One of the most influential migrations on Cuban music and culture came from Haiti especially after the Haitian slave revolution of 1791. Haitians came to Cuba from every part of Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was called at the time, as well as areas of Louisiana. They settled all around Cuba although they had their greatest impact on eastern Cuba and Santiago de Cuba in particular. While they comprised of white French, free people of colour and black slaves they were collectively referred to as “los franceses” by the Cubans they met on the island. This was due to the unique culture, skill set and know-how they brought to the island based on the influences of French colonialism that was distinctly different from the Spanish colonialism that had influenced the life of Cubans thus far.
The impact reached from areas such as fashion, music and philosophy to changes that would permanently affect the landscape and economy of Cuba such as the introduction of coffee, cotton and indigo plantations by French planters.
One of the greatest influences on Cuban music and dance that arose from this period was the formation of mutual aid-societies among former Haitian slaves who had made it to Cuba. These societies were very similar to other cabildos that already existed in Cuba since the 16th century with the key difference being that the Africans belonging to these societies had mixed their original African traditions with French-Haitian culture thus creating distinct societies in Cuba with their own set of culture, music and dance.
The word tumba is believed to come from the Bantu language where it means drum. When the newly formed societies referred to both their dances and drums by the word “tumba”, Cubans described this as “tumba” danced and played by French people or simply “tumba francesa”.
