****What American genre would be comparable to Son? Not in style, but place in the society's musical history.****
Great and fascinating question!
First of all, yes, some (not all; strictly speaking) of the music on BVSC is "son"; one of the big hits from that record "Chan Chan" is definitely a "son". I think the answer to your question is found in the name of another Cuban music style, "Guajira". The two are similar and sometimes a song may be described as "Guajira-Son". The well known song "Guantanamera" is a guajira ("Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera....."). The non-musical, literary definition of "guajira/o" is: a person from the countryside. The lyrics of these songs often speak about the beauty of the a Cuban countryside. "Son" is basically Cuba's country music; a kind of hill-billy music.
However, when one considers that son, guajira, and other forms morphed into what would later be known as salsa, the genre probably most representative of and recognizable as Cuba's musical identity, it is not too much of a stretch to look at son as Cuba's blues. The blues, as we all know, is a key ingredient of jazz, the genre generally considered America's most important musical contribution. From this standpoint, the two are very similar.
