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| History of Latino-Caribbean Music | |||||
| CUBA <page 1> | |||||
| In October of 1492, Christopher Columbus visited Cuba on his first voyage to find a westerly route to the Orient. In 1494, he made another brief stop to Cuba while on his way from Hispaniola to Jaimaica. While there, he noticed that Indians had already inhabited the island. However in 1526, the first African slaves were imported to Cuba. The introduction of sugar, coffee, and tobacco in 1748, lead the island to become a slave plantation society by the end of the 18th century. This culture was a combination of African and European decent. The Black African traditions continued mingled with the Hispanic influence. Music was incredibly vibrant on the island and there was a marriage of African rhythms, expressed in percussion instruments such as the batá drums, congas, claves, and maracas, and the Spanish guitar. There was an equally strong tradition of dance. Musical expression was particularly due to the struggle to end slavery and to gain independence from Spain. | |||||
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| Figure 1 The Caribbean | |||||
| This webpage was last updated: 04/11/04 |