ABOUT LATIN MUSIC

Here you will find a simple and short explanation about different kinds of Latin Music with a Video of one of the most important artist or orquest of each genre.

SALSA (The most famous Latin Genre)

  Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Latin American Caribbean genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad that was brought to international fame by Puerto Ricans. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and variations; the term can be used to describe most any form of popular Cuban-derived genre, such as chachachá and Son. Most specifically, however, salsa refers to a particular style developed in the 1960s and '70s by Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants to the New York City area, and stylistic descendants like 1980s salsa romantica. The style is now practiced throughout Latin America, and abroad. Salsa's closest relatives are Cuban mambo and the son orchestras of the early 20th century, as well as Latin jazz.

  The terms Latin jazz and salsa are sometimes used interchangeably; many musicians are considered a part of either, or both, fields, especially performers from prior to the 1970s. Salsa is essentially Cuban in stylistic origin, though it is also a hybrid of Puerto Rican and other Latin styles mixed with pop, jazz, rock, and R&B. Salsa is the primary music played at Latin dance clubs and is the "essential pulse of Latin music", according to Ed Morales, while music author Peter Manuel called it the "most popular dance (music) among Puerto Rican and Cuban communities, (and in) Central and South America", and "one of the most dynamic and significant pan-American musical phenomena of the 1970s and 1980s". Modern salsa remains a dance-oriented genre and is closely associated with a style of salsa dancing.

TIMBA

  This is the Cuban “counterpart” of salsa music, and is often and wrongly understood to be a sub-category of salsa. However, the historical development of timba has been quite independent of the development of salsa in the United States, Puerto Rico and other Latin countries, and the music has its own trademark aspects. Though quite similar to salsa on the surface of things, timba has certain qualities of its own which distinguish it from salsa. In general, timba is considered to be a highly aggressive type of music, with rhythm and "swing" taking precedence over melody and lyricism. More specifically, timba differs from salsa in orchestration and arrangement. Many timba artists readily concede that they have been more influenced by funk or soul than by salsa.

MERENGUE

  Is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the Spanish name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar. It is unclear as to why this name became the name of the music. Perhaps, it can trace its meaning from the movement on the dance floor that could remind one of an egg beater in action. This style of music was created by Ñico Lora, a Dominican of Spanish descent, in the 1920s. In the Dominican Republic it was promoted by Rafael Trujillo, the dictator from the 1930s through the early 1960s, and became the country’s national music and dance style, while in the United States it was popularized by Angel Viloria and his band Conjunto Típico Cibaeño.

It was during the Trujillo era that the popular merengue song, "Compadre Pedro Juan", by Luis Alberti, became an international hit.

BACHATA

  Is a genre of music that originated in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. In fact, the original term used to name the genre was amargue ("bitterness," or "bitter music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular. The form of dance, Bachata, also developed with the music

The typical bachata group consists of five instruments: Requinto (or lead guitar), rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, bongos and güira. Bachata groups mostly play an evolved style of bolero, but when they instead play merengue based bachata, the percussionist will switch from bongo to a tambora drum. In the 1960s and 70s, maracas were used instead of guira.

The change in the 1980s from maracas to the more versatile guira was made as bachata was becoming more dance oriented. José Manuel Calderón is credited as having recorded the first bachata singles: (“Borracho de amor” and “Que será de mi (Condena)”) released on 45rpm in 1961.

THE PERUVIAN VALS (Waltz)

  Known in Peru as Música Criolla, is an adaptation of the European Waltz brought to the Americas during colonial times by Spain. In the Viceroyalty of Peru, the Waltz was slowly changed to the likings of the Criollo people. After the independence of Peru, the dance became symbolic of that nations culture as it gained widespread popularity in the country. By that point, the introduction of more musical styles (including African and Andean influences) made it characteristic of the Peruvian music genre known as Música criolla. Even though the dance was at first mainly restricted to the social classes of high status, during the 1930s it further expanded in the Peruvian middle and lower class neighborhoods.

  In the 1940s, composer and guitarist Oscar Aviles created a unique sound that made the now called Vals Criollo and music more distinct from the European Waltz and other dances of South America such as the Tango. By the 1950s, popular composer and singer Chabuca Granda helped in making the music widely known throughout Latin America, and the name Vals Peruano in time became used to refer to the dance in countries outside of Peru. At the height of its national and international popularity, the sounds of the 1970s were introduced into the Vals Peruano by musicians and singers such as Lucha Reyes. In modern times, the Vals Peruano remains a widely popular symbol of Peruvian culture and still holds an important degree of popularity in Latin American society.

BOLERO

 Is a name given to certain slow, romantic latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms, which are both significant, and which have separate origins, any way, this kind of music has been reinvented in other Latin countries like Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

   The term is also used for some art music. In all its forms, the bolero has been popular for over a century, and still is today. In Cuba, the bolero is perhaps the first great Cuban musical and vocal synthesis to win universal recognition In 2/4 time, this dance music spread to other countries. The Cuban bolero traveled to Mexico and the rest of Latin America after its conception, where it became part of their repertoires.

  Some of the bolero's leading composers have come from nearby countries, most especially the great and prolific Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández; another example being Mexico's Agustín Lara

TANGO

  Is a style of music that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, doublebass, and two bandoneons.

   Earlier forms of this ensemble sometimes included flute, clarinet and guitar. Tango music may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music is well-known across much of the world, along with the associated tango dance.

  The deep roots of Tango music are not fully known, but it can safely be assumed that it is a combination of musical traditions from Spain, West Africa, Central Europe and North America, in chronological order.

  The first Tango ever recorded was made by Angel Villoldo and played by the French national guard in Paris. Villoldo had to record in Paris because in Argentina at the time there was no recording studio. Early tango was played by immigrants in Buenos Aires. The first generation of tango players was called "Guardia Vieja" (the Old Guard). By the end of the 19th century, this blend of salon, European and African music was heard throughout metropolitan Buenos Aires. It took time to move into wider circles: in the early 20th century it was the favorite music of thugs and gangsters who visited the brothels, in a city with 100,000 more men than women (in 1914). The complex dances that arose from this rich music reflects the habit of men to practice tango together in groups, expressing both machismo and sexual desire, leading to the distinct mix of sensitivity and aggressiveness of the form.

PASILLO

  Is a genre of music extremely popular in Ecuador, where it is the "national genre of music." It is also present in the mountainous regions of Colombia, Panama, Curacao and Venezuela, to a lesser extent.

Today, it has incorporated more European features of classical dance, such as a waltz. As it spread during the Gran Chaco period, pasillo also absorbed the individual characteristics of isolated villages. This gives it an eclectic feel; however, the style, tone, and tempo of the music differ in each village.

In its waltz, pasillo alters the classically European dance form to accompany guitar, mandolin, and other string instruments.

VALLENATO

  Along with cumbia, is presently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in northeast Colombia. The name also applies to the people from the city where this genre originated: Valledupar (from the place named Valle de Upar - "Valley of Upar").

  This form of music originated from farmers who, keeping a tradition of Spanish minstrels (Juglares in Spanish), mixed also with the West African-inherited tradition of griots (African version of juglar), who used to travel through the region with their cattle in search of pastures or to sell them in cattle fairs.

  Because they traveled from town to town and the region lacked rapid communications, these farmers served as bearers of news for families living in other towns or villages. Their only form of entertainment during these trips was singing and playing guitars or gaita flute, and their form of transmitting their news was by singing their messages.

Bron: Wikipedia