Rumba catalana

Rumba catalana is the dance music created by Barcelona's Catalan Romani communities in the 1950s and 1960s, fusing Andalusian flamenco rumba with Cuban son clave and American rock and roll. Its founders, *El Pescaílla* and *Peret*, built the style on the ventilador guitar technique — strumming while fanning and striking the guitar body — with handclaps, bongo, güiro and later congas, timbales, piano, bass and keyboards. Sung in Spanish and Catalan over a bright 4/4 groove, it became the popular soundtrack of working-class Barcelona and, through *Gato Pérez* and later groups, a durable Catalan popular genre.