Chapter 11
‘See How She Moves’:
Musics of Latin America and the “Oye
Como Va” Phenomenon
What is Latin American music?
General: All music related to “Latin America” and its
international and diasporic extensions
Unit Specific: A particular complex of dance-music
genres linked to a Cuba/Puerto Rico/US/international
track of development
Key Musical Focus: “Oye Como Va”
Key Cultural Focus: Musicultural history of pan-Latino
culture and society, with specific focus on:
Cha cha chá
Newyorican music/culture
Tito Puente
Latin dance music (‘specific’ definition)
Commercial music industry
Key Musical Recordings,
“Oye Como Va”
Tito Puente (original, 1963)
Santana (1970)
Tito Puente Jr. (2004 [1996])
Key Genres,
Related Historical Developments
West African and Spanish Roots (batá drumming, Santería,
rumba)
Creolized Cuban dance-music forms of early 20th c.
(contradanza, danzón, charanga, mambo, danzón-mambo, son,
original cha cha chá)
Stateside developments (mambo, big band mambo, cha cha
chá, salsa, Latin jazz, Latin rock, Latino pop)
Key Names
Tito Puente, Carlos Santana (and the band Santana), Tito
Puente Jr., Arcaño y sus Maravillas (Antonio Arcaño, Orestes
brothers), Enrique Jorrin, Machito and the Afro-Cubans (incl.
Mario Bauzá), Tito Rodríguez
A Select Survey
South America, Mexico, Caribbean
Brazil
Samba
Bossa Nova
Tropicália
Samba
Umbrella term describing many genres, all with African
origins and characteristics
Polyrhythmic textures, call-and-response,
improvisational elements
Samba-enredo is associated with Rio’s enormously
popular Carnival celebration, which occurs the five days
before Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent)
Bossa Nova
Originated in the 1950s in the mostly white, middleclass area of Rio de Janeiro
Incorporates rhythms of music of the favelas, along with
popular music, American jazz, Brazilian choro
Laid back and subdued style. The vocals are hushed,
almost whispered.
Tropicália
Emerged in the 1960s during a time of political crisis
Influenced by bossa nova, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, James
Brown, tango, African musics, Bahian musics
Os Mutantes
“Cannibalization”
Trinidad
Carnival
Rather than a Catholic holiday, Trinidad treats Carnival
as a nationalized secular event.
The highlight is Panorama, in which huge steel bands
compete against each other.
The instruments (pans or steel drums) were historically
made from oil drums left by the United States Navy in
the 1940s
Argentina and
Uruguay
Tango
Influenced by Spanish flamenco, Italian song, European
polka, African-derived rhythms, and Cuban dancemusic styles
Developed in the 19th century Buenos Aires in brothels,
bars
Spread throughout Argentina and Europe in the 20th
century
Andean Music
Folk and folkloric
traditions of:
Bolivia
Peru
Cosmopolitan/international market
Rural communities in the Andean highlands use music
in ritual and daily life: seasonal observances,
agricultural rituals, life-cycle events, and religious
ceremonies.
Egalitarianism is encoded through music: instrumental
pairs operate together to achieve the entire seven-note
scale. The interlocking parts are nonfunctional when
played separately.
Folkloric forms modernist-cosmopolitan;
commodification of “Andean authenticity”
Mexico
Mariachi
Mariachi is the best-known genre of Mexican music,
functioning additionally as a national symbol.
Mariachi is also identified with unfortunate stereotypes,
and has been exploited in the promotion of these
negative identifications (Frito Bandito, Speedy
Gonzales)
Mariachi moderno often features trumpets, violins,
vihuela, guitar, and guitarron.
Cuba, Creolization, and Roots
of Latin Dance Music
Afro-Cuban Roots
Spanish Colonization, 1492
Santería (Regla de Ocha = Orisha religion)
Syncretic religion based on West African Ifa
religion of the Yoruba
Batá drumming: sacred, 3 drums; songs in sacred
rituals devoted to the pantheon of orisha
Rumba: secular “counterpart”
Afro-Cuban Roots
Rumba: features conga drums, clave (rhythm) [Figure
11.1, Online Musical Illustration #25], claves
(instrument), call-and-response, polyrhythms, dancing,
social celebration
Different varieties include Yambu, Colombia,
guaguancó (dance flirtatious for guaguancó)
Spanish-Cuban Roots
Other half of the syncretic equation
Latter 18th century: Imported European dances
(contradanza, danzón, etc.) infused with Afro-Cuban
(Yoruba, Congolese) elements. The resulting syncretic
dance forms became important symbols of a new,
increasingly multiracial Cuban national identity.
The Danzón-Mambo
Danzón-Mambo
An Afro-Cubanized version of the preceding danzón,
developed chiefly by the charanga group Arcaño y sus
Maravillas.
Additions included conga drums and a cowbell
African influence especially present in the mambo sections,
which use repetition and textures featuring layered ostinatos
Enrique Jorrin
and the Cuban Cha Cha Chá
Enrique Jorrin
Violinist and bandleader
Jorrin developed the Cuban
cha cha chá in 1950
Rhythmic simplification
and easy dance steps made
for accessability,
marketability in U.S. and
internationally
Enrique Jorrin
Originally played by a charanga, a sweet sounding
ensemble featuring flute as solo instrument, violins, and
no brass.
Basic rhythm:
1 - 2 cha-cha-cha.
Musical
Guided
Tour
Latin Percussion Rhythms of the Cha Cha Chá, 248
Audio Musical Guided Tour
Mambo
(Big Band Mambo)
Mambo
Along with Cha Cha Chá, mambo is the other Cuban dance
music that influenced “Oye Como Va”
Originally from Cuba, but a ‘hotter’ style was developed
by Newyoricans, immigrant Puerto Ricans, and immigrant
Cuban bandleaders in NYC in 1950 (examples: Tito Puente,
Tito Rodriguez, Machito)
Big band mambo = combination of son, mambo, other
Cuban styles, American jazz and popular music
Features of the Genre
Big band instrumentation (saxophones, trumpets,
trombones, rhythm section incl. Latin percussion)
Layered ostinato textures (especially horn section)
Driving, Afro-Cuban percussion rhythms
Jazz influences (instrumentation, harmony, improv)
Fast tempos, high energy
Absence or limited use of singing
Tito Puente, the Newyorican
Connection, and Latino/American
Music Culture in NYC

Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Newyorican musicians and
bandleaders

Post-WWII: massive migration, Puerto Rico and Cuba
to USA

Pérez Prado - “Mambo #5” (1949)

Palladium Ballroom (1949)

Mambo craze (1950s)
Insights and
Perspectives
Machito and the Afro-Cubans in
the History of Latin Dance
Music, 251
CD ex. # 4-6

Machito and the Afro-Cubans was an important Latin
dance band. They formed the link between Cuban
dance music in Cuba and Cuban-derived dance music in
New York.

They formed in 1940 and were enormously successful,
appearing in ballrooms, Hollywood films, and more.

They forged an innovative musical approach that
combined classic son with jazz big band and
improvisers like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
Insights and
Perspectives
The Palladium Ballroom

The Palladium ballroom was home to musical battles
between groups like Puente’s and Machito’s. It was a
hotbed of multicultural interaction.

Latin music historian Max Salazar described the
Palladium an agent of profound social change in
American society, as many cultural groups joined
together to dance.
“Oye Como Va”
Tito Puente, 1963 (El Rey Bravo)
CD ex. #4-7
Guided Listening Experience
and Quick Summary, 252-255
New Sounds,
New Times:
“Oye Como Va,”
the Santana
Version

1968 - Formation of the band Santana

Latin rock

1969 - Santana (first album)

1970 - Abraxas released with two major hits (“Oye
Como Va,” “Black Magic Woman”)
“Oye Como Va”
Santana, 1970 (Abraxas)
CD ex. #4-8
Guided Listening Experience
and Quick Summary, 258-260
“Oye Como Va”
and Pan-Latino Identity
Santana’s “Oye” Impact
and Tito Puente
Put Latin music into the rock/pop music mainstream
Revitalized the career of Tito Puente
Led to broad awareness of Latin music that stimulated
growth of salsa and Latin jazz (1970s)
Symbol and marker of new pan-Latino identity/social
consciousness
Puente and Santana = cultural icons, pan-Latino symbols
of pride
“Oye Como Va”:
The Next Generation
Tito Puente Jr., 2004* (Tito Puente Jr.:
Greatest Club Remixes) [*remix of
1996 original]
Guided Listening Experience, 267-269
CD ex. #4-10
Born in 1971, he studied percussion, piano, arranging
and producing with his father
Moved to Miami as a young adult
1996: Guarachando, with Latin Dance style at its core.
Hit single was his Latin Dance cover of “Oye Como
Va,” which won a Latin Music Award
Puente Jr. prefers the 2004 remix
Tito Puente Jr: Into the
Future, Back to the Past
En Los Pasos de Mi Padre (In My Father’s
Shoes), 2004
Big 3 Palladium Orchestra