Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music

by George Torres

  struments has also become popular internationally.

  Rock

  By the early 1960s, Argentine musicians were producing local, Spanish-language

  versions of American and British-style rock ‘n’ roll. The Rolling Stones and the

  Beatles were particularly influential, and by the late 1960s rock nacional had pro-

  duced a number of innovative bands. Los Gatos, led by Litto Nebbia, are generally

  recognized as producing the first original rock nacional hit with “La Balsa” in 1967.

  Two important bands emerged shortly thereafter: the blues-based Manal, and the

  acoustic, more experimental Almendra.

  Rock music, like folklore, was severely controlled during the dictatorship (1976–

  1983) and musicians faced danger of imprisonment. Nonetheless, numerous bands

  during this period began to produce rock music influenced by jazz, Argentine folk

  music, and tango, creating a rock nacional defined more by a social attitude than

  one particular sound. Important groups included two bands led by Charly García,

  Sui Generis and Serú Girán, and Arco Iris.

  Following Argentina’s 1982 war with England over the Falkland Islands/Islas

  Malvinas, English-language rock was prohibited on the airwaves, providing a fi-

  nancial boost to local musicians. This, combined with the return of democracy in

  1983, spurred an outgrowth of internationally successful bands such as Soda Ste-

  reo, Virus, and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Many of these show strong international

  influences, particularly reggae, ska, new wave, and punk.

  Música Tropical and Regional Styles

  Colombian-style popular cumbia came to Argentina in the late 1950s. The most

  important local exponents were Los Wawancó, a group formed in Argentina by Co-

  lombian and other foreign students. Cumbia itself continues to be a popular dance

  music particularly in the province of Santa Fe. In the late 1990s, a subgenre known

  as cumbia villera (shantytown cumbia) became popular among the urban poor.

  Largely synthesizer-based bands such as Damas Gratis and Pibes Chorros wrote

  lyrics glorifying drug use, crime, and misogyny, and were broadly vilified by the

  Arpa | 13

  middle classes and press. Nevertheless, cumbia bands and DJs in large dance halls

  known as bailantas, especially in the poorer outskirts of Buenos Aires, continue to

  attract large audiences.

  Another regional style influenced by cumbia and often grouped with it as música

  tropical is the cuarteto of Córdoba. A lively dance genre characterized by a dis-

  tinctive rhythmic pattern called tunga-tunga , cuarteto musicians attract thousands

  of fans to weekly concerts in large dance halls in Córdoba province. The genre

  takes its name from the founding group Cuarteto Leo, which included piano, bass,

  accordion, and violin, but since the 1960s, influenced by cumbia and merengue

  ensembles, cuarteto groups have expanded to include large percussion and some-

  times horn sections.

  Further Reading

  Collier, Simon, and Ken Hass. ¡Tango! The Dance, the Song, the Story. New York:

  Thames and Hudson, 1995.

  Florine, Jane. Cuarteto Music and Dancing from Argentina: In Search of the Tunga-

  Tunga in Córdoba. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.

  Semán, Pablo, Pablo Vila, and Cecilia Benedetti. “Neoliberalism and Rock in the Popu-

  lar Sectors of Contemporary Argentina.” In Rockin’ Las Americas: The Global Politics

  of Rock in Latin/o America, edited by Deborah Pacini-Hernandez, Héctor D Fernández

  l'Hoeste, and Eric Zolov. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004.

  Vila, Pablo. “Argentina’s ‘Rock Nacional’ : The Struggle for Meaning.” Latin American

  Music Review 10, no. 1 (1989): 1–28.

  Michael O’Brien

  Arpa (harp)

  The arpa is a stringed instrument that has been constructed and performed in Spain

  since the Middle Ages. Its arrival and dissemination in Latin America can be traced

  back to the early decades of the Spanish invasion, when the instrument was brought

  to the continent by Spanish Jesuit missionaries. Like the various forms of the guitar

  derived from Spanish archetypes that are found throughout Latin America, vari-

  ous forms of diatonic harps with significant repertoires have flourished in Mexico,

  Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Within a country, there may be several

  varieties of harps with differences in construction, technique, and repertoire.

  Additionally, both indigenous and mestizo harp traditions exist, but for the purposes

  of focusing on popular music, the following remarks refer to the mestizo traditions

  encountered in these locales.

  The various types of arpa found in Latin America show some variants in de-

  sign and construction and, at the same time, have several traits in common. All of

  the common types are of a triangular construction, consisting of three basic parts:

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  Arpa

  The sound box, commonly referred to as the caja de resonancia (resonating box),

  or as the folkloric musicians may refer to it, the panza (belly), where the strings are

  attached at one end; a consola or clavijero, commonly referred to as the diapason, which holds the tuning levers; and a columna or poste, which attaches the low end

  of the diapason to the sound box. Commonly, harps have anywhere between 24

  and 36 strings and are tuned diatonically. Most Latin American players get their

  instruments from local makers, or lauderos. Traditionally, the strings were gut and

  made from animal intestines such as goat, dog, or coyote. Today, many harp makers

  use available nylon, for example, from different grades and thicknesses of fishing

  line; some have evolved a system of using a cross-wrapping technique to produce

  a wound string for the thicker basses.

  The arpa jaorcha originated in the state of Veracruz, in the southern part of the

  state, near the port of Veracruz. It is one of Mexico’s longest standing harp tradi-

  tions. This instrument has 35 or 36 strings, is tuned diatonically, and has a range of

  about five octaves. The arpa jaorcha is generally used in ensemble performances

  of the son jarocho, along with the jarana , and requinto jarocho. The role of the harp in the context of this ensemble is both melodic and harmonic, with the harpist

  often introducing the son (Mexican) with a melodic introduction after which the rest of the ensemble joins in a lively fandango , or instrumental introduction. After

  several verses, there may be an instrumental break where all of the musicians stop

  abruptly, leaving the harpist alone to show off his or her skill in improvisation. Dur-

  ing the verses, the harp plays a harmony of chords or arpeggios. The repertoire for

  these groups consists of regional sones. Among the well known are “La Bamba,”

  “El Cascabel,” “La Bruja,” and “El Siquirisí.”

  In the Peruvian Andes, the harp is a very special instrument, performed not only

  in ensemble settings, but also as a solo instrument with a rich repertoire. The Pe-

  ruvian harp is diatonic and has between 26 and 36 strings, made of either metal or

  nylon. The resonator, however, is larger than most other Latin American varieties

  of harp. An interesting distinguishing feature to the Peruvian harp is that it is often

  used in outdoor ensem
ble processions, and the player will invert the instrument, es-

  sentially playing it upside down, and carry it in this manner while processing with

  the parade. The repertoire for this instrument consists of traditional mestizo

  forms such as the huayno , Peruvian polka and Peruvian vals . Florencio Coronado is the most well-known exponent of the solo repertoire, and he spent much of his

  career performing internationally with his Peruvian harp.

  The Venezuelan arpa llanera (plains harp) is commonly part of the traditional

  llanera ensemble that includes Venezuelan cuatro and maracas. The instrument has about 32 strings, which are most often made of a combination of steel and gut.

  The instrument is usually played in a seated position and players use both the pads

  of their fingers and their fingernails to pluck the strings. The repertoire of the arpa

  llanero consists of the native joropo and other popular regional song forms. The

  Axé

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  arpa llanera, Venezuela’s national ensemble instrument, in the hands of a skilled

  musician is also a virtuoso solo instrument.

  The Paraguayan harp, also the national instrument of the country, remains one of

  the most vital harp traditions in Latin America. The instrument was introduced by

  Spanish and Irish missionaries. It usually consists of about 36 to 40 strings, which

  are tuned diatonically and have, approximately, a five-octave range. The instrument

  is played either sitting or standing, and players usually play with their fingernails.

  Among the popular genres played on the instrument are the danza paraguaya or Par-

  aguayan polka. The instrument is used in an endless variety of ensemble situations

  as well as being used as a solo instrument. Throughout the country, aspiring harp-

  ists study at the many family-run harp schools, such as the Arpa Roga in Asuncion.

  Because of its widespread use, the harp is one of the most popular instruments

  in Latin America. In addition to its status as a musical symbol for the region as

  a whole, the many varieties of regional harp traditions identify a variety of local

  musical traditions and repertoires. In this way, the instrument can be seen as rep-

  resentative of a broader Latin American musical context, while providing regional

  distinctiveness to local cultures.

  Further Reading

  Hernández Vaca, Víctor. El arpa grande de Michoacán . Morelia, Michoacán. Mexico:

  Colegio de Michoacán, 2005.

  Schechter, John Mendell. The Indispensable Harp: Historical Development, Modern

  Roles, Configurations, and Performance Practices in Ecuador and Latin America . Kent,

  OH: Kent State University Press, 1992.

  George Torres

  Axé Music

  Axé music is a category of Brazilian popular music from Salvador da Bahia (capi-

  tal city of the state of Bahia and henceforth called Salvador) that coalesced in the

  1980s and reached its commercial peak in the 1990s. Closely associated with Ba-

  hia’s national and international image as the undisputed center of Afro-Brazilian

  culture in Brazil, axé music capitalized on the renaissance of Afro-Bahian culture

  and music ushered in by the bloco afro carnival groups of Salvador da Bahia to

  become one of Brazil’s most vital entrées on the international world music scene.

  Notable stars and musical groups from Bahia marketed under the broad category of

  axé music include Luiz Caldas, Daniela Mercury, Carlinhos Brown, Gera Samba,

  and É o Tchan.

  Since the early 1970s, Salvador’s popular music scene unfolded in close re-

  lationship to the city’s annual Carnival celebration and international trends in

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  popular music. Many of Bahia’s popular musicians (including those of national

  scope such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Morais Moreira) have tapped into

  local carnival traditions ( afoxé, trio elétrico, bloco afro ) and Caribbean-associated popular music styles ( reggae , merengue , soca , salsa ) for major inspiration. Axé music carried this trend to a new level in the last two decades of the 20th century.

  By the mid-1980s, much of Bahia’s popular music was closely linked to the

  image of Salvador’s highly participatory Carnival and to the city’s reputation as

  Brazil’s center of African cultural identity. The success of the bloco afro ensemble

  Olodum and its new musical performance style samba-reggae in the mid-1980s

  helped reinforce the reputation of Bahian carnival as a site for cultural creativ-

  ity and the maintenance of Afro-Brazilian heritage. Axé music was a term ini-

  tially used to describe (somewhat condescendingly) the new Afro-related popular

  music sounds coming out of Bahia in the mid-1980s. The term axé, derived from

  West African Yoruba language, is used widely in Salvador’s religious Candom-

  blé community to denote spiritual essence, power, and grace. Among the general

  population of Salvador, it is a common greeting and leave-taking term that marks

  a person’s awareness of and adherence to a wide range of black cultural values.

  The use of axé music as an umbrella term for Salvador’s popular music linked the

  city’s reputation as an authentic site of African heritage to the nomenclature and

  exotic imagery of the global world music scene. It is not surprising that much of

  axé music’s perceived cultural authenticity was initially due to its close association

  with the bloco afro groups that paraded with thousands of costumed participants

  and the aural and visual impact of hundreds of drummers during Bahian carnival.

  Additionally, blocos afro organizations like Ilê Aiyê, Olodum, Muzenza, Ara Ketu,

  and others provided artistic training grounds for many of the percussionists, com-

  posers, singers, and dancers that would comprise axé music . Beginning in 1987,

  Bahian groups like Banda Mel and Banda Reflexus covered Carnival hits of the

  bloco afro musical repertoire in small band formats that combined vocals, percus-

  sion, electric guitars, and keyboards.

  The collaborations of the bloco afro Ara Ketu and singer Margareth Menezes

  with David Byrne (1989) and of Olodum with Paul Simon (1990) were key to the

  marketing of the new Bahian sounds of axé music both nationally and internation-

  ally as authentic African diasporic global popular music. However, it was Daniela

  Mercury, a white Bahian singer thoroughly versed in Bahian carnival traditions,

  who took axé music to a new level of commercial popularity in Brazil with hits

  like “Swing da Cor” (“ Swing of Color ”) and “O Canto da Cidade” (“ Song of the

  City ”) in 1991 and 1992. These hit songs were backed up by Olodum-style samba-

  reggae rhythms and a highly percussive instrumentation. In the 1990s axé music

  became a music industry success, generating millions of dollars and further estab-

  lishing Bahia’s music reputation internationally. Carlinhos Brown has been one of

  the most enduring and creative of the artists associated with axé music. As a solo

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  performer, composer, and leader of the Timbalada group (a bloco afro -like orga-

  nization that operates out of the Candeal neighborhood of Salvador), Brown freely

  mixes a highly percussive sound
ideal derived from the bloco afro tradition with

  many other forms of Afro-Brazilian and non-Brazilian musical traditions. Hybrid

  offshoots of axé music include the commercially successful Bahian pagode sounds

  of Gera Samba and É o Tchan.

  Further Reading

  Crook, Larry. Brazilian Music: Northeastern Traditions and the Heartbeat of a Modern

  Nation. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.

  McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova,

  and the Popular Music of Brazil. Revised and expanded edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple

  University Press, 2009.

  Moura, Milton Araújo. “World of Fantasy, Fantasy of the World: Geographic Space and

  Representation of Identity in the Carnival of Salvador, Bahia.” In Brazilian Popular Music

  and Globalization, edited by Charles A. Perrone and Christopher Dunn, 161–76. Gaines-

  ville: University Press of Florida, 2001.

  Larry Crook

  B

  Bachata

  Bachata is a popular vocal music genre from the Dominican Republic and is

  one of the most popular genres of Latin American music. This popularity is

  a relatively recent development since bachata was highly marginalized in its

  native country and practically unknown internationally until the early 1990s.

  Bachata ’s roots have been traced to the Cuban bolero. The resemblance of

  Dominican guitar-based music to Cuban bolero —with moderate tempos, ro-

  mantic lyrics, and sentimental vocal style—is reflected in early names for this

  music. Prior to the 1960s, such guitar -based romantic songs were called bolero

  campesino or simply música popular. As time went on, bolero campesino was

  influenced by other Latin American genres and began to develop a sound dis-

  tinct from bolero and the other forms that influenced it (i.e., Mexican ranch-

  eras and corridos ).

  Despite the prominence of guitar accompaniment, bachata is essentially a vocal

  genre with a fairly standardized and distinctive rhythm, but a variety of chord pat-

  terns and verse forms. Its characteristic and defining timbre is due to its instru-

  mentation and vocal style. The presence of one or two guitars, maracas or güiras

  (shaker or metal scraper), and bongó (bongo drums) is essential for bachata . One