Cuban Counterpoint

I'll add something: the underlying rhythm is the rumba clave (the one played with claves) which represents the rhythmic skeleton upon which everything else is built. A rhythmic skeleton that is not always present, sometimes simply implied!

More famous than the rumba clave is the son clave (also known as Bo Diddley's beat), which is present in Cuban music and has obvious (but not simple) links to African music. The rhythmic aspect of South American music has always fascinated me; an interesting book on the subject was written by Rebeca Mauleon (Santana's wife)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_rumba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clave_(rhythm)

With these rhythmic structures, interesting things can be done

You bet! Thinking of them as retrograde rhythms or as the rhythmic skeleton of a structure... In their simplicity, I think they can truly express a lot (if treated properly and not in a simplistic or redundant way)