The fusion of cultures that took place during the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas is what makes Latin music so unique. The European guitar, African conga and tambora drums, native gaita flutes and maracas, created a wide range of forms and styles because they came into contact with instruments they had never heard before.
The sound combinations traveled throughout the hemisphere and later the world, changing into exciting new musical forms. Here is how seven Latin major music genres came about.
SALSA
Cuba, Puerto Rico and New York are where it comes from.
The clave is a distinct beat that makes the sound different. The complex, syncopated rhythms are executed by a three drum section. The Salsa lyrics usually end with a call-and-response section.
The son cubano is a musical form that was developed by Afro Cuban musicians.
Frank Grillo, Johnny Pacheco, and Celia Cruz are some of the key impressionists.
There are related genes: Charanga, Mambo.
Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians in the 1940s and 50s developed a genre inspired by Cuban son, but also incorporating other styles, such as mambo, rumba and cha cha. Jazz and a big band sound were added to the orchestra by Machito. Puerto Rican musicians brought elements of their island’s folk music like bomba and plena.
The term “salsa” was first used in the 1960’s. Many of the genre’s top musicians were signed to a label co-founded by Johnny Pacheco, and they performed internationally as the Fania All Stars.
The Hispanic History Milestones have been described.
MERENGUE
There is a location in the Dominican Republic.
A quintillo is a repeating five-beat pattern that is played by three key instruments: a diatonic accordion, a two-headed hand drum and a metal scraper. The lyrics are usually festive.
Spanish ballroom dance was combined with African and Indigenous Tano instruments.
Francisco “ico” Lora and Luis Alberti are some of the key orangutans.
It’s related to the song “Bachata.”
Merengue music and dance became popular in the Dominican Republic during the Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo in the 18th century, but the Dominican musicians increased its pace to disassociate it from Haiti. The button accordion, brought by German traders at the end of the century, transformed it from a string instrument to a button accordion.
Merengue, a musical embodiment of pride and resistance, was not accepted by the country’s elite until the late 1930’s. The dictator promoted it as the national dance of the Dominican Republic. Luis Alberti composed the song “Compadre Pedro Juan.”
11 Anthems of Black Pride and Protest were written in American History.
RANCHERAS
Vicente Fernandez, a.k.a., is the king of Mexico’s traditional ranchera music. The Portland Rose Garden has a performance by ‘El Isido de Mexico.’
Chris Ryan/Corbis is a person.
Where it comes from: Mexico.
The mariachi ensemble uses stringed instruments like the vihuela and guitarrn to amplify the sound. Love for country and honor is evoked in the lyrics.
Cuban bolero and European waltz and polka are historical roots.
The key impressionists are José Alfredo Jiménez, Felipe Valdés Leal, Vicente Fernndez.
Corridos is related to other Genres.
The cancin ranchera is very popular because of the sense of national pride that followed the Mexican Revolution. Rural Mexicans moved to the big cities as the country grew and they brought their music with them. The Mexican government encouraged the production of comedias rancheras, or musical films featuring radio stars, in the 1930s. Ranchera was the most popular music genre of the 1950s.
The quality and quantity of Rancheras created by José Alfredo Jimenez is unparalleled. Vicente Fernndez was the only performer who elevated Rancheras.
CUMBIA
Where it comes from?
A signature double beat is played on amaracas or drum, while flutes known as gaitas carry the melody. The lyrics deals with love, country and celebration of life.
African slaves in the 19th century incorporated native instruments into their dance forms.
La Sonora Dinamita and Aniceto Molina are key impressionist artists.
The story of La Dinamita Sonora is related.
During colonial times in the Caribbean region, Cumbia was a courting dance. African slaves learned to play native instruments, such as the guacharaca, a percussion instrument made from palm trees. Many of the male dancers were in shackles and the structures were simple. The spread of cumbia allowed for the introduction of European influences such as string and brass instruments.
Cumbia grew throughout the continent. There are regional versions in Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. Selena had a style called techno-cumbia.
BOSSA NOVA
Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim, and singer Astrud Gilberto perform at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York, New York, circa 1964.
The Michael Ochs Archives.
Brazil is where it’s from.
Classical guitar is combined with soft, understated vocals in a smooth, jazz style. They are romantic but subtle.
In the early 20th century, samba was a style that developed in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro.
Joo Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes, and Antnio Carlos Jobim are key impressionists.
The related Genres are Samba.
During Brazil’s annual Lent carnival, Bossa Nova emerged as a softer form of the danceable samba. Joo Gilberto began experimenting with jazz sounds with his guitar in the late 1950s. The 1959 album by Brazilian singer Elizete Cardoso, Cano do Amor Demais, had Gilberto playing guitar on two tracks. Gilberto became part of a new cultural movement after releasing his debut album.
The Bossa Nova sound attracted jazz musicians like Stan Getz, who collaborated with Gilberto in the now classic 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, which included the hit “GARota de Ipanema” Brazil 66 and Sérgio Mendes pushed it further with a song.
TANGO
The Ro de la Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay are where it is from.
The bandonen is the main sound of this form. When it is sung, tango can be used to express love, decry social ills or even be a philosopher.
African rhythms brought to the Americas in the slave trade were combined with European ballroom dances.
Vicente Greco, Carlos Gardel, Astor Piazzola are some of the key impressionists.
There are related genes.
The tango originated in the dance halls and brothels of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the 19th century, as a dance form in which couples embraced. By the early 20th century, the bandonen was an essential part of tango, and it was introduced by German immigrants in the late 19th century.
Carlos Gardel recorded the first tango song, “Mi Noche Triste,” about doomed love. Gardel would go on to record hundreds of tangos. His composition is considered a masterpiece and has had multiple versions all around the world.
Gardel had a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures and produced dozens of movies. He died in a plane crash in 1935, but his music continues to be played by legions of fans.
REGGAETÓN
It is from Panama, Puerto Rico.
A syncopated beat pattern is repeated in almost every song on a loud, driving drum- machine track. Perreo is a dance move that is inspired by erotic love and the lyrics are often about it.
Jamaican Reggae and dancehall recordings are historical roots. Hip hop and the island’s folk genres of bomba and plena were incorporated by musicians.
Daddy Yankee is one of the key orignATING artists.
Dancehall, Trap, and Reggae are some of the newer genres.
When Jamaican laborers were brought to Panama to build the Panama Canal, Panamanian musicians recorded Spanish versions of Reggae songs. In the 1980s, El General and other artists began recording songs with elements of hip hop and reggae. In Puerto Rico, rapper Vico C was doing the same thing.
The term Reggaetn was first used in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s and has since been used by many artists. In 2004, albums by N.O.R.E. and Daddy Yankee became huge hits among Latinos in the United States, and other artists began traveling to Europe to perform.