Before there was salsa, there was son (pronounced like "on" with an s).

Son Cubano is the musical foundation on which salsa was built. It emerged in the Oriente province of eastern Cuba in the late nineteenth century, born from the meeting of two worlds: the polyrhythmic drumming traditions brought by enslaved Bantu peoples from Central Africa, and the melodic and harmonic forms of Spanish colonial music.

Undoubtedly you have heard Son music or any of its derivatives, most commonly popularised in the West by the Buena Vista Social Club album in the 90s.

This article serves as a small introduction to Son's character and history.

The sound

The single most important element of Son is the clave.

It is a two-bar rhythmic pattern, typically played on two sticks, which is the "key" for the music's rhythm. Even when you can't hear the clave clearly, everything the band plays wraps around this key.

Note: The Son clave is syncopated slightly differently to the Rumba clave, which we will discuss in other articles.

In a classic Son sextet orchestra, you will find instruments such as the clave, the tres (a Cuban guitar with three double-strings), guitar, bongos, maracas, and the double bass - all accompanied by call and response vocals (a structure rooted directly in West African musical tradition).

From east to west

Son began as rural music, played in small ensembles in the mountains and towns of eastern Cuba. It reached Havana around 1909, and by the 1920s it had been taken up by urban musicians and refined into the son montuno -- a looser, more improvisational form that extended the call-and-response section and gave musicians room to play.

Groups like the Sexteto Habanero and Septeto Nacional brought son to Havana's dance halls and eventually to an international audience. By the 1930s, it had become Cuba's defining popular music.

Why it matters for salsa

The Son Cubano is the "grandfather of salsa", not just in music, but in dance.

The modern dance of salsa is, just like the music, a hybrid of its Cuban lineage and influences from nearby Puerto Rico, New York, Colombia, and many more - but Son is the largest influence to this day.

This article is part of The History of Salsa -- a growing collection exploring salsa's story.