in the 1960s, Latin Americans begin to use music as a form of pro-
test. Nueva canción chilena, for example, begins to evolve with art-
ists like Violeta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui who try to popularize
folkloric music in the face of oppression. Nicaraguan guerrillas or-
ganize the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) with protest
music as a means of communication.
Musica Popular Brazilia (MPB) is established in Brazil to pro-
mote Brazilian popular music on a national scale. Charlie Byrd and
Stan Getz organize a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring Brazilian
Chronology of Latin American Popular Music | xxxi
musicians in 1962, which leads to the popularity of Brazilian musi-
cians like João Gilberto and vocalist Astrid Gilberto.
1963
Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Stan Getz collaborate on
the recording Getz /Gilberto. It receives four Grammy Awards in 1964
and is the best-selling jazz album of all time, a testament to the popu-
larity of the combination of Latin American music and jazz.
1964
Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci form Fania Records in New York
city. Fania Records helps to circulate Latin music, especially salsa
developed by Puerto Ricans living in New York in the 1970s.
1970s
The 1970s is marked by a widespread black consciousness move-
ment, which results in the formation of bloco afro (a type of Carnival
organization) and the development of axé music in Salvador da Bahia
in northeast Brazil, the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. Hip-hop also
evolves as a musical genre in the South Bronx that draws on black
consciousness for inspiration to become part of the Latin American
popular music scene by the 1980s.
1973
Nueva
trova is recognized officially by the Cuban government as a
political movement.
1975
Eddie Palmeri is awarded the first Best Latin Recording award at the
18th Annual Grammy Awards for his album Sun of Latin Music, evi-
dence of the popularity of the integration of Latin American music
into mainstream popular music.
1980s
Latin-influenced reggae styles (including reggaespañol, reggae re-
sistencia, and reggaetón ) begin to emerge and become popular on
the international music scene. Gilberto Gil’s Portuguese version of
Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry,” “Não Chore Mais” (“Don’t Cry
Anymore”), introduces reggae to Brazil.
1987
Boukman
Eksperyans, a large collective of musicians and dancers,
forms in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They play a style of music that com-
bines elements of traditional Haitian music with rock ‘n’ roll.
1990s
Latin American popular music undergoes another series of transforma-
tions due to the influence of new, more modern genres such as rap, hip-
hop, electronica, and techno. Timba, for example, emerges in Cuba as
an eclectic fusion of son and rumba with elements of jazz, funk and rap.
It becomes internationally popular with bands such as Los Van Van.
Bachata, from the Dominican Republic, gains international popular-
ity. While it actually developed in the 1960s, bachata was highly mar-
ginalized and virtually unknown internationally until the 1990s.
xxxii | Chronology of Latin American Popular Music
1998
The Buena Vista Social Club documentary and recording is made by
Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González, American guitarist Ry
Cooder, and film director Wim Wenders.
2000s
The Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is established
and in 2000 the first Latin Grammy Awards are held, evidence of the
cohesiveness of Latin American popular music.
Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee combines many genres growing
in popularity in the 1990s (such as rap, hip-hop, rhythm and blues,
funk, and electronica) into his 2004 hit “Gasolina,” which popular-
izes the genre reggaetón on an international scale.
A
Accordion
The accordion is a generic term for different varieties of a handheld, bellows-driven
instrument that is central to much solo and ensemble performance in Latin America.
Accordions were introduced to Latin America primarily in the 19th century by Ger-
man immigrants. The instrument’s sound is a result of air, set in motion by the draw-
ing and blowing out of air from a bellows, which passes through multiple, single
reeds giving the accordion its characteristic sound. Because of this double action of
drawing and blowing air, there are two basic varieties of accordion: double action
(produces the same note or notes on both draw and blow modes) and single action
(produces different notes on either the draw or the blow). Additionally, they may
employ a keyboard for the right hand and buttons to play the accompaniment for the
left hand ( acordeón de tecla ), or buttons for both hands to play both the melody and
the accompaniment ( acordeón de botón ). Accordion-type instruments can be found
in many South American traditions including Brazil ( sanfona ), Colombia ( val-
lenato ), and Argentina ( bandoneón ). In Mexico and the Northern United States, the acordeón de botón (button accordion) is commonly used in tejano and norteño
music. This diatonic instrument, which has the capacity to play both melody and
bass simultaneously, is arranged in such a way so that when adjacent buttons are
played, the result is an interval of a third. Together with the bajo sexto the Mexican acordeón de botón form the backbone of the norteño conjunto. Two of the early
pioneers of the instrument were brothers Narciso and Raul “El Ruco” Martinez.
Further Reading
Clark, Walter Aaron. From Tejano to Tango: Latin American Popular Music. New
York: Routledge, 2002.
García Méndez, Javier, and Arturo Penón. Bandonion: A Tango History. Trans. Tim
Burnard. Gibsons Landing, BC: Nightwood Editions, 1988.
Tejeda, Juan. Puro Conjunto: An Album in Words and Pictures. San Antonio, TX:
CMAS Books, 2001.
George Torres
Acordeón. See Accordion .
1
2
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Afro
Afoxé. See Brazil .
Afro
A genre of Cuban popular song with lyrics often featuring black themes, Afro origi-
nated in the late 19th century and came out of the tradition of Cuban blackface theater.
It reached its height in popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, when it was often heard
within the context of sacred music and lullabies in popular ensemble situations. Within
traditional Cuban popular music, it was commonly performed in the context of the cha-
ranga ensembles. The infectious rhythm of the Afro was used by American artists in-
cluding Duke Ellington. Examples include “Ogguere” by Gilberto Valdez and “Bruca
Manigua” by Arsenio Rodríguez. Its distinctive rhythm can be notated as follows.
An example of Afro rhythm. (George Torres)
An example of its use in American popular music can be heard in the Chuck
Berry song “Havana Moon.” It is sometimes also referred to as Afro-Cuban .
Further Reading
aspora, 10. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Orovio, Helio. Cuban Music from A to Z. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004.
George Torres
Montaner, Rita
Internationally renowned vocalist Rita Aurelia Montaner Fazenda (1900–1958)
was also known as Rita de Cuba or Rita La Única. She was instrumental in
bringing the Afro-Cuban salon song to prominence in Cuba, and through-
out Latin America, North America, and Europe. As a singer, she studied Italian
opera and her early professional recitals included Italian opera and music by
Cuban composers. Montaner’s fi rst professional performance was at the Con-
ciertos de Música Típica Cubana in 1922. She travelled to the United States in
1926 where she performed with Xavier Cugat at The Apollo and toured with
the Shubert Follies. Returning to Cuba in 1927, Montaner appeared in black
face and male drag in the zarzuela, Niña Rita, o La Habana de 1830 by Eliseo
Grenet and Lecuona. She sang the tango-congo “Ay, Mamá Ines.”
Afro-Cuban
|
3
Montaner starred in many fi lms including Romance del Palmar (1935) and Sucedió
en La Habana (1938). She continued to have a successful performing career up
until her untimely death in 1958. Montaner’s singing was exceptional for her
three-octave range and vocal stamina, versatility of style, and her wideranging
repertoire.
Further Reading
Sublette, Ned. Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Chicago:
Chicago Review Press, 2007.
Rebecca Stuhr
Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban is a noun or adjective used to signify Cuban people or cultural prac-
tices of African descent in general, as well as a term that broadly describes popular
Cuban music. In Spanish, it is usually not hyphenated ( Afrocubano ).
The term Afro-Cuban was originally introduced in 1847 by Antonio de Veitía,
though it was not widely used until it was championed by Fernando Ortiz and taken
up by the intellectual community during the Afrocubanismo movement of the early
20th century. At first, the term was used only in scholarly writings for conceptual
expedience, but its vernacular usage spread to such a degree that today it is com-
mon in Cuba and abroad. According to some scholars, its use in marketing over-
extended its original meaning. At the heart of the issue is what qualifies something
as Afro-Cuban as opposed to just Cuban.
In some sense, most Cuban music could be considered Afro-Cuban due to its in-
struments and rhythmic structures. Seeing this as an overuse of the term, however,
some scholars refrain from using the word Afro-Cuban even in reference to things
such as rumba , a Cuban creation with African antecedents. This strict approach
would reserve the use of Afro-Cuban only to describe practices in Cuba with direct
African origins, such as batá drumming. Generally, Afro-Cuban is applied to many
Cuban music styles, most often in reference to pieces with a ternary beat division
(6/8 or 12/8), thus evoking folkloric or religious Afro-Cuban drumming.
Further Reading
Fernández Robaina, Tomás. “The Term Afro-Cuban: A Forgotten Contribution.” In
Cuban Counterpoints: The Legacy of Fernando Ortiz, edited by Mauricio A. Font and
Alfonso W. Quiroz, 171–79. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2005.
Nolan Warden
4 | Afro-Dominican Fusion Music
Afro-Dominican Fusion Music
Afro-Dominican fusion music ( Música de fusión ) is a genre that mixes traditional
music from the Dominican Republic, especially historically marginalized Afro-
Dominican music, with more widely accepted forms of global popular music largely
as an expression of racial pride and consciousness. Due to an antagonistic relationship
with their Haitian neighbors and their own complex racial identity, many Dominicans
have been, and often still are, resistant to accepting their African heritage. Starting
in the 1970s, a movement emerged among progressive intellectuals, folklorists, and
performers to recognize and promote the Dominican African heritage. This move-
ment is currently at its strongest. Afro-Dominican fusion musicians draw from Afro-
Dominican genres to create their music, some of which include sarandunga, congo,
palo, salves, and gagá (for a description of these genres, see Dominican Republic ).
Dominican Republic’s Juan Luis Guerra, right, performs during the Latin Music Festival in
Santo Domingo, 2010. (AP/Wide World Photos)
The point of departure in recognizing a Dominican African heritage can be
traced back to the research-musical group Convite (communal work), a perform-
ing group of social scientists, folklorists, and musicians who were influenced by
the Latin American nueva canción movement and who performed from 1974 to
1981 for the common goal of acknowledging the African heritage, which had been
erased from Dominican history. Convite ’s methodology included ethnographic
study and participant observation in order to absorb the logic and way of life of
Afro-Dominican Fusion Music | 5
rural Afro-Dominicans with the intention of creating new music with an Afro-
Dominican essence. Convite and successive generations of fusion musicians have
taken the Afro-Dominican music traditionally used to accompany voodoo-related
rituals (or other forms of Dominican folk or popular religion) from its strictly rural
and ceremonial settings to more urban locations, often as a form of popular music.
Their music expresses and encourages political resistance, oppositional thinking,
and a new racial consciousness, all of which are woven into aspects of this music.
Key figures of Convite were sociologist Dagoberto Tejeda, singer-songwriter Luis
Días, and agronomist and folklorist Iván Domínguez.
In the wake of Convite, a variety of groups and performers also sought to bring
black consciousness to Dominicans. They range in style and preferences: for exam-
ple, Luis Días performs Afro-Dominican rock and heavy metal, while Xiomara For-
tuna prefers reggae and Brazilian music styles. Although it is difficult to generalize
about such diverse musicians and projects, Afro-Dominican fusion musicians tend
to be aware and make use of the tension between innovation and tradition in their
music’s role in constructing an African identity. Although much of its power and
appeal comes from its drawing on older traditions, Afro-Dominican fusion music
is clear in its emphasis on breaking old structures musically, racially, and politi-
cally. The fusion musicians’ intention is to get into the Dominican consciousness
through a complex set of semiotic symbols encoded in their musical sound, style,
texts, performance practice, dress, and behavior. Because the white upper-classes
in the Dominican Republic have always looked up to American popular music and
culture, some fusion musicians strategically fuse Afro-Dominican music with rock,
heavy metal, and jazz, while others prefer popular forms of Afro-diasporic music,
all with the goal of breaking long-time prejudices against Afro-Dominican music
and religion.
Some o
f the tools that fusion musicians employ in order to make Dominicans
aware and proud of their African heritage can be found not only in their music,
but also in their dress codes, CD liner notes, performance practice, and behav-
ior. Fusion musicians invoke the leaders of black brotherhoods and voodoo dei-
ties, paint their bodies with tribal-like designs, use African phonemes in their
music, and Africanize the names of their groups. Many CD liner notes include an
explanation of the Afro-Dominican religious tradition associated with the music
and some sort of statement of black pride as well as African art or voodoo im-
ages, or else show the musicians in African attire. Other features of fusion music
include blending elements of Haitian voodoo or rara music with rhythms and in-
struments of Dominican music to show the cultural similarities between Haitians
and Dominicans. Many fusion musicians also sing in Haitian Creole or in Spanish
with a Creole accent.
There are about 20 fusion music groups whose roots and methodology go back
to Convite. These musicians continue Convite ’s goal of changing the previous
self-identification of the Dominican Republic as a white Spanish country. Some
6
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Argentina
currently existing groups and performers include Kaliumbé (Xiomara Fortuna),
Quedumbé (Miguel Tejada), Licuado (Crispín Fernandez), Drumayor (Edis Sán-
chez ), Marassá (Florentino Alvarez), Maracandé (David Almengod), Domini-can
(José Duluc), Transporte Urbano (Luis Días), Batey 0, Son Tres, José Roldán, Irka
Mateo, Tony Vicioso, Bony Raposo, Tadeo de Marco, and Juan Luis Guerra. In
New York, the groups are Ecocumbé, Kalunga, Palomonte, and La 21 División.
Disbanded groups of the 1980s and 1990s included Madora, Los guerreros del
fuego, Asadifé, Paleombe, and Palemba.
Further Reading
Austerlitz, Paul. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity. Philadelphia,
PA: Temple University Press, 1997.
Sellers, Julie A. Merengue and Dominican Identity: Music as National Unifier . Jeffer-
son, NC: McFarland & Co., 2004.
Angelina Tallaj
Argentina
Argentina is a South American country bordered by Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay,
Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music Page 4