Y... tenemos sabor

Sophisticated musical instruments are all well and good, but four pieces of wood and four pieces of metal provide everything you need to play a rumba, explains the esteemed singer and songwriter Alberto Zayas towards the end of his journey into Cuban musical history. Still, that doesn’t stop the stylish Zayas—checkered shirt, ever-present cigar—from energetically explaining where the traditional instruments originated and how they developed, with the help of some delightful musical interludes.

In this homage to a music genre that resonated around the world, Sara Gómez betrays her musical and ethnographic background as she affectionately offers a platform to Zayas. He identifies and demonstrates each instrument, with particular attention to the rhythm section—because dance is the measure of all things, after all.

Many of these percussion instruments originated in continental Africa. Enslaved people brought them to the Spanish colony, where they became part of a process of cultural fusion that gave rise to a unique musical tradition.

Y... tenemos sabor was digitally restored by Vulnerable Media Lab as part of the Sara Gómez Project.