Festival del Yambu Matanzas

Yambu, rumba's oldest documented form, emerged in Matanzas's Alturas de Simpson neighbourhood between the 1890s and 1900s, danced at a slow two-by-four tempo by couples in smooth, circular, courtship-style movement, distinct from guaguanco's faster pursuit choreography. Historic rival social clubs called bandos, including El Bando Azul and La Clave de Oro, sustained the tradition using a tumbadora paired with a hand-played quinto, originally a small wooden box rather than a drum.

Yambu is rumba's oldest documented form, emerging specifically in Matanzas between the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, with the historic Alturas de Simpson neighbourhood identified as its principal source of musicians and performers.