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History. Latin pop is one of the most popular Latin music genres today. However, before the arrival of artists like Alejandro Sanz, Thalía, Luis Miguel, Selena, Paulina Rubio, Shakira, Carlos Vives, Ricky Martin, Gloria Trevi and Enrique Iglesias, Latin pop first reached a global audience through the work of bandleader Sergio Mendes in the mid ...
Latin Pop. Latin Pop became the most popular form of Latin music in the United States during the '80s and '90s, even achieving massive crossover success among non-Latino listeners during the late '90s. While not restricted to America by any means, Latin pop was profoundly affected by production techniques and other styles of music -- both Latin ...
- Overview
- Pre-Columbian patterns
Latin American music, musical traditions of Mexico, Central America, and the portions of South America and the Caribbean colonized by the Spanish and the Portuguese. These traditions reflect the distinctive mixtures of Native American, African, and European influences that have shifted throughout the region over time.
This article surveys religious, folk, and art (informally, classical) music through time and over the hemisphere. After a brief discussion of the uses of music in preconquest cultures (for further treatment, see Native American music), the narrative turns to how Europeans introduced Iberian church music and began the hybridization of musical practices in both the religious and the folk realms. At the same time, imported art music practices became part of the colonial cultures and were in turn infused with local and regional flavours. By the 21st century various national musical characteristics had asserted themselves in all types of musical practice, while international trends flowed into the regional musical stream as well.
At the time of Christopher Columbus’s first encounter of the “New World” in 1492, numerous indigenous cultures were spread from the northern Mexican mountains to the southern tip of South America and on the Caribbean islands. These cultures ranged from isolated and technologically primitive peoples to highly organized societies with advanced technological knowledge. Little is known about the musical activities or systems of these precolonial civilizations, but available sources do afford glimpses into the roles of music in the most-advanced cultures. These sources include surviving musical instruments, dictionaries of Indian languages compiled by early European missionaries, chronicles written by Europeans of the 16th century, and, for Mesoamerica, a substantial number of pre-Columbian Mexican codices. (A codex is a manuscript in book form.) Some scholars have studied the musical cultures of isolated indigenous communities of the 20th century as a means to understanding the past; although such an approach may be somewhat useful, it is not wise to assume that traditions are continuous and uninfluenced over centuries.
The type of ancient Mesoamerican music that is best-documented is the ritual music of the courts (primarily Aztec and Mayan). Music performance (often allied with dance) is depicted as a large-ensemble activity, in which numerous participants variously play instruments, sing, or dance. The 8th-century murals of the Bonampak temple, for example, show a procession with trumpets, drums, and rattles.
To an extent that is remarkable in light of their numerous differences in other artistic and cultural realms, the different cultures from at least the 8th century to the early 16th century used similar instruments. Drums and wind instruments, primarily flutes, are commonly described in texts and found in artifacts. The teponaztli, a two-key slit drum played with a mallet, and the huehuetl, a single-headed cylindrical upright drum played with bare hands, occupied a special position in Aztec rituals and were considered sacred instruments. Many of the archaeological examples of these drums carry elaborate carvings with glyphs and drawings that reveal symbolically their ritual uses and functions. Comparable instruments served essential functions for the Maya.
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Many flutes from Mesoamerican cultures survive. Among the Aztec they were known generically as tlapizalli. An especially intriguing type of flute found near the Gulf of Mexico coast consists of two, three, or four tubes sounded from a single mouthpiece. Such instruments prove the existence of harmonic possibilities, up to four notes simultaneously, but it is not known how they were used. Ancient Mesoamericans did not develop musical notation, and the Spanish did not transcribe music they heard. Surviving instruments provide some indication of sound quality and pitch but not any precise way of determining scales or melodies.
- Gerard Béhague
Latin Pop is the necessary subgenre to Pop that offers flavour and rhythm to a genre that can occasionally over-synthesise tunes and lack musical diversity. The history of this music style can be categorised as a subgenre combining classic Pop with Latin American and Caribbean roots.
- SALSA. WHERE IT’S FROM: Cuba, Puerto Rico, New York. WHAT DEFINES THE SOUND: A distinct beat called the clave. A three-drum section (bongos, congas and timbales) executes the complex, syncopated rhythms.
- MERENGUE. WHERE IT’S FROM: Dominican Republic. WHAT DEFINES THE SOUND: A repeating five-beat rhythmic pattern called a quintillo played by three key instruments: a diatonic accordion, a two-headed hand drum called tambora and a metal scraper called charrasca or güira.
- RANCHERAS. The undisputed king of Mexico's traditional ranchera music, Vicente Fernandez, a.k.a. ' El Idolo de Mexico,' performs live at the Portland Rose Garden, 2007.
- CUMBIA. WHERE IT’S FROM: Colombia. WHAT DEFINES THE SOUND: A signature double beat is played on maracas or drum, while flutes known as gaitas carry the melody.
Latin pop is a catch-all for any pop music sung in Spanish, while Mexican/Mexican-American (also to referred to as Regional Mexican) is defined as any musical style originating from Mexico or influences by its immigrants in the United States including Tejano, and tropical music is any music from the Spanish Caribbean.
Latin pop usually combines upbeat Latin music with American pop music. Latin pop is commonly associated with Spanish-language pop, rock, and dance music. Influences. Latin music; Pop music; Derivatives. Kayōkyoku; Latin ballad; Tropipop; Grupera; Mexican pop music
