Mariachi The French named mariachi, but the Coca Indians gave the original name in 1500's referring to any musician. Mariachi sound is impacted by African influence known as SON. Rhythmic pattern altering between 3/4 and 6/8. Instruments of Mariachi In a complete Mariachi group today there are as many as 6 to 8 violins, 2 trumpets, and a guitar, which are all standard European instruments. Then there is a high-itched, round-backed guitar called the vihuela, which when strummed in the traditional manner gives the mariachi its typical rhythmic vitality; a deep voiced guitar called the guitarr'o which serves as the bass of the ensemble; and a Mexican folk harp, which usually doubles the base line, but also ornaments the melody. Beginning of Mariachi Mariachi began in the nineteenth century in the Mexican State of Jalisco, in a town known as Cocula. The Mariachi was the distinctive version of the Spanish theatrical orchestra of violins, harp and guitars that developed in and around Jalisco. The principal music played by these early Mariachis was the SON, the popular music of the day. A mixture of folk traditions from Spain, Mexico, and Africa, the son was found in many regions of the country. The son from Jalisco is called the son jaliscience. Sones from other regions include the son jarocho or veracruzano, from the region around the Gulf port of Veracruz. The most famous example of the son jarocho is La Bamba. A typical son huasteco, also known as the huapango, is the La Malague~n a. Mariachi and Dance The son-and other types of Mariachi music are not just music to be played and sung. From the very start it as music to be danced to. The lyrics of the sones frequently describe country life: in particular, the plants, animals and the people of the region. These lyrics are highly suggestive, often using imagery of the courtship of farm animals to describe the relations of men and women. In the dance the movements of the performers represent the farmyard courtship described in the verses of the sones. Mariachi Vargas Mariachi goes back hundreds of years; there are no Bachs or Beethovens in its history because Mariachi music was the music of the country people. Until the 1930's Mariachi groups were local and semi-professional. They were almost entirely unknown outside their region. This began to change 60 years ago, when the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitl`an n, founded by Gaspar Vargas in 1898, went from Jalisco to Mexico City.
I went and saw Mariachi Oro de Mi Tierra performed at the Herreras Salon and it was an amazing experience. The whole audience was just so cheerful, and everybody was having a great time. The Mariachi were dressed in black charro suits, and the instruments they had were violins, guitars, trumpets, vihuela, and guitarron. The whole atmosphere was just so lively, and everybody was dress in party attire. The music they played were dance, romantic, and sentimental songs, and the genres were either ranchera, cumbias or boleros. The songs that made people excited were La Bamba (1958), El Rey (1971), Gema (1959), El Mariachi Loco, La Bikina (1964), and Cielito Lindo (1882).
"The guitar is shaped like a woman, with a neck you hold and a body you hug against yourself."(Santana 114). Carlos Santana, a very accomplished fourth generation Latino musician, is a very romantic man with his music. He was born on July 20, 1947 in Autlan Mexico, the middle of seven children (biography.com). His parents are Josefina Barragan and Jose Santana. His father was an accomplished professional violinist and as a child Carlos learned to play the instrument from his father, though he did not enjoy the tones it created. Eventually he picked up the electric guitar, for which he developed an ardent passion. How has Carlos Santana's music been a positive impact in Latino culture? Although Carlos Santana's music was heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol, he has been a positive influence on Latino culture because of his musical innovation, resilience in adversity, and world-wide philanthropy.
Carlos Santana Ryan Conroy All the world knows the special magic of Carlos Santana. Since 1966, he has led the group that bears his name, selling over 30 million albums and performing before an estimated 13 million people. In every performance, Carlos shares with his audience a personal communication that crosses all boundaries and differences. Carlos was introduced to traditional music by his father, Jose. An accomplished mariachi violinist and experienced musician, he taught Carlos the basics of music theory and gave him an understanding of the value of a note. Although Carlos' excitement for music would be sparked by his first experience, he quickly discovered the limits of its traditional form and wanted more. Carlos wanted to play the kind of music that was filling the radio waves and making people dance. Tijuana, 1955 the drastic change of moving from the small, quiet town of Autlan to the humming, thriving boom town of Tijuana brought a renewed hope and opportunity for a new life. Both for Carlos and his family. The eight-year old Carlos quickly left the violin for the guitar, studying and emulating the sounds of B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. Soon he was being asked to join local bands like the T.J.'s, where he added a unique touch and feel to his own renditions of all the great songs of the 1950's. As he continued to play with different bands along the busy Tijuana Strip, he not Page Two only started to perfect his style and sound, but actually started bringing home enough money to really help his family.
The tradition still takes place today in many areas of Mexico. However, some parts of Mexico do the dance a little differently. The dance is more common in the central regi...
Bachata is a creolized music, meaning that there is both European and African influence. It is also a descendent of a few different Dominican Republic and Cuban forms of music – primarily son, but also merengue and ranchera. Son is music of the African diaspora, commonly involved in debates of African retention. Elements of African music, such as call-and-response and preference for polyrhythm survived the middle passage and are deeply rooted in Caribbean tradition. Stringed instruments are believed to have been part of the European influence on the area, as well as harmonic patterns, as well as verse-chorus structure and prominent duple meter. Modern groups consist of two electric acoustic guitars, an electric bass guitar, a guira (A Dominican Republic percussion instrument), and bongos (Hutchinson). Bachata is thought to have originated in the rural areas, being the music of choice at rural friendly gatherings, similar to son’s roots. Bachata then migrated to the cities with the impoverished as they looked for work. With this move the music transformed into something entirely different from its romantic, seren...
The Latin Americans never wanted to be left in this music development. The Latin Americans had their own music, Jazz (Gordon, 2005). They wanted to influence in the development of the music. Soon, Salsa was born out if mixture from the Jazz music and Mambo. Salsa took the bodily movements and the Cuban beats as a contribution from the Caribbean culture. The Latin America contributed the wording of Salsa music. Diversity necessitated the growth of Salsa as Mambo had been viewed with suspicion as it was linked to ghetto status hence it was
Cumbia originated in the coastal region of Colombia in the early 1800’s. There were three predominant cultures in Colombia at that time: the indigenous peoples, the Spaniards, and the African slaves. The cumbia began with the essential instrumentation of the tambor drums and the gaita flutes, which derive from both indigenous and Congo-based African roots. The genre was entertainment for the slaves, beginning as a courtship dance. It later became an outlet for national resistance and protest as Colombia was contesting for its independence. The music was able to diffuse throughout the nation, spreading from the coast, primarily for the reason that many African populations were scattered in various regions. Barranquilla, a port city in Colombia, was the core of where the music became established and played for the masses, and where instruments such as horns and bass began to be incorporated into cumbia, giving it a more Latin feel. As cumbia evolved and spread to Mexico around the 1930’s, it changed from the influence o...
The origin of Mexican Folklorico dances originate from Mesoamerican days when the Mayas and the Aztecs
The instruments used for this song is of a standard rock band; lead vocalist, electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit. The genre for this song is determined by the steady and yet simplistic instruments used in this version. An interesting note is that the chorus is in the genre of rock but the verses combine the genres tango and reggae. This could be because merging these three different styles of music attracted the attention of youth more with rock being rebellious at that time and tango and reggae having a heavy beat for that time period. ...
Tejano has been around for a long time, but how long? The length of time it has been around can say a lot about Tejano culture because music speaks so much for its people.
As stated earlier, there is no one creator of salsa, but the genre includes traditional elements of its cultural influences. Additionally, different cultures will play salsa in a particular way that is unique to their country: “. . . each African nation re-traditionalised the salsa sound along its own ethnic lines” (Román-Velasquez: 218). Despite these traditional elements, salsa can also be marketed as popular music. For example, there is a large market for salsa and Latin music in Europe (Román-Velasquez: 216). The music is also used to promote Latin themed businesses: “. . . salsa music has become popular along with Latin food and themed bars and there has been a growth of commercially run clubs, bars and restaurants” (Román-Velasquez: 217). The popularity and party culture associated with salsa, streaming from clubs and dancing, allowed promoters to easily commercialize the
of a mariachi are only men. Most of the time, media such as radio and television, among others have been in charge to prevail this stereotype. Most of the time when people hear mariachi music the vocalists are men. Rarely, people hear a woman as the principal vocalist of a mariachi group. According to Sheehan (2006), “Mariachi performance was a male domain” and a negative effect caused by this stereotype is that sometimes women are not well welcome in a mariachi group. In the book title Mariachi Music in America, a member of a mariachi group named Leonor Perez pointed out that this stereotype prevails because women do not take very often active roles as mariachi musicians compared
Flamenco originated in Andalusia, Spain by gypsies from India and the Middle East. As of when Flamenco started, there have no references of it until the 18 century. But it seems to have been a part of gypsy culture long before. The other dances that had influenced flamenco span from the 5th century to the 15th. It is created from the mix of cante Gitano with Andalusian folk music.
The origin of the word “Tango” in Argentina is still a mystery but it is believed to come from Argentina. The most common theory was that the community of African descent put the name of their god with the Spanish word for drum (tambor) and then came up with the word “Tango”. In Argentina Tango had a much different meaning then that in Spain. Members of the African community in Buenos Aires certainly joined in and influenced the development of the dance and music, just as members all the other communities in Buenos Aires did.
According to his review of A Guide to Latin American Music by Gilbert Chase, Charles Seeger describes Chase’s description of the music culture, “The quantitative distribution of more than 2700 entries, which include some multiple listing, is interesting” (Seeger, 1946, 304). Chase explains a plethora of countries in Latin America and their specific musical features. Furthermore, thanks to his detailed work, the reader can see how many common features can be seen. Firstly, a common feature among all genres is the use of aerophones. The aerophones used could include, panpipes of various varieties, flutes, trumpets (as seen at the Boogat performance in Ottawa) and many more. Another common feature among all the genres is a strong rhythmic presence. In essentially all Latin American music, a steady, metrical rhythmic quality can be heard keeping the music energetic and easy to follow. To keep the rhythm, another common feature to Latin American culture is the drum. Most commonly found in the Afro-Latin genre, as a result of influence from African culture, can be seen throughout Latin America. A popularized western form of this type of music, is that of mariachi. Finally, Latin American culture is known for its vibrancy in their music. The music is generally quite expressive of feelings, strong moral messages found in protest songs, and their colorful, elaborate