Makuta

This rhythm is played in a medium tempo 4/4 groove, and the parts are rhythmically very simple. It becomes tricky because the only drum part that has clave in it is the lead drum (the support drum parts are all one bar patterns), so if the person improvising on the lead gets lost, there’s no way for them to find their way back if no one is singing! It is traditionally sacred music, and the dance very much foreshadows the vacunao of the secular rumba guaguanco.