Though the rhythm of “El manisero” was, in fact, a son pregón (a type of song that relies on the give and take of street vendors’ cries), the music and the dance style that went along with it quickly became known as “rhumba.” Actual Cuban rumba (in Cuba there is no h in the word) refers to a series of Afro-Cuban dances—the yambú, guaguancó, and columbia—which are danced to percussion. Cuban music historian Ned Sublette notes that rumba “can refer to the dance or to the music played. But, most importantly, it refers to the party where it all goes on, a collective, rum-fueled atmosphere.”
