The Timba Story (Part 4/4)

Author: Uroš Švagan
Estimated read time: 10 minutes

This article is part of a four-part saga about timba history and development.
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​In previous articles we explored timba as the sound of the Cuban economic crisis. We described its origins, the rise and fall of its popularity. Nowadays, the genre is regaining its former glory. In 2008, Alexander Abreu formed Havana D’Primera in order to restore the image to the genre.

These days, Cuba is on its (very slow) path to prosperity, therefore contemporary timba does not feed on the scourge of crisis. Its frontmen are not the most scandalously dressed Cubans anymore, and do not worship capitalist values in their performances and lyrics. But it is also true that what was scandalous in the 1990s, became the norm in the new millennium. The crown of the main provocateurs has been passed to hip hop and reggaeton artists. Meanwhile, timba has grown up and built its competitive advantage purely on music. Contemporary timba seems slightly more melodic, fuses influences from even wider range of musical genres, more often integrates Cuban folklore, revives the forgotten genres such as pilón, incorporates reggaeton, as well as wider Caribbean musical styles.

The sound of timba recordings are much clearer today then they were in the 1990s. Cuba has invested a lot into state-of-the-art studios. As technology advances, prices of professional recording equipment became much more reasonable, and many musicians such as Manolito Simonet have started building their studios in the basements of their homes.

Timba scene is still not a high-growth phenomenon, but does deliver a great new orchestra every once in a while. Besides Havana D’Primera, the new stars of timba are artists such as El Niño y la Verdad, El Noro y 1era Clase, and Maykel Blanco y Su Salsa Mayor.

Furthermore, timba is slowly paving its way for an international breakthrough. The largest timba scene outside of Cuba is in Peru with its most popular band Barbaro Fines y Su Mayimbe. A few bands are active in the United States, the most popular among dancers being Timbalive. Europe does not fall short on timba bands with the undisputed kings of the scene being the Swedish band Calle Real.
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A renewed interest in timba would have probably never occurred without the rising popularity of Cuban dances. The international music media is still ignorant about timba and rather seems to be caught in the loop of revivalist projects that have been playing the same old broken record from before the revolution. Perhaps this ignorance might serve as an indication of the US influence over the music industry.

Internationally, an underground rock concert will still catch much more media attention than a timba concert, even though the latter will bring in a much larger audience. The other reason preventing a big breakthrough as a genre might be the level of skills and devotion needed to perform such music.

​Timba songs might as well be less fit for the average western audience whose attention span for a song is 4 minutes at a maximum, while good timba songs narrate a story much longer. 

​In Cuba, timba is compelled to compete with imported music styles which can be produced by an averagely skilled computer geek and are much simpler in form. As such it is much closer to Cuban youth. Reggaeton is on one hand quite different from timba, but its approach resembles the timba in the 1990s. Provocative lyrics, scandalous fashion, the glorification of materialism, sex, and prostitution. To compete purely with musical elements is becoming an increasingly difficult task even in Cuba. But nevertheless, timba is regaining its share in the Cuban media, and is becoming ever more popular.