Music of latin American

• Latin American music

  The product of three major influences: indigenous, Spanish-Portuguese, and African
• Regions where Latin American music has had an impact

  • Andean region (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela)
  • Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama)
  • Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico)
  • Brazil
• Major ancestral groups in Latin American countries

  • Indian descendants of original native inhabitants
  • African descendants from Western and Central Africa
  • European descendants of colonizers mainly from Spain and Portugal, but also those of French, Dutch, Italian, and British traders
  • Asian descendants of migrants from China, Japan, India, and Indonesia/Java
  • Mixed descendants from the above-named groups
• Indigenous Latin-American music before colonization

  • Used local drum and percussion instruments such as the guiro, maracas, and turtle shells
  • Used wind instruments like the zampoña (pan pipe) and quena (notched-end flute) traditionally made out of aquatic canes
  • Materials for making indigenous instruments ranged from hollow tree trunks, animal skins, fruit shells, dry seeds, cane, clay, and hardwood trees, to jaguar claws, animal and human bones, and specially-treated inflated eyes of tigers
• Samba is the most popular music genre in Brazil
• Samba is lively rhythm consisting of a 2/4 meter that is danced as three steps per measure, thus creating a feeling of a 3/4 meter instead
• Samba most adventurous kind is known as the batucada
• Batucada refers to a large percussion ensemble of up to a hundred players or an intensely polyrhytmic style of drumming
• The son is a fusion of the popular music or canciones (songs) of Spain nd the African rumba rhythms of Bantu origin
• Salsa is a social dance with marked influences from Cuba and Puerto Rico that started in new York in the mid 1970s
• Salsa style contains elements from the swing dance and hustle as well as the compex Afro-Cuban and afro-caribbean dance forms of pachanga and guaguanco
• The execution of salsa involves shifting the weight by stepping sideways, causing the hips to move while the upper body remain level
• Tlapitzalli


  A flute variety from the Aztec culture made of clay with decorations of abstract designs or images of their deities
• Teponaztli


  A Mexican slit drum hollowed out and carved from a piece of hardwood, decorated with designs in relief or carved to represent human figures or animals, used for both religious and recreational purposes
• Concha


  A wind instrument usually made from the shell of a large sea snail, prepared by cutting a hole in the shell's spine near the apex, then blown into as if it were a trumpet
• Rasp


  A hand percussion instrument whose sound is produced by scraping a stick (or a similar object) that has a series of indentations or notches with another stick, creating rattling effects
• In Central America, the ancient civilizations of the Aztec and Maya peoples used various instruments mainly for religious functions and these were usually played by professional musicians
• As some instruments were considered holy and it was further believed that music was supposed to glorify the gods, mistakes in playing these instruments were considered offensive and insulting to them
• Huehueti

  An upright tubular drum used by the Aztecs and other ancient civilizations, made of wood opened at the bottom and standing on three legs cut from the base, with a top membrane of stretched animal skin beaten by the hand or a wooden mallet
• Incan Musical Instruments

  • Whistles
  • Ocarina
  • Zampoñas
• Whistles

  Instruments made of natural elements such as bone from animals, producing a series of high-pitched notes similar to the cry of an eagle, can produce a wide variety of notes by varying the airflow and pressure, used in some areas only in ceremonies to call the spirits
• Ocarina

  An ancient vessel flute made of clay or ceramic with four to 12 finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body
• Zampoñas

  Also known as panpipes, ancient instruments from the Andes Mountains of South America, featuring bamboo tubes of different lengths tied together either in pairs or more to produce graduated pitches of sound, played by blowing over the top of the tubes to create a beautiful and airy sound that can be heard playing some of the most haunting melodies
• Siku


  Panpipe originally from the Aymaras of Perú and Bolivia, the main instrument used in a musical genre known as sikuri, made from bamboo tubes, condor feathers, bone, and other materials, different types of bamboo used to change the quality of the sound, split across two rows of pipes requiring the player to alternate rows with every note to play a complete scale
• Tarka


  Vertical duct flute with a mouthpiece similar to a recorder, used during the rainy season and in tribal ceremonies to mimic bird sounds, produces a primitive, soft, and mellow sound with a rasp in the low range
• Quena


  Vertical cane flute made from fragile bamboo, only used during the dry season, has six finger holes and one thumb hole, open on both ends or the bottom is half-closed
• Charango


  Ten-stringed Andean guitar from Bolivia, the size of a ukulele and a smaller version of the mandolin imitating the early guitar and lute brought by the Spaniards, produces bright sounds and is often used in serenades in Southern Peru
• Mariachi is an extremely popular vand in Mexico whose original ensemble consisted of violins, guitars, harp, and enormos guitarron
• Mariachi musicians are distinctly dressed in wide-brimmed hats, jackets, and pants adorned with silver buttons
• Cumbia originated in Panama and Colombia
• Cumbia became a popular courtship dance with European and African instrumentation and characteristics
• Cumbia music instruments

  • Drums of African origin, such as the tabora
  • Guitar
  • Accordion
  • Clarinet
  • Modern flute
  • Caja (a type of snare drum)
• Instruments used in cumbia music

  • Drums of African origin, such as the tabora (bass drum), claves (a pair of thick hardwood sticks struck together to set the beat), guitar, accordion, clarinet, modern flute, and caja (a type of snare drum)
• Tango


  A dance form that may have been of African origin meaning "African dance" or from the Spanish word taner meaning "to play" (an instrument)
• Tango


  An urban song and dance form that developed in the working class areas of Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Development of tango

  1. Developed as the foremost urban song and dance form in the working class areas of Buenos Aires, Argentina related to the Cuban contradanza and habanera

  2. Choreographic steps followed the dance trend of the Viennese waltz and the polka, involving close contact between the male and female dancers
• Origin of the word tango

  May have been of African origin meaning "African dance" or from the Spanish word taner meaning "to play" (an instrument)
• Tango dance form became fashionable in Parisian society in the early part of the 20th century, as well as in England and other parts of Western Europe
• Tango dance

  • Choreographic steps followed the dance trend of the Viennese waltz and the polka, involving close contact between the male and female dancers
• Tango music in the 1940s


  More poetic lyrics were inserted and allowed little freedom