Born in the Dominican Republic with the humblest of beginnings, Bachata, was a genre of music and dance that was originally unpopular, unappreciated and often deemed as vulgar and low class. Equipped with heart, hope and an indomitable spirit to be heard, Bachata persevered through the early ridicule and resistance from the more popular and prosperous styles of music such as Salsa and Merengue. Bachateros, or the male dancer or singer, continued to captivate small audiences through underground performances, celebrations, cassette recordings and the rare airtime that were reluctantly offered by local radio stations. Bachata would eventually evolve – breaking through to reach the popularity of mainstream media and becoming deeply embedded into the bodies, blood, breath and bones of dancers, artists and audiences all across the globe.
Bachateros became the bridge to cultivating both cultural and creative consciousness just as Buddha served to be the model for meditation and enlightenment. Siddhartha Guatama, known today as Buddha, meaning, “Awakened One,” was born into his role as a prince in India. After renouncing material wealth and possessions at age 29, Buddha left his palace to seek truth. It was during this journey that Buddha famously attained enlightenment by meditating under a Bodhi
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Breathe. Baila Bachata. Bowing is a gesture of humility, respect, understanding and unconditional acceptance. Breathe – your breathing, your very breath, is a bond with the pulse of our planet. Your breath is the bridge to all forms of life as it harmonizes with the heart of Heaven and the energy of Earth. Baila Bachata – to dance Bachata – is to engage, explore and examine the extraordinary expressions of everyday life. Sing, celebrate and savor the strength and sincerity of our stars, sands and seas. Every moment is a dance when you awaken to artistic abundance and ascension – your very existence is a
Ross, Karl. "Bachata: The Other Dance Music - Once Confined to Girlie Bars and Brothels, the Dominican Republic's Bachata Is Making Inroads in the Latin Music Mainstream." Billboard - The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment Apr 28 2001: Sec Latin Music 6,Pack: LM-36. ProQuest. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Den Tandt, Catherine and Richard A. Young. “Tradition and transformation in Latin American music.” The Cambridge Companion to Modern Latin American Culture. Ed. John King. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Dance is just as important and music in Afro-Cuban Culture. The music is made to be danced to, and most of the popular Cuban dances that exist today are of African decent. The most popular are the rumba, danzon, and son. Especially among the working class poor, dancing and music was simply a way to blow off steam and have a good time.
It is generally agreed that the Buddha was born in 563 BC in Kapilavastu to the ruler of a small kingdom. He grew up with luxuries and had a sheltered life. When he was 29 he came to realize that hi life up to this point had been so empty. He let go any earthly attachments and soon set out to find peace and enlightenment trying to steer away from the cycles of rebirths. He started practicing Yoga and "adopted a life of radical asceticism." He soon gave up this way of thinking and focused on "a middle path between the life of indulgence and that of self-denial." After a time of great inner struggle, he began to wander to different places and preach and organized a monastic community know as the sangha.
In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, leave their sheltered lives as Brahmins, Hindu priests, to be Samanas, ascetics who deny themselves all pleasure. Some years after, they meet the Buddha, whom Govinda stays with to be a monk while Siddhartha leaves to continue on his own adventures. Toward the end of their lives, they meet again at a river bank and discover if they have truly achieved inner peace. Hesse uses Govinda as a contrast to Siddhartha. As displayed in excursions with the Samanas, with the Buddha, and on other adventures, Siddhartha is a character who is more independent and must learn on his own while Govinda is more dependent and feels he must be taught.
After many years of seeking answers to his questions, particularly about suffering and death, Siddhartha came to a revelation and decided to adopt a path of moderation known as the Middle path, which found ground somewhere in between self-indulgence and asceticism. According to legend, Siddhartha sat under what is known as the Bodhi Tree and meditated intensely until at last he achieved Enlightenment when he reached a state of profound understanding. From that point on he was known as the Buddha. (Molloy 127)...
Buddhism originated from India, and was founded by Prince Siddharta Gautama, who later came to be known as Buddha, or the enlightened one. Born of a princely caste, he later renounced his comfortable life in search for nirvana. In order to do that, he joined a band of ascetic, who was a group of Hindu priests. In his teaching, the Buddha taught his followers to follow "the middle way", that is, not the way of extreme asceticism. He attained full understanding of the nature of being by meditation and after his success, decided to impart his knowledge to those who follow him .
Bachata music comes from the Dominican Republic. Early bachata musicians or “bachateros” adopted the style from other genres such as Bolero and Merengue. “The genres differ in terms of instrumentation for the music, too. Merengue music tends to use saxophones. Salsa is characterized by drums and horns. Bachata depends upon the guitar and the güira for its distinctive sound.”(Udemy). It is to be noted that most bachata songs
Cumbia originated in the coastal region of Colombia in the early 1800’s. There were three predominant cultures in Colombia at that time: the indigenous peoples, the Spaniards, and the African slaves. The cumbia began with the essential instrumentation of the tambor drums and the gaita flutes, which derive from both indigenous and Congo-based African roots. The genre was entertainment for the slaves, beginning as a courtship dance. It later became an outlet for national resistance and protest as Colombia was contesting for its independence. The music was able to diffuse throughout the nation, spreading from the coast, primarily for the reason that many African populations were scattered in various regions. Barranquilla, a port city in Colombia, was the core of where the music became established and played for the masses, and where instruments such as horns and bass began to be incorporated into cumbia, giving it a more Latin feel. As cumbia evolved and spread to Mexico around the 1930’s, it changed from the influence o...
During my visit, I was able to observe different dances that were very interesting. Two dances that caught my attention were the “Toro Mambo” representing the state of Sinaloa and “Payasos of Tlaxcala” representing Tlaxcala. The “Toro Mambo” from the region of Sinaloa is one of the most popular dances in Mexico. The dance is really interesting for the reason that it represents a story in where a bull would dance on a place known as the “mambo.” In this folk dance the dancer do movements at the same paste while trying to imitate how the bull would dance. In this dance the women wear long colorful dresses to represent joy and in order to move the skirts higher. In contrast, the men wear light color shirts and jeans that matches with their partner. In the other side the dance of the “Payasos de Tlaxcala” represents a story of a festival in the region of Tlaxcala. To perform this dance men and women dress like clowns in colorful outfits to amuse the people in the festival. During the dance, the dancers try to satisfy the public by putting humor in the dance and doing crazy movements. This dances are both very great and enjoyable to watch. It is amazing how you could learn so much in a little bit of time and in a beautiful art
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
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama is the historical founder of Buddhism, and naturally his name expresses numerous myths. The records from ancient times suggest that Socrates was born to a family of a sculptor during the Peloponnesian war. He was married to a shrew, and had trivial financial independence. In opposition, the historical Buddha was a splendid prince, who floundered in luxury with his wife in the genial palaces which kept ignorant of the wretchedness of the world. . Once he discovered the austere reality, he took the path of a loner and by trial-and-error method, from practicing extreme austerities to meditation; he reached enlightenment. (Socrates Biography)
Grinberg played Partita No.4 in D Major (1728) by renowned composer J.S Bach. Bach was a prolific composer, composing over 1,000 compositions for the keyboard, and is revered for his work 's musical complexities and stylistic innovations. The partita that was played was one of his six partitas, which are stylized dance suites. Like Scarlatti’s sonatas, Bach’s partitas were originally composed for keyboard practice; they were not intended to be performed. Also similar to Scarlatti’s sonatas, Bach’s partita was cast in the popular baroque binary form. The Partita was spontaneous in structure; each movement began with a different structure. The partita opened with a French overture. The first movement had a slow, dotted rhythm, while the second movement exhibited a livelier rhythm with imitative polyphony, a texture that was favored in Baroque compositions. Next there were two dance suites, an Allemande moderately paced in quadruple meter, followed by a Courante, which is paced in triple meter for a livelier beat. Like Scarlatti, Bach’s musical works were also creative and inventive, making them somewhat ahead of their time. After the two dance suites, Bach added an unusual additional movement titles “Air” which took the form of an area. The remaining three dance suites were a Spanish Sarabande, the same dance suite that Handel used in his Chaconne in G major. The Sarabande uses a chromatic scale with dissonant harmonies, which we hear a lot of in the Baroque era. Next came a French minuet, cast in triple meter. Later on in the Classical period, every symphony and string quartet would include a minuet as the moderate third movement. The fourth and final movement of the Partita was an exhilarating gigue in which Bach creatively inverted the subject. Although this was a particularly long piece, Bach’s rhythmic vitality and creativity made this work very festive and enjoyable to listen
The Latin American music scene is an amazingly diverse, engaging and entertaining music culture. Thomas (2011) explains, “…Latin American music has engaged in ongoing dialogue and cultural exchange that has profoundly affected music making in Europe and the United States and, more recently, in Africa and Asia as well”. This paper will be describing different aspects of the music culture from its musical features, to the historical aspect of this interesting music culture. Also, I will discuss a personal experience with Latin American music. After researching the music culture, I attended a concert performed by Boogat, an Emmy award nominated Latin American musician from Quebec who has toured all over North America. Latin American music culture
The word tango is most likely from African origin and referred to popular music and dance celebrations that the slaves performed throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic coastal regions. The genre overlapped with milonga, candombe and the Cuban habanera. During the 20th century, around the time that the urbanized samba emerged in Brazil, the tango emerged as an independent dance genre. The rioplatense tango arose in poverty stricken areas known as arrabeles in the outskirts of Buenos Aires and Montevido. The compadrito was a quintessential early figure that emerged out of the arrabales; his dress and behavior mocked the elite, posing as an arrogant bully. He blended gaucho and immigrant characteristics and spoke lunfardo (a dialect with references to the criminal underworold). Most people considered him vulgar and disreputable but many secretly admired his provocative sensuality. The first stage of tango history is known as Guardia Vieja and lasted until 1920. During the period, the tango emerged as a genre of instrumental music based on a three-part form with different sections. The Guardia Veja ensembles had one violin, flute, guitar, and bandoneón (an accordion-like instrument of German origin associated with the tango that is also used in contemporary traditional music ensembles. It has 38 buttons in the upper and middle registers and 33 buttons in the lower register. What is argued to be the most famous tango ever written was “La cumparsita” (“The Little Carnival Procession”) by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez in 1917. Early tangos used rhythms related to the habanera and milonga in duple meter, but bandleaders began to slow the tempo and adopted a quadruple meter with sharp accents during the 1910s. The marcato and sincopa characterize...