How Latin American Music Has Developed

How Latin American Music Has Developed Essay example
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As much as the actual origins of Latin music cannot be traced properly, this paper is going to explore the origins and developmental process of this music. Also it will present the transformations that have taken place in this field of art from the ancient times to the present…


The Development Process
The actual origins of Latin American music cannot be traced easily, however, various explanations have been put up explaining this. Tiemstra (1992) suggests that one of the major explanations is cultural interactions: people from the European countries moved to America and were later followed by the African slaves. The two traditions together with the American one mixed and came up with an impure culture. Latin American music is a form of art which is associated with countries of Latin America, such as Cuba, and it is usually popular due to its unique rhythmical structures. Slonimsky (1946) explains it is both vocal as well as instrumental and formally derived from African traditional ceremonies. Its main characteristic is the unique rhythm it exhibits when numerous rhythms are played together to produce one exiting rhythm.
Traditionally, the music was played using percussion and other string instruments like the timbales, guitar, tres, congas and the bongo (Thompson & Chase, 1947). With developments in the music industry, instruments like guitars were replaced by the piano and other instruments such as trumpets, trombones, woodwinds and the bass to play riffs and also melodies. The exiting rhythm produced in Latin music is normally called “clave” which has a pattern of 2-3, and it is the basis of all the music of Cuba (Bloomington & In Orrego, 1971). The clave can be said to be a rhythmic pattern that is syncopated which is the revolution point of the band and is normally played using two sticks. In describing the form exhibited by the Latin music Bloomington & In Orrego (1971) say that it is usually played using three main forms. ...
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