Son Music In Latin American Culture

Music always has strongly diverse backgrounds. It can bring people together or tear them apart. Son bands were largely popular throughout Latin America and the world. It influenced many different styles of music such as Rumba and Samba. The Son music image, shown in class, helps show some of the history and importance of Son music. The image features a sextet, a group of six musicians, of African descent playing music well wearing clothing traditional to the times and using more traditional instruments. They are shown playing what is presumed to be an up-right bass, bongos, maracas, and a Tres, a three string Cuban guitar, along with some other instruments. They are all seated in front of a record and the title reads “Orthophonic records by

the latest sextets. The latest Cuban Victor records have arrived, - one dollar each”. This Orthophonic record cover shows what type of music was becoming more and more popular around Latin America and the world.
This records shows many of the preconceived biases people had toward Afrocuban music and Afrocuban culture. Son is defined as a highly syncretic genre of dance music created by Afrocuban performers in eastern Cuba in the late nineteenth century. It is a fusion of both African and European elements (Moore 285). This record cover shows one of the ways prejudice was lessened toward the Afrocubans in Cuba. At first this time of music was considered “dirty” or “bad” music because of its African heritage. This is seen with people openly condemning Son music by stating that it lessened Cuban culture and tainted it with African culture and traditions. Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes and even spokesmen of the black middle classes condemned Son music and its traditions that followed it (Moore 96). Even still it eventually grew in popularity and began to mix with other forms of music which allowed it to grow and open up new opportunities. Afrocubans and other races were able to produce records and music which allowed for new businesses and jobs to emerge for many people in Cuba and other nearby countries. Dance schools were opened and more and more people began writing and selling Son music and its variations. The record cover states that the Cuban Victor records are one dollar each which shows how many people were profiting from the expansion of Afrocuban culture. This acceptation of African based music helped to lessen the gap between the different cultures of people around the world.
This record cover is a piece of historic artwork that represents many aspects of the culture that existed in the world.

Its main goal was to produce sales and earn money. Cuban sextets were popular with many people for most of the 20th century. From Son music sextets to salsa sextets such as Joe Cuba’s band (Wang 1). The artist of this cover used the popularity of Afrocuban music and sextets to help sell the records of these artists. The clothing they are dressed is classier and cleaner then what many other Son musicians would be wearing at the time which helps cross the bridge between having just a Afrocuban market to having a more worldwide market. This is because many people didn’t want to listen to African music and having them dress in cleaner and classier clothing helped make them seem “whiter” or more relatable to the communities outside of Afrocuban or African communities around the world. When the cover states the latest Cuban Victor records have arrived shows how the marketer wanted to portray the music as Cuban. This shows how Afrocuban people are being considered as Cubans and their traditions are now a part of Cuba’s traditions. These records were most likely sold worldwide and sold as Cuban records and were meant to represent Cuban culture. Many people may have had issue with this type of music and representation of African culture being popularized. With this genre of music being sold next to a Mozart or Beethoven record may cause unrest in certain

communities. The artist and marketer probably took this into account and focused the sales on the younger populations and more open communities.
African traditions spread by the slave trade are found all around the world.

In Latin America it can be viewed as Son music, Rumba, Salsa and Samba. In the United States it can be seen with Jazz, Blues, and even Rock and Roll. Son music and Jazz were both influenced by African traditions and songs sung by slaves and both were originally performed by people of African descent. This is seen with people such as Lewis Armstrong and many Afrocubans in Cuba. Jazz and Blues originated from the city of New Orleans. New Orleans was a perfect because it was a port city so it could spread and gain new ideas very quickly. This lead to the new musical style of Jazz to take shape which may be one of the most important music styles to ever take form (“What is Jazz?” 1). This is very similar to Cuban Son music. The island of Cuba was very similar to New Orleans in its accessibility to outside influences and spread of ideas. The similarities between Son music and other African based music can be seen around the world. This record of Cuban Victor sextets is very similar to many other records around the world. Jazz records originally were predominately African males preforming the music. These records also were difficult to sell to people of non-African descent. Eventually Jazz and Blues began to gain popularity and it opened up a whole new market. This is almost identical to the popularity of Son music in Cuba and Latin

America.
This record cover shows how Afrocuban music revolutionized African traditions in Latin America and the world. It represents the origin of African traditions and it also combines many other aspects of music. It helped to include people of African descent into societies around the world. It opened new opportunities for people to grow economically and for artists to grow in new and different styles. Son music influenced other forms of music such as Samba, Salsa and Rumba. Son music can also be compared to many other forms of music around the world that originated in almost identical ways. Jazz, Blues and even Rock and Roll can be related to Son music. This record cover is almost identical to other records of similar music from around the world.