Habanera (music)

Habanera (music)

The habanera is the name used outside of Cuba, for the Cuban contradanza, a genre of popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the French contradanza. It has a characteristic "habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics. It was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif, and the first dance music from Cuba to be exported all over the world.

In Cuba itself, the term "habanera" . . . was only adopted subsequent to its international popularization, coming in the latter 1800s—Manuel (2009: 97).

Carpentier states that the Cuban contradanza was never called the habanera by the people who created it. The first documented Cuban contradanza, and the first known piece of written music to feature the habanera rhythm was "San pascual bailón" (1803).