Cuba

Cuban music is among the richest and most influential in the world — a syncretic blend of West African and Spanish traditions, exemplified by son cubano, which fuses the Spanish-derived tres with Afro-Cuban percussion and rhythm.

In this directory it runs from son and its descendants — Beny Moré, Compay Segundo and the Buena Vista Social Club — through mambo (Pérez Prado), Latin jazz (Chucho Valdés, Arturo Sandoval), timba (Los Van Van) and the nueva trova of Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés.

Its global ambassadors are here too: Celia Cruz and Gloria Estefan.