Quinteto Cha

Cuban music is born from the rich amalgamation of Spanish folk music formulas and African rhythms, the latter brought to Cuba by black slaves. The phenomenal richness of Spanish folklore, mixed with the vigor of African music, created an explosive and exuberant musical tapestry. Son is a musical style and dance characterized by its syncopated rhythmic structure. It emerged around the turn of the century out of rural Oriente (Cuba's easternmost province in those days) and became the most influential element in popular Latin American music. The instrumentation of tres, guitar, bongos, string bass and two vocalists who also played claves and maracas, became standard and set the stage for the worldwide spread of the Cubanson.

The son provides an obvious link to salsa and other forms of popular Latin music today. By taking the basic instrumentation of the son and adding piano, conga drums, horns, electronic instruments etc., salsa and its related forms have become an international phenomena.

Quinteto Cha is composed of musicians of different nationalities who do their own interpretations of traditional Cuban son: Mexican singer and songwriter Luis Angulo is backed by four Europeans: bassist Irmgard Lerch, Alex Xanthis on percussion, flutist Henry Eberhard and tresero Günter Kleinmann.

— Courtesy Calabash Music