Danzón

Danzón: Overview

A Cuban genre at the hinge between European salon dance and Afro-Cuban popular music

4 min read

Danzón: Etymology and Naming

The lineage of a Cuban genre name from contradanza to danzón

3 min read

Contradanza and Habanera Roots of the Danzón

How a European salon dance was creolized in Cuba into the parent genre of the danzón

5 min read

Miguel Failde and the Birth of the Danzón: Las Alturas de Simpson (1879)

How a Matanzas Premiere Codified Cuba's National Dance

4 min read

The First Danzón: "Las Alturas de Simpson" (1879)

How Miguel Faílde's Matanzas dance piece founded Cuba's first national genre

4 min read

Charanga Francesa Instrumentation

The violin-and-flute Cuban dance ensemble and its repertoire

3 min read

Danzón Structure and the Cinquillo

Rhythmic architecture and African inheritance in Cuba's foundational couple dance

4 min read

The Paseo and Couple Figures of the Cuban Danzón

Set footwork, syncopation, and the formal pause in the technique of the Cuban danzón

3 min read

Antonio Arcaño: The Danzón’s Road to the Mambo

The flautist whose charanga, with the López brothers, forged the danzón de nuevo ritmo

2 min read

Antonio María Romeu

Cuban pianist and charanga leader of the danzón (1876–1955)

3 min read

Arcaño y sus Maravillas: The Cradle of the Mambo

The danzón charanga where the López brothers invented the "nuevo ritmo"

1 min read

Barbarito Diez: The Golden Voice of the Danzón

The singer whose pure, elegant voice gave the danzón its definitive vocal sound

2 min read

Israel "Cachao" López: Father of the Mambo, Master of the Descarga

The Havana bassist who gave the danzón its new rhythm and Cuban music its jam session

3 min read

Miguel Faílde and the Birth of the Cuban Danzón

4 min read

Orestes López: Co-Creator of the Mambo

The Arcaño cellist whose 1938 danzón "Mambo" gave a new rhythm its name

3 min read

Danzón as Cuba's National Dance

The contradanza lineage behind Cuba's most distinctive nineteenth-century genre and its dance-music descendants

3 min read

Danzón in Mexico and Veracruz

A Cuban import that found a mainland home on the Gulf coast

3 min read

"Almendra": The Danzón That Modernized a Genre

How Abelardo Valdés’s 1938 danzón broke with quotation and became Cuba’s best-known

3 min read

Las Alturas de Simpson: The First Danzón

Miguel Faílde’s 1879 composition that gave Cuba a new national dance

4 min read

Common Misconceptions about the Danzón

Disentangling the genre's origins, lineage, and ensemble from popular error

3 min read

Bibliography and Sources for Danzón

Key studies, ensembles, and reference works on the Cuban danzón as music and social dance

3 min read