Traditionally performed by poor workers of African descent in streets and solares (courtyards), rumba remains one of Cuba's most characteristic forms of music and dance.

[5] Alternatively, in Cuba the term might have originated from a West African or Bantu language, due to its similarity to other Afro-Caribbean words such as tumba, macumba, mambo and tambó.

[2] During the 19th century in Cuba, specifically in urban Havana and Matanzas, people of African descent originally used the word rumba as a synonym for party.

According to Olavo Alén, in these areas "[over time] rumba ceased to be simply another word for party and took on the meaning both of a defined Cuban musical genre and also of a very specific form of dance.

[17] At the same time, Cuban big bands, in collaboration with musical artists such as Chano Pozo, began to include authentic rumbas among their dance pieces.

More recently, a cappella (vocals-only, without instruments) rumba has been performed by the Cuban ensemble Vocal Sampling, as heard in their song "Conga Yambumba".

Ortiz saw transculturation as a positive social force: "consecrating the need for mutual understanding on an objective grounding of truth to move toward achieving the definitive integrity of the nation.

[26] Slavery was abolished in 1886 in Cuba and first-generation of free black citizens were often called negros de nación, a term commonly found in the lyrics of rumba songs.

[25] Such proto-rumba styles were probably instrumented with household items such as boxes and drawers instead of the congas, and frying pans, spoons and sticks instead of guaguas, palitos and claves.

In addition, the secret Abakuá traditions rooted in the Calabar region of West Africa that prevailed in both Havana and Matanzas also influenced the development of rumba as a syncretic genre.

"[21] During slavery, and after it was abolished, rumba served as a social outlet for oppressed slaves and the underclass which was typically danced in the streets or backyards in urban areas.

"[32] Even after slavery was abolished in Cuba, there still remained social and racial inequality, which Afro-Cubans dealt with by using rumba's music and dancing as an outlet of frustration.

Because Afro-Cubans had fewer economic opportunities and the majority lived in poverty, the style of dance and music did not gain national popularity and recognition until the 1950s, and especially after the effects of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which institutionalized it.

The first commercial studio recordings of Cuban rumba were made in 1947 in New York by Carlos Vidal Bolado and Chano Pozo for SMC Pro-Arte, and in 1948 in Havana by Filiberto Sánchez for Panart.

The first commercial ensemble recordings of rumba were made in the mid 1950s by Alberto Zayas and his Conjunto Afrocubano Lulú Yonkori, yielding the 1956 hit "El vive bien".

As Folklórico Nacional became more prevalent in the promotion of rumba, the dance "shifted from its original locus, street corners, where it often shared attention with parallel activities of traffic, business, and socializing, to its secondary quarters, the professional stage, to another home, the theatrical patio.

is not available to them.”[38] As official caretakers of the national folkloric treasure, the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional has successfully preserved the sound of the mid-twentieth century Havana-style rumba.

Far from the standardized regularity of the drum rhythms of recordings such as Alberto Zayas's "El vive bien", guarapachangueo often sounds slightly random or unorganized to the untrained ear, yet presents a plethora of percussive synchronicities for those who understand the clave.

Using both cajones (wooden boxes) and tumbadoras (congas), Martinez and Diaz reflect the tendencies of their generation of rumberos in combining these instruments, which widens the sonic plane to include more bass and treble sounds.

After its institutionalization following the Revolution, rumba has adopted a position as a symbol of what Cuba stands for and of how Cubans want the international community to envision their country and its culture and society: vibrant, full of joy and authentic.

In 1950, Fernando Ortíz observed the influence of rumba upon ceremonial batá drumming: "“The drummers are alarmed at the disorder that is spreading in the temples regarding the liturgical toques ['batá rhythms'].

The contemporary style of lead drum accompaniment for the chekeré ensemble known as agbe or guiro, is played on the high-pitched quinto, instead of the lower-pitched tumba as was done in earlier times.

[54] Many of the rhythmic innovations in Cuban popular music, from the early twentieth century, until present, have been a matter of incorporating rumba elements into the son-based template.

Several of the timbales cowbell parts introduced during the mambo era of the 1940s are Havana-style guaguancó guagua patterns: Descargas (mostly instrumental jams sessions) where jazz-influenced improvisation was developed, were first known as rumbitas in the early 1940s.

Even with today’s flashy percussion solos, where snare rudiments and other highly developed techniques are used, analysis of the prevailing accents will often reveal an underlying quinto structure.

[35] Both styles are thus predominantly urban, danced by men and women alike, and exhibit a historical "binarization" of their meter, as described by Cuban musicologist Rolando Antonio Pérez Fernández.

[19] In contrast, columbia has a primarily rural origin, also in the central regions of Cuba, being almost exclusively danced by men, and remaining much more grounded in West African (specifically Abakuá) traditions, which is exemplified by its triple meter.

This erotic movement is called the vacunao (‘vaccination’ or more specifically ‘injection’), a gesture derived from yuka and makuta, symbolizing sexual penetration.

The female reacts by quickly turning away, bringing the ends of her skirts together, or covering her groin area with her hand (botao), symbolically blocking the “injection.” Most of the time the male dancer does not succeed in “catching” his partner.

Some of these aforementioned aspects of rumba columbia are derived from a colonial Cuban martial art/dance called juego de maní which shares similarities to Brazilian capoeira.