倫巴（ Rumba）

"倫巴風潮"是源自於第十六世紀非洲黑人奴隸開始引入美洲新大陸。當時的 古巴有許多的黑人奴隸，由於他們在古巴被壓迫，因生活困苦而產生悲傷的民歌。慢慢的這種悲傷的歌曲受當地氣候的影響，而變成催眠式、懶洋洋的音樂，在加上拉丁美洲特有的打擊樂器，而使倫巴舞曲便得更富有羅曼蒂克的氣氛。在古巴的非洲人即隨著這種音樂起舞以發洩情緒而形成倫巴。幾百年來的演變，這個融合非洲、拉丁美洲風格的 倫巴舞漸漸演變成性感的肢體動作加上強烈的節奏、誇張的臀部搖擺，其中舞出君子好求的主動出擊，女性對情不自禁追求而產生的挑逗，最後終了拒絕了男伴的防禦態度，含有 “逗趣”、 “追逐”的要素，因而有愛情之舞之稱。

Rumba arose in Havana in the 1890s . As a sexually-charged Afro-Cuban dance, rumba was often suppressed and restricted because it was viewed as dangerous and lewd.
Later, Prohibition in the United States caused a flourishing of the relatively-tolerated cabaret rumba, as American tourists flocked to see crude sainetes (short plays) which featured racial stereotypes and generally, though not always, rumba.

Perhaps because of the mainstream and middle-class dislike for rumba, danzon and (unofficially) son montuno became seen as "the" national music for Cuba , and the expression of Cubanismo . Rumberos reacted by mixing the two genres in the 30s, 40s and 50s; by the mid-40s, the genre had regained respect, especially the guaguanco style.

Rumba is sometimes confused with salsa , with which it shares origins and essential movements.

There are several rhythms of the Rumba family, and associated styles of dance:

• Yambu (slow; the dance often involving mimicking old men and women walking bent)
• Guaguanco (medium-fast, often flirtatious, involving pelvic thrusts by the male dancers, the vacunao )
• Columbia (fast, aggressive and competitive, generally danced by men only, occasionally mimicking combat or dancing with knives)
• Columbia del Monte (very fast)

All of these share the instrumentation (3 conga drums or cajones , claves , palitos and / or guagua , lead singer and coro ; optionally chekere and cowbells ), the heavy polyrhythms, and the importance of clave .