A Cuban band playing Son in Haban Vieja

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Old Havana, Cuba - Shadows of a Cuban band playing Son are seen through a window.  Son is a style of music that became popular in the second half of the 19th century in the eastern province of Oriente. The earliest known son dates from the late 1500s (the oldest known son is "Son de la Má Teodora", from about the 1570s in Santiago de Cuba). It combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arara origin.

While originally a Cuban music style Son has also become a word used for rural traditional musical styles of spanish speaking countries and apart from the Cuban variant called Son Cubano other son traditions exist in Mexico where for example the Son Jarocho of Vera Cruz and the Son Huasteca of the Sierra Huasteca constitute distinct popular musical styles where the cuban son has been fusioned with indigenous musical styles.