Music of Cuba

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The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the nineteenth century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world. It has been perhaps the most popular form of world music since the introduction of recording technology.The music of Cuba, including the instruments and the dances, is mostly of European (Spanish) and African origin.

Some music instruments of cuba

Batá drum:

A Batá drum is a double-headed drum shaped like an hourglass with one cone larger than the other. The percussion instrument is used primarily for the use of religious or semi-religious purposes for the native culture from the land of Yoruba, located in Nigeria, as well as by worshippers of Santería in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and in the United States .

Bongo drums or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra (female) and the smaller the macho (male). It is most often played by hand and is especially associated in Cuban music with a steady patter or ostinato of eighth-notes known as the martillo or "hammer".

Cajón:

A cajón is a kind of box drum played by slapping the front face (generally thin plywood) with the hands.

Conga:

The conga is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. Congas are now very common in Latin music, including salsa music, merengue music, Reggaeton, as well as many other forms of American popular music.Most modern congas have a staved wooden or fiberglass shell, and a screw-tensioned drumhead. They are usually played in sets of two to four with the fingers and palms of the hand. Typical congas stand approximately 75 cm from the bottom of the shell to the head. The drums may be played while seated.

Marímbula:

A marímbula is a folk musical instrument of the Caribbean Islands. The marímbula is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments. The Cubans call it marímbula, and most of the other Caribbean countries have adopted this name or some variant of it: marimba, malimba, manimba, marimbol.

Paila criolla:

Paila criolla is the term given to a shallow single-headed drum with metal casing, invented in Cuba, and initially used by street bands in the 19th century. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and come in double sets, tuned an octave apart. The player uses a variety of stick strokes, rim shots, and rolls on the skins to produce a wide range of percussive expression during solos and at transitional sections of music, and usually plays the shells of the drum or auxiliary percussion such as a cowbell. Pailas are always hit with straight batons that have no additional head. Hits are made on the top and on the metal sides.