Rumba
Afro-Cuban music and dance genre built on drums, clave and song.
What it means
The rumba is an Afro-Cuban music and dance genre carried by several drums, the rhythmic pattern known as the clave, and multi-part, often call-and-response singing. It emerged in the 19th century among the population of African descent in Cuba's port cities.
Musical use
Within Cuban rumba, several styles are distinguished, such as yambú, guaguancó and columbia, which differ in tempo, dance character and drum scoring. Cuban rumba is distinct from the internationally known ballroom "rumba" of competitive dancing: this derives instead from Cuban son and its slower style, and shares with the original Afro-Cuban rumba little more than the name and distant roots.
Performance practice
Practise the rumba's characteristic clave patterns on their own first, before combining them with the drum parts, since the whole rhythmic framework depends on precise alignment with the clave.