Latin/Central American Music
7th grade music technology
Eastwood Middle School
Countries of Latin/Central America
• Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, the
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin
Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Montserrat, Navassa
Island, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St.
Barthlemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Maarten,
Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands,
Virgin Islands
Influence of and on other cultures
• These countries were primarily settled by Moorish,
Spanish, Portuguese, and African peoples. The Moorish
empire dominated the Caribbean for almost 2000 years.
Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors brought slaves from
Africa with them when they conquered these countries.
• African slaves were not allowed to play instruments in
North America, but were allowed to in New Orleans (Congo
Square) as well as in the Caribbean-they were not used for
entertainment here, but rather for communication.
• Four of these countries had a large influence on U.S. music:
Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico. These countries
brought us samba, bossa nova (Brazil), tango (Argentina),
bolero (Cuba), and mariachi (Mexico) music.
Ancient Civilizations
• Much of the music from the native peoples was lost when
they were conquered by Europeans.
• Some evidence suggests Maya civilizations used
instruments: percussion and winds, with almost total
absence of strings. These were depicted in hieroglyphs and
pottery decorations. Modern Andean Indians still make
extensive use of vertical flutes and panpipes, along with
European instruments such as bass drums, harps, and
guitars of different sizes.
• Only in certain tropical areas (as the Amazon basin) are
virtually unacculturated Amerindian music found. Most
other cultures now use European instruments instead.
Calypso
• A form of music and dance of the Caribbean, calypso had
its primary development in Trinidad, where it is associated
particularly with the pre-Lenten carnival. Before the
carnival begins, musicians try out their songs nightly before
audiences in the Port of Spain. The most popular are used
during the carnival. The words of calypso songs are witty
and humorous and convey popular attitudes on social,
political, or economic problems. Rhythms are provided
most often by steel band percussion instruments, made
from the tops of oil drums. Most African forms are usually
associated with African-derived religions, such as voodoo of
Haiti and the Yoruba-oriented candomble of Brazil and
santeria of Cuba.
Carnival
• The origins of carnival date back to the ancient Greek spring festival in
honor of Dionysus, the god of wine. It has been incorporated into other
cultures such as Romans and Roman Catholics.
• The festival is a celebration of indulgences before the 40 days of Lent
when people fast and purge themselves of sin.
• Rio's lavish carnival is one of the world's most famous. Scores of
spectacular floats surrounded by thousands and thousands of dancers,
singers, and drummers parade dressed in elaborate costumes.
• Today the carnival is organized by the escolas de samba (samba schools).
They first appeared in 1928. Much more than musical groups, they are in
fact, neighborhood associations that provide a variety of community
needs (such as educational and health care resources) in a country with
grinding poverty and no social safety net.
• Salvador da Bahia was Brazil's first center of government (from 1549 to
1763), and remains its musical capital. For centuries, Bahia was home of
the Portuguese sugar industry and slave trade. As a result, today Salvador
is the largest center of African culture in the Americas.
• Bahian superstar Carlinhos Brown explains, "We play, not for money, but
to celebrate happiness. Our carnival is a street carnival. It is for everyone,
not just for those with money."
Tango
• A dance that evolved in Buenos Aires at the
end of the 19th century, the tango is probably
derived from the milonga, a lively, suggestive
Argentinian dance, and the habanera of Cuba
and the West Indies. By the 1920s, it had
become a popular ballroom dance in Europe
and the United States, and had been
transformed into a flowing, elegant series of
steps accompanied by somewhat melancholy
music with a characteristic tango beat.
Mariachi
• Mariachi music has origins deep in Mexican history.
The sound of its string instruments and its oldest
rhythms are rooted in Mexico's colonial times (15191810); people from Spain and African slaves and their
descendants mingled with hundreds of American
Indian cultures to create a new Mexican culture
marked by many regions, each with its own signature
musical tradition. Today, mariachi ensembles are part
of musical life in every country of the Americas. The
USA, the Southwest in particular, is home to many
thousands of mariachi musicians, and hundreds of
schools host mariachi education programs particularly
in the Las Vegas County Schools.
Time Line
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1920s Afro-Cuban dance music popularized in the USA by bandleader Xavier Cugat
(1900-1990). Highlife music developed in W Africa.
1930s Latin American dances like samba and rumba became Western ballroom
dances.
1940s Afro-Cuban rhythms fused with American jazz to become Cubop.
1950s The cool jazz school imported bossa nova from Brazil. US bandleader Tito
Puente (1923) popularized Latin dances mambo and cha-cha-cha. Calypso
appeared in the pop charts.
1960s Miriam Makeba took South African folk and pop to the West. The Beatles
introduced Indian sitar music. Folk rock recycled traditional songs.
1970s Jamaican reggae became international and was an influence on punk. Cuban
singer Celia Cruz established herself in the USA as the 'queen of salsa'. Malian
guitarist Ali Farka Touré (1939) brought a blues feel to traditional African melodies.
1980s World music was embraced by several established pop stars and various
African, Latin American, Bulgarian, Yemenite, and other styles became familiar in
the West. Zairean Papa Wemba was one of many Third World singers recording in
France.
1990s New fusions, such as Afro-Gaelic, punk Ukrainian, and bhangramuffin,
appeared.
Sources
• http://users.wpi.edu/~arivera/music.html
• http://www.revelsbey.com/history_of_latin_music.htm
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/wfbExt/region_cam.html
• http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/33/