The Tresillo rhythm has a rich history behind it that has taken it from being a most fundamental rhythm to cuban and latin music to being in a large portion of todays contemporary pop music.
Introduced to the western world through the Atlantic slave trade in the Colonial period the Tresillo rhythm has become a staple of todays pop music and can be found in modern hits such as, ‘Treat You Better’ (Shaun Mendez) and ‘Cold Water’ (Major Lazer).
The Tresillo rhythm is a more basic form of the Habanera rhythm that originated in Spain and in the 18th century spread through Spanish America. The cuban version of this rhythm then incorporated the African cross rhythm known now as the tresillo rhythm. Once the Habanera rhythm became popular in the western world the tresillo rhythm started to be found in lots of western music. The Tresillo rhythm could be found in the rag time music of the early 20th century and went on to heavily influence/inspire the Charleston of the 1920s where the last beat of the Tresillo is removed.
Then the Jamaican Dance Hall style of music introduced the Tresillo rhythm to modern pop music, the best example of this is probably the track ‘Dem Bow’ (Shabba Ranks) from 1990. Once Jamaican Dance hall music started to reach the western mainstream music its influence on western music became clear through artists such as Sean Paul with tracks such as ‘Like Glue’ from 2003.
Now in our contemporary pop music the Tresillo rhythm can be heard from many acts such as Drake, Jax Jones and Craig David.
The Tresillo rhythm may now be taken for granted as just part of the formula to write a summer pop hit however we shouldn’t forget the history behind this simple rhythm and the way it has shaped modern pop music in general.
Callum Bashford Uni Blog 