Havana Comes to Hampton!
The Havana Cuba All Stars bring a bold new flavor to The American Theatre!
The band Asere formed in the 1990s when seven young musicians came together to create a hybrid of contemporary sounds with the historical musical styles of rural eastern Cuba.
The word asere (pronounced ah-séré), from the Efik dialect of the Afro-Cuban sect Abakua, translates to, "I salute you."
Asere predominately performs the son style which combines African and Spanish rhythms. Son became a popular dance form in Havana in the early 20th century and later became one of the key features of salsa.
Although Asere concentrates mainly on the son style, the group also incorporates other Cuban styles such as nueva trova, cha cha chá, changuí, and guaguancó.
Nueva trova emerged among troubadours around 1967/68 after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Nueva trova has its roots in the traditional trova, but differs from it because of its political content.
Changuí originates from the sugar cane fields and other rural communities of Guantánamo populated by slaves. The traditional sound combines the Spanish guitar with African percussion instruments.
Guaguancó is an AfroCuban style originating in the black communities of Havana and Matanzas. It is a subgenre of Cuban rumba, combining percussion, voices, and dance.
Cha cha chá evolved as a dance style in the early 1950s but was first introduced through charanga, a typical Cuban dance band format made up of a flute, strings, piano, bass and percussion.