The drums that most of us know as "timbales" (kettledrums) have a very rich history.
In Cuba, the “timbales” have many different names: Cuban pailitas, Cuban pailas, pailas, pailitas, timbaletas, panderetas, bongoes... All these names have been used and are still used in Cuba.
To explain all this with great clarity, we are going to refer to this instrument as Cuban timbales or pailitas without distinction.
What about the roots of the timbales?
It’s not surprising that some people believe that the first drum had the shape of a timpani or timbal, made with the trunk of a tree and the skin of an animal.

The famous musicologist, Fernando Ortiz, said that the word timbal had an onomatopoeic origin, and that the sound of drums is similar to their names. Imagine the sound of a pair of timpanis, rather loud than low. Can you hear the sounds "Tim-Bal"? The name also derives from the Arab drums, called first “tabl” by the Spaniards, and “atabal” after the Moorish Invasion. In Cuba, the name was modified to become tamballe, and then timbal.
Asia Minor has drums called "tabl-sami", "tabl-al-gawing" and "table migri". These drums are linked to the timpani and the timbal. The roots of the timbales date back a long way; they can be found in Assyria, Asia Minor and even India. The old Indian Sanskrit scriptures mention a big timbal style instrument, made of a thin leather and a system of metal pins used to tune the instrument, that was played with two curved drumsticks.