SOUTH AMERICAMusic of South America

SOUTH AMERICA

INSTRUMENTS OF SOUTH AMERICA Guiro: wooden instrument with notches on which a

stick is rubbed to produce the sounds. Bongos: cuban instrument composed of two small

drums of different size. Claves: wooden cylinders. One is held along the

thumb with the tip of the other fingers as support. This way, the hollow par formed by the hand and the instrument act as resonator and this cylinder is hit with another cylinder in the other hand.

Maracas: generally made of dried animal skin stitched together or hollow wood, they are filled with grains or small pebbles, then fastened to wooden handles. They are shaken to produce the sounds.

Cencerros: cowbell hit with a stick

TIME TO WRITE…

Compare and contrast popular South American instruments with what we commonly use in the United States

Pay extra attention to the percussion section

ARGENTINA

The music style Argentina is known for is the tango, which developed in Buenos Aires

The golden age of the tango in Argentina reflected the golden age of Jazz and Swing

Argentine rock became popular in the 1980s and remains the most popular music in the country today

Time to write: Compare and contrast the tango with swing dancing. How about rock?

BELIZE The music of Belize was heavily influenced by

European imperialism, which brought Polkas, waltzes, quadrilles, and schottisches

Africans brought instruments and percussion-based music

Brukdown evolved from the music and dance of loggers, especially a form known as buru.

Punta and Punta rock-jazz-hiphop are the most popular dances in Garifuna culture, performed around holidays and at parties and other social events.

Time to write: Compare and contrast Belize dance styles with what you see on contemporary music videos

BOLIVIA

Bolivian music is perhaps the most strongly-linked to its native population among the national styles of South America

After the nationalistic period of the 1950s, their folk music evolved into a more pop-like sound

Huayños Caporales

BRAZIL

The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and American forms

In the beginning of the 20th century, there was a movement for creating an authentically Brazilian music, with less influences of the European culture

Capoeira, maracatu Samba

CHILE

Many musical genres are native to Chile; one of the most popular was the Cumbia

The national dance of Chile is the Cueca

Rapa Nui developed from Polynesian influence

NUEVA CANCIÓN

A musical style that appeared in the 1960s and attempted to bring back folk music traditions.

It was soon used by revolutionaries and had intensely political lyrics.

Nueva canción musicians often faced censorship, exile, forceful disappearances and even torture.

The 1973 Chilean coup d'état involved many musicians being killed or exiled.

In the 1990s, democracy returned to Chile and musicians began playing this style again

CUBA Mostly of European (Spanish) and African origin Has been perhaps the most popular form

of world music since the introduction of recording technology

Many slaves and Spanish came to Cuba, bringing their dance and music styles along, including the waltz (first closed dance), fandango, and paso doble

The bolero is one of the most famous Cuban musical styles

Zapateo: a Cuban dance performed with tapping feet, generally by men

CUBA The son is said to be the most

important genre of Cuban music, and the least studied. The son is to Cuba what the Tango is to Argentina. It is a fusion between European and African styles. The son gave way to the cha-cha-cha and the salsa, among many others.

Rumba is a music of Cuban origin, but entirely African in style, using only voice, percussion and dance

TIME TO WRITE…

Write about the connection between music and dance. Write about specific American and Latin American dances we have seen so far. How do changes in instrumentation change body movement? Tempo? Rhythm? Lyrics?

COLOMBIA Colombian music can be divided into four musical

zones: the Atlantic coast, the Pacific coast, the Andean region and Los Llanos.

Atlantic music features rhythms such as the cumbia, porros and mapalé.

Pacific coast features predominately drums and is tinged with Spanish influence.

Andean has been strongly influenced by Spanish rhythms and instruments. Typical forms include the bambuco, and torbellino

Los Llanos is usually accompanied by a harp, a cuatro (a type of four-string guitar) and maracas

TIME TO WRITE…

Think about how much of Latin America is split up by regions. What regions do we have in the US? How do the regions change our music? What geographical differences influence our genres of music, including the demographic of people living in any place?

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Merengue típico (dance) and Orchestra merengue have been popular in the Dominican Republic for many decades

Bachata is a more recent arrival, taking influences from the bolero and derived from the country's rural guitar music

ECUADOR Traditional Ecuadorian music can be classified as

mestizo, Indian and black music Mestizo music evolved from the interrelation

between Spanish and Indian music and is usually played by string instruments

Indian music in Ecuador is determined in varying degrees by the influence of quichua culture

Black Ecuadorian music can be classified into two main forms; coastal Esmeraldas province (characterized by the marimba) and the Chota Valley in the northern Sierra (characterized by a more-pronounced mestizo and Indian influence)

National Song

EL SALVADOR

Salvadorian music may be compared with the Colombian style of music known as cumbia.

Popular styles in modern El Salvador are salsa, Bachata and Reggaeton

Punta is also popular

TIME TO WRITE…

Where have you seen/heard Latin influenced dancing/music the most? Can you think of examples of US music that has been influenced by Latin music? Write about these artists, shows, songs, etc.

Write about the difference between “Ballroom” Latin and native Latin dancing

GUATEMALA Diverse styles of music are played all over the

country, even in the remotest corners. The marimba is the national instrument

In recent decades, Guatemala has produced a variety of popular performers, such as pop vocalists, Guatemalan rock bands, heavy metal groups, big bands, tropical salsa and merengue bands, hip hop and reggaeton crews, disk-jockeys, trios, and mariachi bands.

In 2006, the last Rock station on FM went away and there was no longer support from the media. As a result many musicians started working in underground movements and self-producing

YOUR TURN TO PRESENT

In pairs, research your assigned country. Get ready to present information on its musical culture.

Be sure to include the most popular music today, and the historical significance of genres past. Also include the differences between culturally produced music and popular mass produced music.

PRESENT YOUR OWN

1: Guyana 2: Haiti 3: Honduras 4: Mexico 5: Nicaragua 6: Panama

7: Paraguay 8: Peru 9: Puerto Rico 10: Venezuela 11: Uruguay

YOUR TURN TO PRESENT