Diana

Cuban music comes from the Caribbean island of Cuba. Cuba has developed a wide range of musical styles, which draw on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Cuba's music has been hugely popularand 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 thedances, is mostly of European (Spanish) and African origin. Most forms of the present day are fusions and mixtures of these two great sources. The original inhabitants of Cuba died out, and little remainsof their traditions.
Large numbers of African slaves and European (mostly Spanish) immigrants came to Cuba and brought their own forms of music to the island. European dances and folk musicsincluded the zapateo, the fandango, the paso doble, the minuet, the gavotte, the contradanza, and the waltz appeared among the urban whites.
The African slaves and their descendants made many percussioninstruments and preserved rhythms they had known in their homeland.[1] The most important instruments were the drums. Also important are the claves, two short hardwood batons, and the cajón, a woodenbox, originally made from crates. Claves are still used often, and cajons (cajones) were used widely during periods when the drum was banned.
The great instrumental contribution of the Spanish was theirguitar, but even more important was the tradition of European musical notation and techniques of musical composition. [2]
Fernando Ortíz described Cuba's musical innovations as arising from theinterplay between African slaves settled on large sugar plantations and Spanish or Canary Islanders who grew tobacco on small farms.
The African beliefs and practices certainly influenced Cuba's music.Polyrhythmic percussion is an inherent part of African life & music, as melody is part of European music. Also, in African tradition, percussion is always joined to song and dance, and to a...