The Developmental Process of Latin American Music - Literature review Example

How Latin American Music Has Developed of of According to Slonimsky (1946), the history music of Latin America, unlike the European music history, does not exhibit a linear pattern of development. Rather this music evolved from a series of unplanned and accidental events that startled various surprises. Though one can argue that people’s cultures are always accidental, the point being stressed in the case of the origins of Latin American music is its arbitrary nature, as well as its violent roots. Presently, the music associated with Latin American counties has been said to have originated from three main cultural phenomena: Europeans, local Americans and people of the African origins (Tiemstra, 1992). As much as the actual origins of Latin music cannot be traced properly, this paper is going to explore the origins and developmental process of this music. Also it will present the transformations that have taken place in this field of art from the ancient times to the present. The Development Process The actual origins of Latin American music cannot be traced easily, however, various explanations have been put up explaining this. Tiemstra (1992) suggests that one of the major explanations is cultural interactions: people from the European countries moved to America and were later followed by the African slaves. The two traditions together with the American one mixed and came up with an impure culture. Latin American music is a form of art which is associated with countries of Latin America, such as Cuba, and it is usually popular due to its unique rhythmical structures. Slonimsky (1946) explains it is both vocal as well as instrumental and formally derived from African traditional ceremonies. Its main characteristic is the unique rhythm it exhibits when numerous rhythms are played together to produce one exiting rhythm. Traditionally, the music was played using percussion and other string instruments like the timbales, guitar, tres, congas and the bongo (Thompson & Chase, 1947). With developments in the music industry, instruments like guitars were replaced by the piano and other instruments such as trumpets, trombones, woodwinds and the bass to play riffs and also melodies. The exiting rhythm produced in Latin music is normally called “clave” which has a pattern of 2-3, and it is the basis of all the music of Cuba (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). The clave can be said to be a rhythmic pattern that is syncopated which is the revolution point of the band and is normally played using two sticks. In describing the form exhibited by the Latin music Bloomington & In Orrego (1971) say that it is usually played using three main forms. One starts with a long verse of introduction which is then followed by a section known as montuno; here the band plays an instrument called vamp. This instrument is blended appropriately with other instruments such as the mambo in order to build intensity (here the front line members play riffs of the contrasting nature). Finally, the whole choir members shift their focus to the verse, and close their presentation with a coda, which is a way of closing a piece which is precise and predetermined (Tiemstra, 1992). Having described and presented what Latin music is one needs to understand the developments that have taken place in this music. Bloomington & In Orrego (1971) assert that even before the colonial era the people who were involved in this music industry were mainly the Amerindian, Europeans mainly the Iberian, Mestizo as well as Africans. It was a mixed cultured scenario and the music which was played at this time reflected a multi-cultured origin. However, the emergence of the colonial era between the 16th to 19th centuries marked a major transformation in Latin music history. Majority of the people with Amerindian origin were decimated and many of their traditional musical instruments destroyed together with their Iberians people’s culture (Thompson & Chase, 1947). Currently, there is very little evidence remaining indicating the existence of the music before the colonial period. Fortunately, the few Iberians who survived long after the colonial period struggled to maintain their identity (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). They retained some of their genres in forms that indicate their origins. Iberian origins are reflected in many of these genres including song as well as dance. Such genres are mostly accompanied by musical instruments such as guitars, harps and fiddles. Moreover, many of their songs have a Spanish origin, for example, the copla song and the common decima. On the other hand, their dances include the Cuban punto, Bolivian cueca, Venezuelan joropo, the Mexican corridor and the Brazilian desafio. Slonimsky (1946) explains that most of these songs and dances are performed in couples and are characterized by activities such as tapping of shoes and waving of the scarf. Nevertheless, Latin music could not have escaped the African influences since the Africans had a very strong cultural orientation (Tiemstra, 1992). The slave trade left the Caribbean region with a lot of people of the African origin who eventually became the African American. Some of the main African features that were incorporated in these songs include polyrhythm, use of short phrases which are recurring, use of musical figure in a repeated manner and the singing in a call-and-response manner. African musical instruments are also common here though some have been found to be altered in one way or another (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). These instruments include: iron gongs, rattles (such as shekere), long drums and thumb piano (called marimbula). For instance, the currently used steel drum of the Trinidads evolved from ensembles, which is some type of African drum. Consequently, when talking about Latin music one cannot forget to mention Calypso music. According to Bloomington & In Orrego (1971), this is a Caribbean type of music as well as dance which originated from the Trinidad and is associated greatly with carnival presentations. Carnival is a period where various musicians gather to try out songs of their own to the audience in a designated place, mostly it was at the Spain port. Most calypso songs are humorous and they convey messages associated to societal problems. Steel bands are the ones mostly used during calypso song presentations and are produced from oil drum tops (Slonimsky, 1946). Calypso dance resembles the rumba as the music uses conventional dance-band musical instruments. Rumba is also very common in the Latin music and it was brought about by the African American (Tiemstra, 1992). It is a polyrhythmic song as well as dance, which has a moderately fast performance and is usually accompanied by conga drums. One famous example of the rumba song is Bolero, which is actually a dance style common in the US between 1930s and 1940s. Other examples include: the Colombian cumbia, merengue of Haiti and guaracha. Majority of these genres have presently become popular folk songs nationally, such as the merengue (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). Merengue is a popular song and dance in the Republic of Dominican. Merengue’s rhythms extend from moderate to very fast and are usually given a sideways dance approach. With time Latin music has become very popular worldwide due to their diffusion to the rest of the world through the mass media (Tiemstra, 1992). Genres such as the tango, the cabaret samba and the bolero are presently famous in many nations. Tango is a dance style that originated from Buenos Aires at the begging of the 20th century. Its origins can be traced back from some popular dance among the Argentinian called milonga. By the mid 20th century, the dance had been transformed into a series of flowing and elegant steps accompanied by tango beats and some interesting melancholy music (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). By this time the dance was very popular in the United States as well as among the European people. As time elapsed by, a new and slow dance emerged which was accompanied by soft, slow rhythms (Slonimsky, 1946). Its origins are traced back to the Cuban son as well as other Caribbean genres off urban orientation. Salsa is a Spanish name which refers to a hot sauce. The dance was highly influenced by Afro-Cuban as well as rock rhythms from the Hispanic community. Salsa is usually accompanied by musical instruments such as guitar and other electric techniques, producing simply repetitive, soft rhythms. Some of the famous salsa musicians include Celia Cruz, Tito Peunte and Eddie Palmieri. Thompson & Chase (1947) concurs that salsa has thus spread widely into many communities in the United States and has had great influences on the Jazz music. From the salsa dance the Jazz and rock music emerged among the Latin countries and these types of music are usually accompanied by percussion instruments (Tiemstra, 1992). Although salsa dance is presently sung by Spanish musicians, Jazz or Rock are the most common in the country. Presently, Latin American music with jazz rhythms, which also exhibit European and African characteristics, has influenced greatly the world’s popular music. For instance, most Asian films exhibit both percussion and clave rhythms which have a Latin origin. Many musicians from the African continent have also been found to employ many Latin rhythms in their singing resulting into double-directional cross-fertilization (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). Spanish rumba is also as an influence of Cuba music from Latin. Generally it can be said that most ancient Latin American Music styles are still reflected in the present European models (Slonimsky, 1946). Most musicians wrote and presented songs with similar characteristic of their colonial master’s cultures. However, with time these singers recognized their nationality and started composing traditional and ethnical music. Such songs emerged first in the 20th century and they included songs such as Heitor Villa-lobos of Brazil, Carlos Chavez, Blas Galindo from Mexico and Silvestre Revueltas. Other composers prefer to have a universal approach instead of a nationalistic one (Thompson & Chase, 1947). Such singers include: Argentinian Mauricio Kagel, Brazilian Camargo and Mexican Julian Carrillo. In conclusion Latin American music has had many transformations since the pre-colonial period to the present times. During the 1920s there were Afro-Cuban songs which were then followed by Latin American music particularly rumba and samba dances. On the onset of the 1950s there emerged mambo dance from the jazz school and there after came the Jamaican reggae in the 1970s. The emergence of pop music in early 1980s caused a major transformation by merging almost all singers of different origins (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). By the 1990s, Latin music was gaining popularity all over the world and it exhibited different traits though it had an overall outlook. In the contemporary society, Latin music is one of the famous musical industry and many people have resulted into having it as one of their music. References Bloomington & In Orrego, S. J. (1971). Music from Latin America available at Indiana University: scores, tapes, and records. Bloomington. Slonimsky, N. (1946). Music of Latin America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. Thompson, L. F., & Chase, G. (1947). Partial list of Latin American music obtainable in the United States. Washington, D.C: Music Division, Pan American Union. Tiemstra, S. S. (1992). The choral music of Latin America: A guide to compositions and research. New York: Greenwood Pr. Read More