Latin Pop: Music, Dance Styles, and Performers
For many years, different styles of Latin American music and dance have mixed with each other and then blended
with North American pop and jazz styles. The result is an internationally popular collection of music and dance
styles called Latin pop. The popular and varied music styles of Spanish-speaking people are vast. They are as varied
as all of the countries in which they are found. The origin of Latin pop in the Caribbean, especially in Cuba and
Puerto Rico, is the focus of this article.
Spanish colonists brought their musical styles to the Caribbean Islands in the 1500s, and they also brought slaves
to work the land. Those who arrived as enslaved people from parts of Africa (especially those from Bantu and
Yoruba cultures) brought their musical traditions with them, too. Slaves remembered the rhythms, dances, and
percussion instruments from Africa (which they re-created using materials at hand), and applied them to Spanish
songs. African religious music and dance mixed with Catholic music and religious practices. In these ways new
kinds of music were created.
Many people who live on the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic sing and play Spanish
melodies and lyrics with African rhythms. The clave rhythm, (a special two-bar rhythm that is played on claves) is
one African rhythm still used today in Cuba and many other areas. It sets the tempo and maintains it. The son is a
Cuban rhythm like the clave, but slightly more syncopated, and is also the name of a style of music that originated
in rural areas. African influence can also be found in the use of some percussion instruments that have their roots
in Africa.
Many of the original peoples living in the Caribbean perished under Spanish colonial rule. Their music is little
known and it did not survive long enough to influence styles that evolved in the Caribbean after the 1500s.
Throughout the twentieth century, many people have moved from Puerto Rico and Cuba to New York City and
Miami, Florida. Naturally, their Latin music and the African-American jazz from North America influenced each
other. One musical friendship illustrates this influence. Two trumpet players, Mario Bauzá (1911–1993) and Dizzy
Gillespie (1917–1993), became friends in the New York jazz scene. Bauzá was a Latin musician from Havanna,
Cuba, and Gillespie was a jazz musician from North Carolina. Bauzá helped get Gillespie into Cab Calloway’s band
where they played together.
Bauzá and Gillespie each moved on and began leading their own bands and incorporating musical styles they
learned from each other. Bauzá developed Afro-Cuban jazz. Gillespie added Afro-Cuban rhythms to his jazz
compositions. Two works he recorded that show Cuban influences are "Manteca" and "Cubana Be Cubana Bop."
Gillespie was the first American bandleader to feature a conga drummer.
In the 1950s, Latin dance styles like the mambo, rumba, and cha-cha-cha became popular in the United States.
Some of these couples’ dance music styles use the clave rhythm.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Latinos living in New York played urban Latin
music based on the Cuban son rhythm and style. Cuban singer Compay Segundo, a member of the band Buena Vista
Social Club, plays son music. (He is still recording and performing well into his nineties!) Some record companies
began to market this music as salsa. Like the 1950s Latin styles, salsa music is closely linked to dancing. Salsa
dancing is related to the earlier mambo.
The Spanish word salsa means "sauce" in English. Just as a sauce can be a mixture of vegetables and spices, musical
salsa is a mixture of musical ingredients, such as African rhythms and instruments, Spanish melodies and lyrics,
and urban pop. Singing star Marc Anthony, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, mixes salsa with international pop.
Today salsa music and dance are popular in cities in Latin America, North America, and many other places in the
world.
From http://www.americansabor.org/musicians/styles
From: Posted on April 9th, 2010 by dancer in Dance Styles
Dancing to this day, is the greatest way for people to enjoy music, release stress, and express themselves. Not
dancing is a beautiful and passionate as Latin dance.
In the early 16th century, many Africans were brought as slaves to various Latin and European countries. The
Africans brought their culture, especially their native rhythmic dancing with them. For recreation the African
slaves would make drums out of whatever was available. They would tap their hands and feet, making rhythms no
one had ever heard before. The Africans would then bring those rhythms alive with the native dancing! Europeans
already had their own unique type of music and dance. Eventually, the natives of other Spanish countries
immediately fell in love with the beautiful African dancing, and began to copy it, and fuse it into their own native
Latin dance. The result was variety of unique and beautiful Latin dancing styles such as merengue, salsa, bachata,
lambada, cumbia, cha cha, rueda, and many others.
Many governments and religions tried to stop this fusion of African and European dancing. However they were not
successful. Eventually as the centuries passed, Latin style music and dancing branched out even more to different
types of dancing. For example, the fusion of African and Brazilian dancing gave birth to “samba”. The mixture of
Haitian dancing in the Dominican Republic created “merengue”. The dances of the Africans mixed with the
traditional dances in Cuba to create “cha cha”, and “rumba”.
Today, Latin dance is more popular than ever. It has even become a part of American pop culture. It’s important to
appreciate its unique history.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/salsa_781/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where ( country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? ( Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the salsa. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfDVnX4j3-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7vsVvckmPs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=DGGIpjxyle8&NR=1
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/tango_794/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where (country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? (Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the tango. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qY0_zp58ow&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoaRzMZm8kQ
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/samba_782/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where (country) and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? (Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the samba. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxrzU55Z1LE&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbB2TNhhDpQ
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/merengue_755/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where ( country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? ( Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the merengue. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach
your peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9u9laxrxsw&feature=related
http://www.ehow.com/video_5773335_dance-merengue.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCObYi4dW2M
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://www.dancelovers.com/cha_cha_history.html
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where ( country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? ( Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the cha cha. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.ehow.com/video_6191337_cha_cha-dancesteps.html?wa%5Fvrid=1c2b33db%2D2461%2D4d95%2Dbcd2%2Df4b27e4dce77&wa%5Fvlsrc=continu
ous&cp=1&pid=1
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/cumbia_712/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where ( country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? ( Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance the cumbia. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlYl30Dqfc0
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.
Read the article about your Latin American music on the following website:
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/calypso_701/en_US
Answer the questions below about your music and jot down any other important information about your
music:
1. Where ( country)and when did this Latin American music originate?
2. What does the name mean?
3. Roots? ( Spanish, African, Native, etc.)
4. What instruments are used in this style of music?
Then watch the video on how to dance calypso. You will need to learn the basics so you can teach your
peers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB5G27VMpdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVfhI4vlJU4
Prepare a brief presentation that includes information about your music and a demonstration of your
dance. You may need to go online and find music to go with your dance.