Tag Archives: Latin America

by | August 22, 2025 · 6:00 am

International Day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition (23 August)

This Saturday, 23 August, is UNESCO’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, which seeks to “inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples”. The date coincides with the 1791 uprising in Saint Domingue, today the Republic of Haiti, that so heavily impacted the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. In regions like the Caribbean, northern South America, and Brazil, music and culture have been deeply shaped by the historical conditions of African slavery and fusion and syncretization that arose from European colonialism. Today, the Afro-Latin musical roots of genres such as salsa, Cuban son, Brazilian samba and bossa nova, Dominican merengue, and Panamanian and Puerto Rican reggaetón, among many others, continue to echo the enduring legacy of slavery in the Americas.

To observe the International Day, read the entry on slavery in Ilan Stavans’s Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes, which traces the abhorrent practice globally, with a detailed section on the Haitian Revolution, the first and only successful slave rebellion to dismantle the plantation system and achieve political independence. The rebellion reverberated across the New World and sparked a wave of newfound consciousness and hope among Black populations throughout the Americas, while simultaneously triggering reactionary and often violent responses from European and criollo planters and other ruling elites.

Prise de la Ravine-à-Couleuvres (Capture of the Ravine-à-Couleuvres, 23 February 1802), by Karl Girardet, engraved by Jean-Jacques Outhwaite.

Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes provides an in-depth exploration of the rich and diverse world of Latin American music, examining its history, cultural significance, and the wide range of genres it encompasses. Spanning five centuries and 25 countries, the encyclopedia, covers the evolution of Latin music from its roots in Indigenous, African, and European traditions to its contemporary global influence. It offers detailed profiles of influential musicians, including iconic figures such as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Placido Domingo, and Carlos Santana, shedding light on their contributions to the development of Latin music and their lasting legacies. The two volumes delve into key genres like salsa, merengue, bachata, tango, and reggaetón, discussing their origins, stylistic characteristics, and cultural impact across different Latin American countries and communities. In addition to genre exploration, Latin music touches on broader themes of identity, migration, and the ways in which Latin music has become a vehicle for social and political expression. The encyclopedia’s 244 entries also include sociopolitical factors that have shaped Latin American music’s growth and dissemination. This is a key resource for music researchers looking to understand the musical traditions, key figures, and cultural contexts that have defined music in Latin America and its enduring global appeal.

Find the entry on slavery written by Ruthie Meadows in Latin music: Musicians, genres, and themes located in RILM Music Encyclopedias.

The first image is of Sexteto Habanero (circa 1925), an early Cuban son band from Havana, Cuba.

Related Bibliolore posts:

https://bibliolore.org/2021/10/04/cubas-tonadas-trinitarias/

https://bibliolore.org/2019/01/07/the-tigueras-of-merengue-tipico/

https://bibliolore.org/2022/10/14/breaking-barriers-in-latinx-musical-practices-an-annotated-bibliography/

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Filed under Migrations, Politics, Popular music, Resources, RILM, South America, West Indies, World music

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by | September 21, 2024 · 6:00 am

The voice of el pueblo

The Mexican singer-songwriter Amparo Ochoa is considered one of the most remarkable and versatile performers of the Mexican canto nuevo movement (related to nueva canción). Born in Culiacán in 1946, Ochoa grew up singing at various school events and with her father. She later taught in rural grade schools in her home state where songs were an essential part of her teaching. Her deep connection with Mexican and Latin American audiences is often expressed through her innate charm. This sense of popularity is not only rooted in the political messages of the songs she performed but also in the influential platforms where she showcased her talent.

The widespread perception of her voice as representative of the people is rooted in the rich vocal traditions of early 20th century Mexican musical theater, which evolved throughout the century and were recontextualized during the Latin American Cold War. These vocal strategies, deeply impactful on listeners, shaped their understanding of el pueblo and fostered sympathy for movements opposing dictatorial regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. This interpretation of her voice foregrounds the role of music and song in the ideological and political frameworks of the time and expresses how the emotional resonance of her voice influenced listeners’ subjectivity.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by reading “La voz del pueblo y para el pueblo” Amparo Ochoa’s vocal trajectory: From the Mexican Revolution to the Latin American Cold War” by Natalia Bieletto Bueno (Journal of interdisciplinary voice studies 5/1 [2020] 9–28; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-72069).

Below is a video of Ochoa performing the song A que te tiras cuando sueñas mexicano on a Mexican television program.

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Filed under North America, Performers, Politics, Popular music, Voice

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by | July 30, 2024 · 6:00 am

Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras

The Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos is considered one of the foremost Latin American composers of the 20th century. He was deeply interested in Brazil’s folk music traditions and was instrumental in setting up the country’s music education system, emphasizing native songs. His interest in Brazilian folk music resulted from visiting with different communities and listening to their music during his travels to various regions of Brazil as a young cellist. While living in Rio de Janeiro, Villa-Lobos began playing guitar and performing with popular musicians around the city. His mother disapproved of the company he kept, and as a result, he left home to pursue an itinerant life traveling around Brazil while supporting himself by playing cello and guitar. He also continued to learn about the folk music of the areas he visited.

Villa-Lobos later distinguished himself as a conductor, bringing several modern works to the attention of his audiences and consistently composing. His output of over 2,000 works includes everything from chamber music to the larger forms. His lack of formal academic training, far from hampering his development, compelled him to create a truly distinct and original technique.

Villa-Lobos’s prolific output includes the Bachianas brasileiras suites, a group of pieces based on original melodies patterned after the folk songs and Brazilian Indigenous tribal chants treated in a Bach-like fashion on Latin American instruments. The aria is arranged in an AABA form, with the first and last sections performed by a soloist and the repeated first section by the wind instruments followed by the chant:

“Lo, at midnight clouds slowly pass by, rosy and lustrous,

O’er the spacious heaven with loveliness laden,

From the boundless deep the moon arises wondrous,

Glorifying the evening like a beautiful maiden.

Now she adorns herself in half unconscious duty,

Eager, anxious that we recognize her beauty,

While sky and earth, yes, all nature with applause salute her,

All the birds have ceased their sad and mournful complaining:

Now appears on the sea in a silver reflection, Moonlight softly waking

The soul and constraining hearts to cruel tears and bitter dejection.”

Read the entry on Heitor Villa-Lobos in Band music notes (1979). Find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias.

Below is a performance of Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras, no. 5 by the Spanish cellist Antonio Martín Acevedo and the Argentinian guitarist Marisa Gómez.

Related posts in Bibliolore:
Villa-Lobos’s choro no. 10

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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Musicology, Performers, Popular music, South America

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by | September 26, 2023 · 6:00 am

Central America’s vast dance and musical heritage

The music of Central America tends to borrow heavily from the music of Mexico to the north, Colombia to the south, and the Caribbean Islands to the east, and, in the case of Nicaragua, from the politically motivated nueva canción (new song) movement. Additionally, some traces of the ancient Mayan culture can still be found in Nicaragua and Belize, and more strongly in Guatemala. People of Mayan background form around half of the population of Guatemala. Their cultural heritage has been preserved to an extraordinary extent because of their great reverence for their cultural heritage, mythology, and rituals. Their instruments include various slit-drums, gongs, rattles, and cane flutes that sometimes have the rattles of rattlesnakes enclosed in a hollow space above the embouchure. This is then closed off with a thin membrane, and the resulting menacing buzz is heard in the music of the Baile de venada (dance of the deer).

Along with Indian traditions in Guatemala is the equally thriving music of the Ladino population, which is Hispanic in origin and is found mostly in the country’s urban centers. The instrument that is central to Ladino music, namely the marimba de tecomates, which has a keyboard of wooden bars with gourds suspended underneath, is thought to be of African origin. Although Ladino groups have now adopted more contemporary marimbas, there is still a great variety among them. The largest, the marimba grande, has a range similar to a piano and is usually played by four players.

The son guatemalteco is the national dance of Guatemala, and dancers bring out the son rhythm with zapateadas or foot stamping. These indigenous rhythms and themes have also been incorporated into classical music. The brothers Jesús and Ricardo Castillo were Guatemalan classical composers of the early 20th century. Jesús wrote a treatise on the Mayan music of the country, and both brothers wrote pieces using Indian themes (Suites indigenas) and even operas such as Quiché Vinak. In Nicaragua, composers such as Luis Delgadillo (1887–1962) included Inca themes and other indigenous Nicaraguan music in their work.

The country furthest south in Central America, Panama, was previously part of Colombia until 1903, and is considered by some to be the source of Colombia’s cumbia genre. Its musical traditions are a mix of Spanish, Indian, and African, but as one of the most cosmopolitan countries of the region, folk music is now mainly the preserve of schools and folklore societies.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by reading through the Latin America section of the Encyclopedia of music in the 20th century (2013). Find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias (RME).

Below is a performance of son guatemalteco and a piece entitled Fiesta de pajaros composed by Jesús Castillo.

Previous related Bibliolore posts to check out:

Breaking barriers in Latinx musical practices: An annotated bibliography
Celia Cruz’s (trans)nationalism

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Filed under Central America, Dance, Popular music, World music

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