In Quito, it is common to see a native group of people known as Otavalenos. Otavalenos is largely concentrated around a small town of Otavalo, about 80 km north of Quito. They are easily recognizable with the men dressing in white, calf length trousers, a poncho, a fedora or felt hat. The Otavaleno men also sport the Shimba, a long brad they grow to reach their waists. The Shimba is an important marker of the Ecuadorian native identity that the Ecuadorian army does not require men to cut the Shimba off when enlisted. The women dress women similarly, although their colors are often opposed with men. While men where white pants matched with a blue poncho, women often dress in a white blouse with a blue or black skirt. While women often wear …show more content…
Many kinds of instruments are used in Ecuador, depending on the style of music. Traditional Andean folk musicians play wind instruments such as bamboo flutes, panpipes, and conch shells. Drums called bombos keep the rhythm along with maracas, which are rattles made from gourds. The wind instruments and melody of Andean music create a distinctly sad sound. When the Spanish arrived in Ecuador long ago, they brought with them stringed instruments such as guitars, mandolins, and violins. Andean musicians added these instruments to their groups. People descended from Africans settled around the coast areas in Ecuador, and African musical and dance traditions continue to bloom in the region. The marimba, an instrument from Africa, is like a xylophone made from wood pieces. It is played by striking the wooden bars with mallets. The marimba is in many types of Ecuadorian music. Bomba negra is a musical style that blends African rhythms and Andean melodies. Music from the Caribbean has also influenced Ecuadorian music. Many Ecuadorians enjoy salsa, cumbia, and merengue, popular types of Latin dance music. Nightclubs around the country burst with Latin dance sounds. Horns blare and drums add a steady beat. Rap, reggae, and Andean chill are big hits in local clubs, where young people dance the night away. Ecuadorians who enjoy Western classical music can attend regular performances by the National Symphony Orchestra in Quito at the Sucre National Theater. Ecuadoran musicians study classical music and jazz at the National Conservatory of Music in
Latin Jazz is a style of music that blends rhythms and percussion instruments of Cuba and the Caribbean with jazz and its fusion of European and African music. Latin jazz, also called Afro-Cuban jazz, was the culmination of the long interaction between American and Cuban musical styles. A distinctive syncopated rhythm and the Cuban habanera rhythm were endowed to American jazz music in the early 20th century. In the following decades, Latin American melodies and dance rhythms permeated the United States, while American jazz made its way into the Caribbean and Central and South America. In the 1940's the swing era expanded their repertory to include rumbas and congas. The d...
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...
Den Tandt, Catherine and Richard A. Young. “Tradition and transformation in Latin American music.” The Cambridge Companion to Modern Latin American Culture. Ed. John King. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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.
Once named the friendliest city in the world, Puerto Vallarta in my eyes continues to carry that reputation. The people who live there are what make this place so special; it is my most desired place to travel to. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico sits along the coast of Banderas Bay in the Pacific Ocean. Along with having exotic scenery, they are known for having an exceptional variety of food. With the dark frigid winter creeping up on us, my head wanders to memories of missed friends and 90 degree temperatures.
Have you set off for the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and a current pushed you all the way to the coast of Tampa bay, Florida? In 1528, a current pushed Cabeza De Vaca and 300 other men to southwest Florida. When they arrived cabeza ordered the 300 men to abandon the ships and go on the island and search for treasure. The men had to figure a way to travel to west Mexico from Tampa Bay, Florida. After months the goal was no longer colonization, it was survival. Cabeza De Vaca survived by developing surviving skills, getting resources, and meeting new people.
The journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is single handedly one of the most breath taking feats of exploration in the Americas. He departed Spain as a member of a royal Spanish expedition in hopes to colonize the mainland of the Spanish called La Florida, present day Florida. As a treasurer, he was one of the chief officers on the Narvaez expedition. Cabeza de Vaca ultimately departed from Spain for the Americas on June 1527. (pbs.org) (Americanjourneys.org)
Traditional music is unique in Bolivia, as it is in most countries. Both women and men take part in the fun. One of the many different styles, and one of the most popular, is Saya. In Saya, like most of the music matches the dance. The main instruments are the flute and the drums.
In our modern era and by our modern standards, the Otavalo people of Ecuador shine with scintillating success in the global arena. A myriad of factors have contributed to Otavalo prosperity and wealth, factors both outside and within their control, but factors nonetheless dependent upon the fluidity and ever-changing construct of indigenous identity. Tracing the saga of this indigenous people’s rise to textile, musical and cultural capital, the opportunistic attitude of the Otavalo remains the foundation for modern wealth and commerce. The true question of Otavalo success, however, rests not in economic prosperity alone, but in their inherent ability to adopt socially befitting “modern traditions” and retain the right to define the meaning of being Otavalo.
Percussion instruments are by far the most dominant of the four major instrument families. There are many different types of cymbals and drums, which are ...
Mexico has experienced many reforms economically, socially, and politically in recent history leading itself into becoming a more well developed country. Typically, when people think of Mexico they think of the corruption in the government, the violent drug cartels, the widespread poverty, and the long time one party dominance of the government. Although these are major problems, they are not problems that are impossible to fix, or are currently being fixed. They are not persistent all throughout Mexico either, there are places where poverty, violent drug cartels, and corruption is non existent. Mexico is often misunderstood and generalized for a few flaws and characteristics it possesses. By the previously accepted definition, Mexico is a third world country. But by today's terms countries are either developing or developed, and Mexico is often seen as a developing country despite it containing many qualities that would lead it to being a developed country.
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...
In Cuba itself, music and dance are so essential to national character that you can not disentangle them from the country’s history. “The story of Latin jazz music is thus one of religions and revolutions, power and liberation, the collision of civilization”. In the United States we can never completely understand our own music, without referencing it to Cuban music. There are various characteristics that can define Latin jazz, ranging from the savant grade to more popular forms. Some forms of popular music that most people are familiar with would have to be the mambo, salsa, cha-cha, and afro-Cuban jazz.
Music is essential to any culture. Its a vital part of being human and can significantly impact our lives. No matter where one is from, music is an escape that everyone seeks because they can relate to it. This social link keeps us tied to the world, even with different cultures and languages. Afro-Latinos have helped shape the music in America, many times with help from other cultures. Many types of music Hispanics have produced have impacted the United States. One of these types of music is named Bachata. Hispanics in the US have helped shape bachata, even though it originated in the Dominican Republic. With its profound lyrics many can relate to, its catchy rhythm and simple dance, bachata is as popular in the US as it is in Central America. In the 1980s and 1990s, the growing Dominican population in the United States became an important fan base for bachata. Dominican Yorks influence of traditional bachata with the artistic and cultural diversity of life in New York, making bachata one of the fastest growing music genres of the 21st century (Pacini Hernandez.)
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