Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music

by George Torres

  ular music were as wildly popular, and as controversial, as the Brazilian maxixe,

  a fast-paced couples dance in which bodies are pressed together and the legs are

  often intertwined, similar to the contemporary lambada. A mainstay of choro ensembles, the maxixe was associated for many years of Carnival celebrations until it

  was supplanted permanently by the samba . The maxixe’s impact on popular music

  led it to be the first great contribution of the lower classes of Rio de Janeiro to the

  popular music of Brazil.

  The maxixe dance was related to the polka, which arrived in Rio de Janeiro in

  the 1840s and quickly became popular among all social classes. When danced by

  the lower strata of society, the Brazilian version of the polka involved a tightly

  embracing couple, with exaggerated movements of both legs and torso. Brazilian

  musicians accompanying the dance naturally adapted the rhythms of the polka to

  better support the movements of the dancers, and the maxixe was born.

  The etymology of the word maxixe to refer to the dance is uncertain. One popu-

  lar belief is that the dance was invented by a popular dancer whose nickname was

  Maxixe (a bitter fruit popular in many Brazilian dishes) who added quick impro-

  vised steps to the polka, and musicians played the polka at a faster tempo to ac-

  commodate his fancy new steps. Another commonly held belief is that the name

  comes from the macho nature of the dance itself, in which the male is clearly the

  dominant partner. From dança do macho comes machice or machiche, which over

  time adopted the orthography of the fruit.

  Few popular dances caused as much moral outrage among the self-proclaimed

  guardians of culture as the maxixe. Shortly after it took Rio de Janeiro by storm,

  the maxixe was publicly condemned as low-class, vulgar, and lascivious, danced

  in halls frequented by loose women and unscrupulous men. The maxixe, together

  with other genres exhibiting overt African rhythmic influences such as lundu

  and samba, was seen as the cause of the moral decline of Brazilian society, ac-

  tively moving it away from the genteel nature of European models into deca-

  dence. Even more disturbing to the upper class was the fact that young white

  Maxixe

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  women could and did dance the maxixe with black partners. At times, cultured

  society became so morally outraged by the maxixe that they insisted the police

  close down the dance halls where it was practiced. In 1907 the Minister of War

  even banned the maxixe from performance by military bands because of the

  character it encouraged.

  Despite the attitudes of the elite, or perhaps in part because of its notoriety, the

  dance was quickly adopted by instrumental ensembles of the day, and it was as-

  similated and stylized by the middle sectors and high society. One such stylized

  form was the maxixe de salão, a more restrained version of the dance than was

  practiced in the dance halls and bars. In 1895 the maxixe attained a degree of social

  respectability with the opening of an operetta called Zizinha maxixe that included

  popular maxixes with lyrics added. By 1901 the maxixe had gained enough respect

  to support the publication of a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro called O Maxixe, and

  in 1906, a theatrical revue called O Maxixe opened at the prestigious Teatro Carlos

  Gomes. Although the maxixe dance was eventually accepted in the salon (albeit in

  a somewhat tamed version), and had become popular in theater productions, the

  term maxixe was avoided. Instead the more acceptable euphemism tango or tango brasileiro was often used in its place. By the 1910s however, the terms maxixe and

  tango were often used interchangeably.

  At the time of the maxixe ’s greatest popularity, French culture dominated artistic

  and intellectual thought in Brazil. It was not uncommon for Brazilians of sufficient

  means to go France for their education, and just as they eagerly adopted French

  culture, Parisians eagerly embraced Brazilian culture. The maxixe was quickly ad-

  opted in Paris for its exoticism and sensuality. Known as the matchitche, the dance

  spawned derivatives including the Apaché (Apache dance), named after the Ameri-

  can Indian tribe because of its savage imagery, and which remained popular in Pa-

  risian bohemian society for some time.

  By the 1930s the maxixe dance had declined in popularity, supplanted by the

  urban samba and new imports such as the foxtrot and Charleston introduced by

  American jazz bands that were becoming popular in Rio de Janeiro. The maxixe,

  however, remained in the choro repertory as an instrumental genre, and maxixes

  continue to be composed today.

  Further Reading

  Béhague, Gerard. “Popular Musical Currents in the Art Music of the Early Nationalistic

  period in Brazil, Circa 1870–1920.” Ph.D. diss., Tulane University, 1966.

  Efegê, Jota. Maxixe—a dança excomungada. Rio de Janeiro: Conquista, 1974.

  Garcia, Thomas George Caracas. “The Brazilian Choro: Music, Politics and Perfor-

  mance.” Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1997.

  Livingston-Isenhour, Tamara Elena, and Thomas George Caracas Garcia. Choro: A So-

  cial History of a Brazilian Popular Music . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

  246 | Mazouk

  Tinhorão, José Ramos. Pequena história da Música Popular. São Paulo: Circulo do

  Livro, 1980.

  Thomas George Caracas Garcia

  Mazouk

  The mazouk is the Creolized version of the European mazurka , a 19th-century European social dance of Polish origin, which reached its height of popularity in Eu-

  rope during the 1830s and 1840s. It was during this time that a mulatto elite in the

  French Caribbean began cultivating creolized versions of genres imported from Eu-

  rope. These included a trio of Africanized dances—the biguine, mazouk, and vals

  creole, together known as mizi kwéyòl. The mazouk, like the Polish mazurka, is in a simple triple meter with an accented second beat. Like the biguine, the mazouk uses

  a typical rhythm derived from the cinquillo pattern called tibwa mazouk. Part of the creolization of the mazouk was the addition of the African-influenced layered percussion rhythms with individual parts playing an ostinato timeline pattern, a com-

  plex, composite rhythm, to the European styled melody and harmony. Mazouks are

  sectional in their musical structure with repetitions of each strain before continuing

  to the next, the repetition having some sort of variation. A standard mazouk might

  also have a contrasting section known as la nuit with a contrasting rhythmic struc-

  ture. The popularity of the mazouk lasted through the French Antilles’s golden age

  of ballroom dance music into the 1950s.

  Further Reading

  Cyrille, Dominique, Malena Kuss, and Julian Gerstin. “Martinique.” Music in Latin

  America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History. Austin: University of Texas Press,

  2004.

  George Torres

  Merengue (Dominican Republic)

  Emerging as a pan-Caribbean genre in the 19th century, merengue gained promi-

  nence in the Dominican Republic, where it was embraced as a national symbol in

  the middle of the 20th century and was then spread throughout Latin American as a

  transnational commodified form. The musical and choreographic styl
e of Domini-

  can merengue reflects a marriage of African and European elements: interlocking,

  responsorial relationships of musical instruments and dance steps express a basi-

  cally African-derived esthetic, while melodies and ballroom dance influences re-

  flect European influences. Dating to the 1840s, the earliest references to merengue

  are found in Puerto Rico, where it was considered a variant of the danza . Local

  Merengue

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  247

  Merengue dancers wearing traditional dresses perform during the opening ceremony of

  the XIV Pan American Games at the Olympic Stadium Juan Pablo Duarte in Santo

  Domingo in 2003. (Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images)

  variants of merengue developed in Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, and the Domini-

  can Republic, where it was first documented in1854. In all these countries, meren-

  gue was danced by independent couples (instead of in groups) and was marked by

  Afro-Caribbean rhythmic tinges.

  Eurocentric Dominican elites rejected merengue in the late 19th century for its

  suggestive dance style and African influences. The Afro-Dominican rural popula-

  tion, however, adopted merengue, infusing it with even more African influences,

  and rural variants developed in several regions of the country; some are still per-

  formed today (especially pri-prí, also known as merengue palo echao, which is

  played in Villa Mella). Only the Cibao region’s variant, however, gained promi-

  nence. During the mid-19th century, merengue típico cibaeño (Cibao-style folk

  merengue) was performed on the tambora (a double-headed drum), the güira (a metal scraper), and string instruments. By the 1870s, the button accordion had

  supplanted the string instruments, and by the early 20th century an alto saxophone

  was occasionally added.

  American President Woodrow Wilson ordered an invasion of the Dominican Re-

  public on May 5, 1916, and the United States established a military government

  that ruled the country until 1924.When the occupation began, most upper-class

  248 | Merengue

  Dominicans rejected both rural Afro-Caribbean genres and modernistic North

  American imports in favor of European-influenced forms such as the waltz, polka,

  and danza. The patriotic mood that arose in the face of the American presence, how-

  ever, encouraged composers to take interest in local rural music; Cibao natives Juan

  Francisco García and Julio Alberto Hernández composed concert pieces based on

  merengue. Influenced by this trend, Cibao bandleader Juan Espínola made a mark

  by performing refined danza -tinged merengue arrangements for ballroom dancing.

  By the 1920s and 1930s, salon dance bands were influenced by North American

  popular music introduced by the occupying Marines. The jazz vogue, however, did

  not meet a wholly favorable reaction in the face of anti-American sentiment that

  reigned during and after the occupation. In 1933, the Cibao bandleader Luis Alberti

  diffused these sentiments by fusing merengue with big-band jazz. This new jazz-

  tinged merengue style soon found a permanent, though small, place in the Cibao

  dance band repertories.

  The Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo rose to power in 1930. Despite the fact

  that he himself was of partial African and Haitian descent, Trujillo espoused a rac-

  ist idea of Dominicanness that excluded explicit links to Africa and Haiti from of-

  ficially sanctioned national culture. Like the Nazis, he understood that folklore can

  be a potent symbol of the nation, and in 1936 brought Luis Alberti’s band, renamed

  Orquesta Presidente Trujillo, to the capital city to play jazz-influenced big-band

  arrangements of merengue at high-society balls. All of the country’s dance bands

  were required to perform newly composed merengues praising the dictator, and

  merengue became a significant national symbol. Trujillo’s embrace of merengue

  issued from the music’s syncretic nature: in spite of its distinctly African-based

  esthetic, merengue’s European elements set it apart from African-influenced Do-

  minican ritual drumming such as palos, making it compatible with the dictator’s Eu-

  rocentric and anti-Haitian brand of Dominicanness. Under Trujillo, merengue was

  often performed on live radio broadcasts, but it was rarely recorded in the Domini-

  can Republic. Ex-patriot Dominican bandleader Angel Viloria, however, recorded

  many merengue LPs in New York City in the 1950s, gaining fame not only among

  Latinos in the United States, but also in Haiti and Cuba. Ironically, in spite of the

  anti-Haitianness of Trujillo’s nationalism, which played such an important role in

  the development of the genre, Dominican merengue gained popularity in Haiti dur-

  ing this period, even exerting a major influence on the preeminent Haitian popular

  music, konpa (which, interestingly, was also influenced by Haitian méringue ).

  Despite merengue’s close association with Trujillo, the music remained popular

  after the dictator’s fall; an anti-Trujillo merengue entitled “La muerte del chivo”

  (“The Death of the Goat”) made a big hit immediately following his assassination

  in 1961. Bandleader Johnny Ventura incorporated salsa elements and rock ‘n’ roll

  performance style into his style of merengue, which abandoned big-band instru-

  mentation in favor of a smaller conjunto (combo) format. Significantly, during

  Merengue

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  249

  the 1965 Dominican civil war, Ventura sang to troops that resisted North Ameri-

  can forces, which had invaded the Republic in support of neo-Trujilloist elements.

  The country opened to outside influences as never before in the post-Trujillo era,

  and under the influence of bandleaders such as Wilfrido Vargas and Juan Luis

  Guerra, merengue incorporated outside elements ranging from romantic bala-

  das to Colombian and Haitian konpa, to hip-hop. During this period, a coterie of young Dominicans began to challenge the Eurocentrism that had long characterized Dominicanness. While this trend never reached the prominence of negritude

  movements elsewhere in the Caribbean, it is significant that several high-profile

  merengue musicians invoked Afro-Dominican culture in their music in the 1990s;

  bandleader Kinito Méndez, for example, incorporated Afro-Dominican ritual palos

  and slave influences into his music, gaining fame with his version of a traditional

  rural song dedicated to the Afro-Dominican Vodú luá (or spirit) Ogun Balenyó.

  Despite merengue’s phenomenal popularity, a new Dominican music called ba-

  chata became increasingly popular beginning in the 1970s. As a genre, bachata is

  distinguished by its guitar -based instrumentation and texts whose street language

  ironically comments on working-class life, often employing bawdy double mean-

  ings. Several musical types, including merengue, are performed within the rubric

  of bachata. But merengue still gained a high profile in the growing Dominican

  diaspora in the late 20th century, where it fomented social cohesion and served as

  a symbolic counterforce to Anglo hegemony. Gaining access to the transnational

  music industry, merengue became diffused throughout Latin America and beyond,

  even challenging salsa’s position as the preeminent Latin Caribbean dance music.

  Dominican merengue became so popular in Puer
to Rico that many musicians and

  fans there came to consider it their own. This embrace is all the more significant

  when one considers the fact that merengue was first documented in Puerto Rico. In

  spite of this transnationalization, traditional accordion-based merengue remained

  popular, incorporating new influences, even from hip-hop. Hip-hop also influ-

  enced the development of a new merengue variant, sometimes called merengue de

  mambo, which, like earlier forms of the music, was criticized for lewdness in lyric

  and dance style.

  Further Reading

  Alberti, Luis. De música y orquestas bailables dominicanas, 1910–1959. Santo Do-

  mingo: Taller, 1975.

  Austerlitz, Paul. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity. Philadelphia:

  Temple University Press, 1997.

  Davis, Martha Ellen.1976. “Afro-Dominican Religious Brotherhoods: Structure, Ritual,

  Music.” Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1976.

  Jorge, Bernarda. La música dominicana, siglos XIX–XX. Santo Domingo: Editora Uni-

  versitaria—UASD, 1982.

  250 | Méringue

  Pacini Hernandez, Deborah. Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music.

  Philadephia: Temple University Press, 1995.

  Pérez de Cuello, Catana and Rafael Solano. El merengue: música y baile de la República

  Dominicana. Santo Domingo: Verizon, 2005.

  Tallaj, Angelina. Forthcoming. “Performing Blackness, Resisting Whiteness: Domini-

  can Music and Identity.” Ph.D. diss., City University of New York.

  Paul Austerlitz

  Méringue (Haiti)

  Méringue is a creolized genre of Haitian music and dance that emerged in the 19th

  century that descended from the contredanse via the carabinier. Indeed, by the be-

  ginning of the 20th century, the méringue superseded the contredanse in popularity.

  From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, the méringue became a music

  and dance symbol of Haiti. The méringue was developed at a time in Haiti’s his-

  tory when European social dances were being mixed with African-derived music.

  Examples of méringue performance were enjoyed equally from among the work-

  ing classes to refined social groups among Haiti’s elite. As a distinct genre, the