AGUINALDO
A local traditional genre from Puerto Rico, particularly associated with the Christmas season when travelling amateur musicians would perform from house to house.

BOMBAS
These are Afro-Puerto Rican dance and songs traditionally associated with plantation workers on Puerto Rico. The name was inspired by a fairly large wooden drum covered with goatskin called the 'bomba' which accompanied this music. The songs are improvised and have an antiphonal or 'call and response' style - that is, a kind of musical dialogue is usually led by female singer; the crowd joins in, answering back to her.

CONJUNTOS
A small musical group or 'combo', usually with piano, rhythm section (conga and bongo drums, timbales, cowbell), bass, and trumpets or trombones.

DANZON (accent acute over the o) -
A music and dance genre from the late 17th, introduced in Cuba by immigrants from Haiti and Lousiana; it has a strong Afro-Cuban syncopated rhythm.

GUAGUANCO
A variation of the rumba originating in Havana, Cuba.

GUARACHA
A very popular song and dance genre which likely originated in Cuba, also popular in Puerto Rico and new york from the 920s through the 1940s.

MAMBO
Another Cuban dance style popular in New York City from the 1930s through the 1950s, strictly instrumental.

MERENGUE
A dance style from the Dominican Republic, introduced to Puerto Rico and later the United States during the 1930s; typically, it is accompanied by a small accordion, a two headed drum called the 'tambora', and a singer who plays the guiro, and has a syncopated duple meter.

MONTUNO
A section of salsa music featuring call and response between the lead singer and chorus; the piano often has a repeated "vamp" or musical line.

PLENA
A Puerto Rican folk ballad, often accompanied by guitars, guiros , maracas and conga drums.

RUMBA
There are several ways to describe 'rumba'. On the one hand, it is a generic name for commercialized versions of guarachas, plenas and sones performed primarily for non-Latino audiences of the mid 20th century United States. In Cuba, it refers to a music and dance style (of African origin) as well as a kind of 'attitude' and amience. Often thee are accompanied by cona drums, claves, a lead singer and a chorus.

SALSA MUSIC AND DANCE
A musical hybrid, a mix of Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican and Latin Caribbean traditional musics mixed with Latin American jazz and other styles. The polyrhythmic, beautifully syncopated music is usually played by a band of 8-10 musicians - 1 or 2 lead singers, brass instruments (especially the trombone), piano, bass, conga drums, timbales, bongos, a cowbell and other percussion instruments.

SON
Identified as the single most popular dance music genre of Cuba in during the 20th century, it has had one of the stronges impacts on Latin music in New York.