Habanera

The Habanera is a descendant of the contradanza, the habanera is also the first sung expression existing in Cuba and the first global ambassador of Cuban music. The style was discovered in Havana in the mid 19th Century. Back then the habanera spread through Spain, taken by sailors who would come and go between Spanish ports and Havana. In South America, the River Plate was an ideal entrance point: taken there by Cuban sailors, the melancholic and languid habanera seduced Argentina, where it became the fundamental basis of the tango.

The word "tango" is not a chance name. A mixture of the Spanish habanera and Africa, the habanera has its roots in the bantú tango congo. The most well known, "La Paloma" (The Dove), was composed by Sebastián Yradier, a Basque-Spaniard who lived in Havana during the 60's in the 19th Century. Another of Sebastián Yradier's compositions, "El Arreglito", seduced Georges Bizet, who incorporated it in his opera "Carmen".