Trova

Before the bands, there was the trovador: an itinerant singer-guitarist of eastern Cuba carrying songs from town to town. Spare and melodic, rooted in...

Before the bands, there was the trovador: an itinerant singer-guitarist of eastern Cuba carrying songs from town to town. Spare and melodic, rooted in eastern-Cuban song practice and Spanish song traditions, the trova prized a good lyric and an intimate voice over any rhythm section. It is one of the deep roots of the whole house. From it grew the bolero's slow romance, and its melodic sensibility fed into the developing son. The trova is where many of Cuban popular music's enduring songs first took shape — in the hands of a single player, before an orchestra ever touched them.

Era

Spanish Tinge & Foundations

Traits

Itinerant guitar-troubadour song tradition of eastern Cuba — the matrix from which bolero and much Cuban song emerged.