Overview of “Musics of Latin America and the “Oye Como Va” Phenomenon” Chapter 11 in the textbook covers the complex dance and music genres linked to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States, and the international track of development. The main focus of this unit was the development of the Cuban Cha-Cha-Cha, including its roots and development. While we did talk about other types of Latin American music, it was brief and not more important than the Cuban development. For these reasons the main study points for me in this unit is the history of Cuban dance music and the artists who played “Oye Como Va” we discussed in class. The history of Cuban dance music starts with the African slaves that were brought there. These slaves were dropped in …show more content…
The slaves for example were allowed to have drums which the American slaves could not. The Bata Drums were sacred to the slaves of the Yoruba religion, and were used to invoke Orishas with sacred songs. Rumba was similar to Bata drumming, but was the secular version. In the 18th century, Afro-Cuban elements were infused with the European dance styles present at the time. By the early 1900s Cuba was its own country no longer under Spanish control. The Danzon and Son styles were now being played in Cuba. Danzon was considered the National dance of Cuba, and used an ensemble called a Charanga. Danzon had a more of a European feel to it. Son rivaled the Danzon and was more African. Realizing the threat from Son, many musicians began incorporating Son into the Danzon, inventing the …show more content…
He was very gifted in music even attending the Julliard School after serving in the Navy. Puente although born in the US called himself Puerto Rican and associated himself with Cuban Music. He played with Machito and the Afro Cubans, who played authentic Afro Cuban music instead of “pseudo-Latin” music. Their style was Son, but with Jazz influences and used a big band section. From this band Puente formed his own band and would be the epicenter of the mambo craze. The song Puente would be most famous for and what this chapter focuses on is “Oye Como Va’ or “See how She Moves.” This song has a Cha-Cha-Cha element to it, but Puente used a big band section, made the tempo faster, and used more syncopation, and included organ riffs and bass lines. What made the song different as well was the fact it is played in an “a” minor key, and includes vocal harmonies. This song while it took off just like the 1950s craze would fall out very quickly too. In 1970 “Oye Como Va” received a revamp from the famous Santana. Santana’s Version was more popular and gave a revival to Tito Puentes Career. This version had major changes done to it. The first change is scoring. Santana being a rock star plays an electric guitar instead of using a big band section. Santana also put his style into it by putting many blues chords into it. The flute from the original version is also gone, and the mambo section is replaced by guitar solos. Tito Puente Jr. put his
The tradition still takes place today in many areas of Mexico. However, some parts of Mexico do the dance a little differently. The dance is more common in the central regi...
Bachata is a creolized music, meaning that there is both European and African influence. It is also a descendent of a few different Dominican Republic and Cuban forms of music – primarily son, but also merengue and ranchera. Son is music of the African diaspora, commonly involved in debates of African retention. Elements of African music, such as call-and-response and preference for polyrhythm survived the middle passage and are deeply rooted in Caribbean tradition. Stringed instruments are believed to have been part of the European influence on the area, as well as harmonic patterns, as well as verse-chorus structure and prominent duple meter. Modern groups consist of two electric acoustic guitars, an electric bass guitar, a guira (A Dominican Republic percussion instrument), and bongos (Hutchinson). Bachata is thought to have originated in the rural areas, being the music of choice at rural friendly gatherings, similar to son’s roots. Bachata then migrated to the cities with the impoverished as they looked for work. With this move the music transformed into something entirely different from its romantic, seren...
Like stated before, the older version had older songs that are not as popular as they are now.
Music and dance are important parts of Peruvian culture. “Andean Folk Music is common in Peru. People perform a stylized dance to energetic music mixed with sad songs. Popular instruments include clay panpipes, flutes, conch shell trumpets, and puma-skin drums”(Falconer, Kieran, and Quek 102). The music follows themes of religion, war, and profanity. Peruvians are always found dancing, whether at a festival, carnival, or just for fun. Music shows important parts of Peruvian culture.
African music has had a major influence on Cuban culture beginning in the early 1550’s through slave trade. Thousands of slaves were brought to Spain in the 1400’s and eventually migrated to Cuba. Since these “Ladinos” were accustomed to Spanish culture and language, they easily were able to get by in Cuba and even escape slavery. As a result, Slave owners in Cuba brought more slaves directly from Africa. In 1526, a Royal Decree allowed slaves to buy their freedom, resulting in increased interaction and ethnic mixing among Cubans and Africans. All aspects of both cultures began to blend, especially among working class Cubans and Africans. Music became a common bond between the two groups
Morales, Ed. The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo, 2003. Print.
...deo to find the differences between the original and techno remix. Some of the comments made on the original video are as follows: “haha amazing. some king complimented bach on his fantastic ability once and he replied with something like "Oh it's easy, you just have to press all the right keys at all the right times and the instrument plays itself" haha”, “WOW!! It seems like you would need 5 hands to play this song!!!! Brilliant!” and “even with today's technology..it ples in comparison to hearing it played on a true pipe organ..the notes do not float together as JS Bach intended..cool job..but still enjoyable nonetheless..”.
Many say that music has evolved over the years. This essay shall explore the elements of two versions of one song. It shall discuss the correlations and disparities of these songs and confer how it has been revolutionised to entertain the audiences of today.
The origin of Mexican Folklorico dances originate from Mesoamerican days when the Mayas and the Aztecs
The Latin Americans never wanted to be left in this music development. The Latin Americans had their own music, Jazz (Gordon, 2005). They wanted to influence in the development of the music. Soon, Salsa was born out if mixture from the Jazz music and Mambo. Salsa took the bodily movements and the Cuban beats as a contribution from the Caribbean culture. The Latin America contributed the wording of Salsa music. Diversity necessitated the growth of Salsa as Mambo had been viewed with suspicion as it was linked to ghetto status hence it was
Growing up, there was never a day that I did not wake up to the sound of loud salsa music blaring. Or to the loud voices of my mother or grandmother talking. To anyone else this “talking” would surely be mistaken for an argument or fight. Cuba is where salsa music and the conga drum originated, so we tend to be very proud of this. One of the greatest salsa singer/writers was the late Celia Cruz.
...re, Robin D, (2006) Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba. University of California Press: New York
Bachata originated from the Dominican Republic in the early 20th century. During dictator Trujillo’s rule, Merengue was the official music to the nation. Because many Dominicans did not accept their African roots, their dances and rhythms were oppressed. Bachata, with its African influences, was considered crude and lower class, only played by campesinos- peasants. It was only popular in the rural parts of the Dominican Republic. However beginning in the early 60s, bachata was steady becoming tolerated, and eventually loved. (Pacini)
Which lead to very promising development in music in Latin America. A second major historical event came from slavery in the eighteenth century and before. The colonizers brought hundreds and thousands of slaves from Africa into North and South America. Along with the slaves came various musical influences like that of the drums, various performing forces like drums, and various other instruments. These, among others, are just a few major historical events which made a massive influence on Latin American
Music is a form of communication, letting others knows what is going on in the country, political, social or economic and any other problems the people of the Caribbean faced. With so many different ethnic backgrounds in the Caribbean, they are people with Asians, Indians, and Africans descents. This created a language and culture barrier but each ethnic background shared a common link music. Music bridged the gap between the different ethnicities Music is part of everyone’s culture especially here in the Caribbean. Our culture is recognized worldwide for its music. The Caribbean has different genres of music such as calypso, reggae, dance hall, zouk and many others. Our music has roots in both African and European cultures. The drum rhythm comes from the African in...