Tresillo (rhythm)

Tresillo (/trɛˈsiːjoʊ/ tres-EE-yoh; Spanish pronunciation: [tɾeˈsiʎo]) is a rhythmic pattern (shown below)^[1]^[2] used in Latin American music. It is a more basic form of the rhythmic figure known as the habanera.

$\new RhythmicStaff { \clef percussion \time 2/4 \repeat volta 2 { c8. c16 r8[ c] } }$

Tresillo is the most fundamental duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Cuban and other Latin American music. It was introduced in the New World through the Atlantic slave trade during the Colonial period. The pattern is also the most fundamental and most prevalent duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Sub-Saharan African music traditions.

The cinquillo pattern is another common embellishment of tresillo. Cinquillo is used frequently in the Cuban contradanza (the "habanera") and the danzón.

^ Garrett, Charles Hiroshi (2008). Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century, p. 54. ISBN 9780520254862. Shown in common time and then in cut time with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest.
^ Sublette, Ned (2007), Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, p. 134. ISBN 9781556526329.^{[clarification needed]} Shown with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest.

[1] Garrett, Charles Hiroshi (2008). Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century, p. 54. ISBN 9780520254862. Shown in common time and then in cut time with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest.

[2] Sublette, Ned (2007), Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, p. 134. ISBN 9781556526329.^{[clarification needed]} Shown with tied sixteenth & eighth note rather than rest.

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