Local bands covered Cuban songs, often with phonetic attempts at the Spanish lyrics, transpositions of the original violin riffs and flute solos moved to the guitar. Caribbean sailors and merchant marines brought the guitar to Africa, where it was adored and adopted. In fact, the dominant popular music of Africa is guitar-driven Congolese soukous which also has strong Cuban roots as it was derived from the experiments of Congolese bands like Kallé, Dr. Nico and Franco who played Cuban music.

The 'why' is easy. Africa heard something familiar in the music of Cuba. It heard a part of itself mixed with the Caribbean and, in some cases, the guitar and rumba of Spain.

Well over half the slaves brought to Cuba, including the grandparents of tres guitar player Arsenio Rodríguez, were from the Congo. Others came from the Yoruban populations of West Africa, bringing the rhythms and drumming of their religions which gave way to Santería in Cuba, Vodou in Haiti and Candomble in Brazil. To this day, the Yoruban languages of western Nigeria and Benin (Dahomey) and Kikongo from Congo are spoken and sung in Cuba.

One of the most important and seminal bands of Afro~Latino music was Grand Kalle's African Jazz. Kalle's band brought forth vocalists Tabu Ley Rochereau (who later left with guitarist Dr Nico, the "God of the guitar," to form African Fiesta), later joined by a living legend of African music, vocalist Sam Mangwana. A main figure in this pantheon includes the "sorcerer of the guitar" Franco, who included Congolese folk rhythms and the already 'Cubanesque' Mutuashi rhythm to further enrich the stew.

It was with African independence that things began to change and more emphasis was put on traditional sounds and traditional griot instruments like the kora, balafon and tama, the small 'talking drum.' Early Etoiles de Dakar featured vocalists Youssou N'Dour and Hadj Faye, with talking drums 'answering' the congas and timbales of Cuba. The new modern sound of African music is, for the most part, traditional music done with the techniques and electricity of the present, often with a touch of Cuban musical influence.