Cinquillo

A cinquillo is a typical Cuban/Caribbean rhythmic cell, used in the Cuban contradanza (the "habanera") and the danzón. The figure is also a common bell pattern found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It consists of an eighth, a sixteenth, an eighth, a sixteenth, and an eighth note.  Play  Placing this rhythm in a 2/4 measure, it obtains a strongly syncopated character from the sustained note which replaces an articulated one on the first quarter of the second beat. Cinquillo is an embeillishment of the more basic pattern known as tresillo. Cinquillo is shown twice below. The first one (above) merely displays the note values. The second one (below) is a so-called orthographic notation, which gives an impression of the syncopated character.