the biggest influence on the music is generally considered to be the african beat, which lays the base to the different genres - this was a result of the african slaves being encouraged to play drums, not only for recreation, but for communication as well.

the immerging beats and sounds began to spread throughout the continent, picking up a number of influences along the way, incorporating different instruments from all over the world, and crating many different latin sounds in the process - genres have now obtained worldwide popularity.