voice which he colored and phrased with great expressivity. Moré was a master of most genres of Cuban music, such as the son montuno, mambo,...
(popularly known as
El Bárbaro del Ritmo), which further evolved the genre, adding
guarachaThe 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...
,
boleroBolero is a name given to certain 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, helping make him extraordinarily popular and is now cited as perhaps the greatest sonero.