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...
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...atin American popular idioms. Sonia Possetti is a leading contemporary tango artist that has formed a sextet including the unusual addition of a trombone. POssetti is receptive to the possibility of assimilating outside influences, as she is fully aware of the political implications of creating and performing tango in a country controlled by globalized economic and cultural interests. She uses the standard percussion with djembe, cymbals, bongo, and wood block. Possetti’s “Bullanguera” is based on a milonga rhythm that first sounded in the djembe, a large African hand drum. She layers a salsa clave pattern in the percussion over the milonga foundation. Jazz techniques, improvised solos and sixteen bar progressions add new dimensions to the piece. Her conception remains true to the roots of the tango, yet engages with a sophisticated range of current popular musics.
How did Cuba and Brazil affect popular music, culture and dance in the 1940’s and 50’s? In this investigation I am going to establish what affects Cuba and Brazil had on popular music and dance. The first thing I’m going to do is discover how the music from Cuba and Brazil spread to America, the center of music. While doing my research I will be looking at what types of music were popular in Cuba and Brazil during the 40’s and 50’s as well as how these types of music affected American popular music. Two of the sources I used in this essay, Latin Music USA and Music in Brazil will then be evaluated. To evaluate textual sources I will look at who wrote them and compare them with other sources. For evaluation of movies I will figure out who produced the movie, learn about the people who were interviewed, and compare the information to my other sources.
The instrument we chose to do our project on is a percussion instrument. This percussion instrument is called the guiro. The guiro is used as a counterpoint in folk music. It is less commonly used in salsa bands. The guiro is usually accompanied by dancers. The calabazo, the guayo, the ralladura, and the rascador are all other names that are used to call the guiro. The guiro contains two pieces. The first piece is the main part known as the guiro. The second piece is the scraper. The scraper is also known as the pua.
Undoubtedly, music is one of the most powerful forms of expression human beings have at their disposal. While composers and musicians often use music to communicate emotions, thoughts and feelings, music can also reflect the traditions, history and beliefs of a culture. Historically, some composers have used music to protest the actions of their country, but many nationalist composers have used music to reflect pride in their country. Music and folk songs are a large part of every culture’s identity. During the twentieth century, Heitor Villa-Lobos impacted the cultural identity of Brazil through the creation of compositions that reflect his upbringing and cultural heritage. Not only were his works considered historic moments in the establishment of a truly Latin American identity, his compositions also blazed a new path for a new generation of innovative Latin American artists. The music of Heitor Villa-Lobos reflects the history of his culture and his identity as an individual. Villa-Lobos respected his heritage and culture while continuing innovate and inspire his peers. The works of Heitor Villa-Lobos are an integral part of Latin American culture, yet he is often overlooked in the repertoire of Western classical music. This composer used his heritage, background and individuality to create classical music that reflects his experiences and the society in which he lived. Villa-Lobos captured the spirit of the nineteenth century nationalist movement and transcended the established rules and expectations of Western classical music in order to create music that was a true expression of his identity and culture.
This dance is a very close partner dance, it brings the dancers closer together, which allows the dance flow more. It originated in Buenos Aires in working class ports in the area of Rio de La Plata. Tango dancers would go to brothels where there will be many immigrants of different races, and they will dance closely together, which brought upon Tango. The brothels also consisted of prostitutes, in which they were used to dance with men. Tango was considered an action where a prostitute and the pimp would dance, and the women were obscene by society. This “acting out” allowed both men and women to rub their bodies together. Due to Tango being a “close dance”, some women would have to wear bumpers to protect themselves from rubbing against their male partners because it felt weird to them. Tango’s popularity came from the lack of women. This absence of women caused men to compete with each other to attract a woman by their moves, which caused the men to dance with each
Originally, Mexican music incorporated rattles, flues, drums and shell horns. Over time however, the people of Mexico altered the Spanish theatrical orchestra and made it their own. In addition to what was already being used by the Spanish, the Mexican people included trumpets, guitars, and even violins. The mariachis – or singers of the rancheras – also incorporated ‘gritos’ or shouts into their songs. Sociocultural analysts have theorized that The ranchera was always used as a form of communication by the mariachis, especially to the opposite sex. It was also meant to be the ‘music of the people’ since it had rural roots, so it appealed to lower class commoners. It was not only song however, it also incorporated dance. The dance style was known as Zapateado, this was a style that originated from Spain where performers would dig the heels of their shoes into the dance floor while pounding out rhythms that aligned with the mariachi musical instruments. Mariachis covered the exuberant highs, muted lows, and personal growth of all the people through these energetic styles. Today, Mariachis can be found performing rancheras to celebrate important events of all Latino people – not just
It is regular to see a vocalist ad libbing décimas as verses of a melody, and couples moving the zapateo, despite the fact that the last have been as of late substituted by the child. This Cuban musical type is additionally surely
This piece really meant a lot to me since this composer is from Uruguay and my family is from Uruguay, specifically my father. So I am just glad that my family enjoyed it because I dedicated my performance to them. The tango is a form of dance and the piece apparently does not conflict with tango at all. It actually involves a horse race and this man in love with women and gambling. At the horse race, there is a prestigious young new horse ready to make a name for himself and there is also an old horse who is a legend are the horse races. In the end, the piece really starts to pick up in tempo and rhythm wise because the race is coming to a close. Consequently, the older horse is much wiser than the younger horse because he manages to stick his head to win the race; that is why the piece is called “Por Una Cabeza”, translation, by one head.
Music comes in many shapes and forms, and has been a magical element of inspiration and encouragement throughout time. The art of music derives from many different things, such as culture and traditions. One such type of music is mariachi music, deriving from Mexican culture and traditions. Mariachi music is often an upbeat rhythm, consisting of a band of up to six to eight violins, two trumpets and a guitar. Unlike modern music and other music bands alike, mariachi bands lack in numbers when it comes to band size. Though they are small, their music brings great significance and life to the places they perform and the people that they touch with their joyous music. In this paper, I will be comparing the culture and style of mariachi music to twentieth century modern music.
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.
I will also show how he incorporates two of the most important folk music genres into his compositions such as “Joropo” and “Merengue.” These rhythms and musical genres are also the most common used by Jorge Montilla and Venez...
The instruments used for this song is of a standard rock band; lead vocalist, electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. The genre for this song is determined by the steady and yet simplistic instruments used in this version. An interesting note is that the chorus is in the genre of rock but the verses combine the genres tango and reggae. This could be because merging these three different styles of music attracted the attention of youth more with rock being rebellious at that time and tango and reggae having a heavy beat for that time period. ...
This topic is worthy of investigation because much of the history of the tango is laced with myth and uncertainties. It is important to understand all the different view and facts of its origin. Also, the importance of how uncertain start turned into a dance, type of music, attitude, and way of life that has greatly affected Argentina and many parts of the world, with focus on Argentina.
It is surprising to know that I have actually come to greatly appreciate dance and the many nuances it has to it, in terms of style and technique. Seeing actual Rutgers students go up and perform these dances was really spectacular and enjoyable. I can truly say that I enjoyed all the performances for what they were and was able to value something about each one of them. Although I will say, my favorite performance definitely had to be “Moonlight”! The choreographer for this dance is Randy James and the dance initially started with 28 dancers. After the start, the dance then goes to primarily become a duet or Pas de Deux as we learned in lecture. I chose to write about “Moonlight” because I felt a lot of emotion from it and I am actually friends
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.
Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since before the birth of the earliest human civilizations. An early use of dance may have been as a precursor to ecstatic trance states in healing rituals. It is used for this purpose by many cultures from the Brazillian rainforest to the Kalahari Desert. Medieval European dances were thought to have protected participants from disease. One of the earliest uses of dance was in the performance and in telling of myths. Dance