Patterns on Congas" (Changuito). Charanga with a rumba "feel" The rhythmic inventions in songo, share similarities with the contemporaneous inventions by folkloric rumba groups such as Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, and Los Papines from Havana. Not only is songo percussion heavily influenced by rumba, but the syncopated quality of the singing and other melodic elements reflect more rumba influence than heard in earlier genres. The guajeos (ostinato melodies) are often built upon offbeat patterns. Many Latin musicians have described the songo as a very soulful type of music; for instance Juan Formell (leader of Los Van Van) says that "it is the synthesis of a personality, of a way of being and feeling the music, a sum of cultures and a way of making a musician into someone polyfacetic and original." Cuban drummers often stress that songo is not a particular rhythm, but rather, a particular rhythmic approach. However, these same drummers will usually demonstrate the basic stick part shown above. See: "Basic Songo for Drum Kit" (Ignacio Berroa). On Los Van Van v. 6 (1980) Juan Formell took the unusual step of adding trombones to his charanga format. Orquesta Revé did the same during the time. "Tú tranquilo" has four interlocking guajeos: two keyboards, violins, and trombones. North American usage As used in North America, the term songo refers generally to the rumba-influenced music of Cuban bands during the 1970s, and the conga and timbales parts shown above. These bands were, for the most part, charanga-based (flute, string instruments, and rhythm section), although some bands added trombones. The main exception was the horn-based supergroup Irakere, which blended jazz elements into the rhythmic mix. The horn-based Puerto Rican bands Batacumbele and Zaperoko also refer to their style of music as songo. [See "En vivo" (Batacumbele, featuring Giovanni Hidalgo). Jazz, funk, son and rumba all intersect in songo. Funkifying the clave Songo represented a major breakthrough in Latin music by introducing the drumset into the standard percussion triumvirate of congas, timbales and bongos ... the songo rhythm finally put the drumset on equal footing with the other instruments” (Goines and Ameen 1990). When played on a drum kit, songo patterns are clave-based rumba-funk hybrids. In the early 1980s, these patterns caught the attention of North American drummers who, as a result, were now able to appreciate the clave-based structure underlying funk. North American drummers in turn adopted songo ideas into various