Songo

Songo is the modern Cuban dance rhythm forged by Juan Formell and Los Van Van after 1969. Blas Egües played on the band's first records and set the initial...

Songo is the modern Cuban dance rhythm forged by Juan Formell and Los Van Van after 1969. Blas Egües played on the band's first records and set the initial drum approach; Changuito, joining in 1970, developed it into songo's signature feel, fusing Cuban tradition with funk, rock and jazz-fusion bass and drumming and reorganising the charanga for an amplified age. Songo was a major precursor of timba, alongside Irakere and the band-specific innovations of the late 1980s–90s.

Era

Timba

Traits

Modern Cuban dance rhythm pioneered by Los Van Van (Juan Formell), with Blas Egües setting the early drum approach and Changuito then transforming it; a major precursor of timba.