# The 8 Best Son Cubano Tracks of All Time

Cuba's foundational popular form, out of the eastern hills and into Havana by the 1920s: Spanish song over African percussion, organised around the clave and the montuno — the call-and-response vamp everything else is built to arrive at.

- **Origin:** Oriente and Havana, Cuba, 1900
- **Tempo:** 80–180 BPM
- **Also known as:** son, son montuno, cuban son, trova
- **Tracks:** 8
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/son-cubano/

## The list

### 1. [Compay Segundo](https://waxonia.com/artist/compay-segundo/) — [Chan Chan](https://waxonia.com/track/compay-segundo--chan-chan/)

*1987*

Written by a man in his eighties who said it came to him in a dream, and then made globally famous by the Buena Vista Social Club a decade later. Four chords, and no one tires of them.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Compay%20Segundo%20Chan%20Chan) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=smqREkY0R5g)

### 2. [Rita Montaner](https://waxonia.com/artist/rita-montaner/) — [El Manisero](https://waxonia.com/track/rita-montaner--el-manisero/)

*1928*

A peanut vendor's street cry turned into a son-pregón, and the record that set off a rumba craze across America and Europe. Cuban music's first global export.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rita%20Montaner%20El%20Manisero) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CSQ9pay12Fw)

### 3. [Joseíto Fernández](https://waxonia.com/artist/joseito-fernandez/) — [Guantanamera](https://waxonia.com/track/joseito-fernandez--guantanamera/)

*1929*

A guajira whose verses were improvised nightly on the radio, later fitted with José Martí's poetry. Probably the most sung Cuban melody there is.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jose%C3%ADto%20Fern%C3%A1ndez%20Guantanamera) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XjRfT9TXQbY)

### 4. [Arsenio Rodríguez](https://waxonia.com/artist/arsenio-rodriguez/) — [Bruca Maniguá](https://waxonia.com/track/arsenio-rodriguez--bruca-manigua/)

*1937*

The blind tres player who added a piano, a conga and a second trumpet and turned son into the conjunto format. Everything salsa does structurally, Arsenio did first.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Arsenio%20Rodr%C3%ADguez%20Bruca%20Manigu%C3%A1) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XjTcKP7JwfY)

### 5. [Septeto Nacional](https://waxonia.com/artist/septeto-nacional/) — [Échale Salsita](https://waxonia.com/track/septeto-nacional--echale-salsita/)

*1933*

Ignacio Piñeiro's septet at the point the form settled into its classic line-up. The title supplied a word that a New York industry later took for itself.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Septeto%20Nacional%20%C3%89chale%20Salsita) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQOfbfRej4)

### 6. [Ibrahim Ferrer](https://waxonia.com/artist/ibrahim-ferrer/) — [Dos Gardenias](https://waxonia.com/track/ibrahim-ferrer--dos-gardenias/)

*1997 · World Circuit*

A bolero sung by a man who had been shining shoes when Ry Cooder found him. Whatever one thinks of the Buena Vista project, this performance is not in question.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Ibrahim%20Ferrer%20Dos%20Gardenias) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fugRvM6s5fc)

### 7. [Bobby Capó](https://waxonia.com/artist/bobby-capo/) — [Quizás, Quizás, Quizás](https://waxonia.com/track/bobby-capo--quizas-quizas-quizas/)

*1947*

Osvaldo Farrés wrote it without being able to read music. A bolero of total economy, and one of the handful of Cuban songs everybody can hum without knowing where it came from.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bobby%20Cap%C3%B3%20Quiz%C3%A1s%2C%20Quiz%C3%A1s%2C%20Quiz%C3%A1s) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rDGgUGBD-90)

### 8. [Faustino Oramas](https://waxonia.com/artist/faustino-oramas/) — [Candela](https://waxonia.com/track/faustino-oramas--candela/)

*1995*

El Guayabero, filthy and delighted about it, working the double meanings that were always half the point of son lyrics. Recorded when he was seventy-four.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Faustino%20Oramas%20Candela) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4_7zkXv17QE)

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