Beguine: In American popular music, and Americanized form of the Cuban rumba. It has a similar rhythmic feel but lacks the clave rhythm heard in authentic Afro-Cuban music.
Bop (Bebop): A jazz style that developed in the 1940s, characterized by fast tempos, irregular streams of notes, and considerable rhythmic conflict.
Clave rhythm: The characteristic rhythm of Afro-Cuban music. It can be heard in Begin the Beguine, and features a pattern of 5 irregularly spaced taps over two 4-beat measures. It can be represented in two measures: //XxxXxxXx//xxXxXxxx//, where the x’s indicate eighth notes and the X’s are accented notes. To reverse clave rhythm, switch the two measures.
Claves: Pair of cylindrical wooden sticks that are tapped together.
Comping: In bop jazz style, chordal accompaniment played in rhythmically irregular or unpredictable patterns.
Downtown Latin Style: A watered-down version of Afro-Cuban music intended for the white American market.
Habanera: A dance created in Cuba during the early nineteenth century that became popular in both Europe and South America. Its characteristic rhythm resurfaced in the Argentine tango and the cakewalk.
Mambo: First twentieth-century Latin dance fad to develop on American soil; it merged authentic Afro-Cuban son with big-band horns and riffs (***link son to external link explaining).
Montuno: In Afro-Cuban music, a syncopated accompanying figure, usually played on the piano, that is repeated indefinitely.
Standard: A song that remains popular well after its initial appearance songs that live on in recordings, films, and live performances.
Tumbao: A syncopated bass pattern characteristic of Afro-Cuban music.
Uptown Latin Style: The sound of authentic Afro-Cuban music in the 1940s and ‘50s.