and also critiques the continuation of such modernizing notions under redemocrati-
zation. Música sertaneja, once thought to be the province of poor migrant workers,
now spans social classes and educational levels, and provides its users with a way
to reflect upon Brazil’s hunger for progress. The new Brazilian rurality proposes
that change has been too quick, too violent, and too permanent. In place of the de-
velopmentalist logic that characterizes neoliberalism, música sertaneja proposes a
country cosmopolitanism that seeks the universality of a longing for the rural past
across national borders, particularly in places such as Canada, Australia, Mexico,
and the United States. In this way, musically instantiated rurality seeks to supplant
a universal hunger for change with the desire for stability, wholeness, and love.
Further Reading
Carvalho, M. d. U. “Musical Style, Migration, and Urbanization: Some Consideration
on Brazilian ‘Musica Sertaneja’[Country Music].” Studies in Latin American Popular Cul-
ture 12 (1993): 75–94.
DaCunha, E. Rebellion in the Backlands. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1944 .
Dent, A. S. “Country Brothers: Kinship and Chronotope in Brazilian Rural Public Cul-
ture.” Anthropological Quarterly (Spring): 455–95, 2007.
Freire, P. d. O. Eu Nasci Naquela Serra: A história de Angelino de Oliveira, Raul Tor-
res e Serrinha. São Paulo: Paulicéia, 1996.
274 | Música
Típica
Reily, S. A. “ ‘Música Sertaneja’ and Migrant Identity: The Stylistic Development of a
Brazilian Genre.” Popular Music 11(3): 337–58.
Alexander Sebastian Dent
Música Típica
Panamanian música típica is a violin or accordion -based dance music genre, derived
from the country’s folkloric musical traditions, such as the mejorana and tamborito.
Música típica is Panama ’ s most popular music genre. While its contemporary form
maintains traditional musical elements, it is heavily influenced by transnational mu-
sics such as vallenato, cumbia , salsa , and merengue . To avoid confusion, Panamanians have adopted other informal terms to distinguish commercialized música
típica from its more traditional counterpart música típica popular or píndin.
Música típica is a rural-identified musical tradition from Panama’s interior prov-
inces of Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas, and Chiriquí. In the early 20th cen -
tury, a música típica conjunto featured the violin as the principal melodic instrument
and was supported by a Spanish guitar, triangle, and a variety of percussion instru-
ments endemic to Panama, such as one or two tambores ( repicador, pujador ), and
a caja (double-headed drum played with a hand and a stick). These conjuntos performed regularly at bailes populares, which were commonly held at cantinas, bars,
open-air plazas, or private homes. Although the música típica repertoire from the
late 19th and early 20th century was primarily instrumental, conjuntos sometimes
included a vocalist in their lineup. It was not uncommon for a female vocalist to
perform salomas, high-pitched vocal ululations that often require abrupt changes
in vocal register akin to yodeling.
The primary rhythms employed in the música típica genre include the atravesao,
la cumbia (similar to paseo vallenato and not to be confused with the Colombian
cumbia ), the danzoń-cumbia, and the pasillo .
Panama’s exposure to transnational music genres, facilitated by the advent of
radio in the 1930s, as well as a growing demand for imported commercial re-
cordings and touring musicians from the United States and Latin American, in-
spired música típica musicians to experiment with outside musical influences. In
the 1940s, the accordion replaced the violin as the principal melodic instrument.
The construction of larger dance venues ( jardines, toldos ), especially in Panama
City where a burgeoning population of rural migrants was settling, and the intro-
duction of electronic amplification, may partly explain the decision made by Rog-
elio “Gelo” Córdoba, Dorindo Cárdenas, Ceferino Nieto, and other música típica
violinists to transition to the sonically more powerful accordion.
In the late 1960s, música típica composers and musicians, experimenting with
Afro-Cuban music, sparked significant innovations in style and instrumentation.
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Típica
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The earliest changes impacted the percussion section; Cuban-derived instruments,
such as the timbals and conga drums (identified in Panama as tumbas or tumbadoras), replaced the Panamanian tambores. Another noted development was the
inclusion of a bass instrument. While Roberto “Papi Brandao” was the first música
típica artist to introduce the stand-up bass into his conjunto, Ceferino Nieto’s ex-
perimentation with the electric bass launched the trend for other música típica
conjuntos.
Acclaimed accordionist Osvaldo Ayala introduced additional innovations to the
música típica genre in the 1970s and 1980s. Ayala, who was significantly influ-
enced by Colombian vallenato , is credited as the first música típica artist to record songs with narrative complexity, singing lyrics that explored the emotional nuances
of romantic relationships and estrangement. In the early 1980s, Ayala experimented
with the latest advances in music technology, namely the Musical Instrument Digi-
tal Interface (MIDI), and was the first to incorporate electronic keyboard and per-
cussion into his conjunto and sound recordings.
Today, música típica uses the standard ensemble of a diatonic button accordion;
one or two vocalists; timbals , congas, güiro , drum synthesizers, an electric bass, and an electric guitar. If the conjunto features one male and one female vocalist,
the former serves as the lead vocalist, while the latter functions as the salomadora.
The lead vocalist in a música típica conjunto is almost invariably male and the sa-
lomadora vocalist is a female.
In the 1990s, música típica experienced an unprecedented commercial boom
partly due to the experimentation and innovation of several recording artists, most
notably Samy and Sandra Sandoval. In the early 1990s, this brother–sister duo was
relatively new to the música típica scene. Vocalist Sandra Sandoval and accordion-
ist Samy Sandoval, backed by their conjunto Ritmo Montañero, collaborated with
Panamanian composers and musicians with backgrounds in rock , hip-hop, reggae ,
and other popular music genres, to help redefine their style and image. While the
Sandovals’ new recordings were stylistically more transnational, the duo was also
steadfast in their observance of música típica’s more traditional elements. Their ar-
tistic efforts proved successful, attracting a noticeably younger and more ethnically
diverse fan base throughout Panama. Their national success launched them into the
global music market and they are one of the few música típica artists to perform
extensively throughout the world, particularly in the United States, the Dominican
Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
The increasingly favorable national response to música típica in the 1990s also
benefitted other long-estab
lished, música típica Panamanian accordionists. For ex-
ample, Victorio Vergara experienced a sudden surge in popularity, achieving a
level of commercial success unprecedented in his 30-year musical career.
Since the 1990s, the Panamanian government has honored numerous música
típica artists, including Dorindo Cárdenas, Ulpiano Vergara, and Alfredo Escu dero,
276 | Musique Créole
for their artistic contributions to Panamanian folklore and popular culture. Nina
Campines and Osvaldo Ayala have served as Panama’s Ambassadors of culture.
In 1995, Osvaldo Ayala became the first música típica artist to perform and re-
cord with the country’s National Symphony Orchestra, a feat that he repeated
in 2010.
Further Reading
Buckley, Francisco. La música salsa en Panamá y algo más. Panama: Editorial Univer-
sitaria Carlos Manuel, 2004.
Reyes Monrroy, Julio C. Victorio Vergara Batista: El tigre de la Candelaria; el man-
damás de la taquilla y el acordeón. Panama: Editora Azul, 1998.
Saavedra, Sergio P. Samy y Sandra: La historia. Panama: Sergio Pérez Saavedra, 2003.
Sáenz, Eráclides A. “El violín en la música vernacular panameña.” Lotería 415 (1997):
49–57.
Schara, Julio C. Un estudio sobre el pindín. Panama: Direccion Nacional de Patrimonio
Historico, 1985.
Zárate, Dora P. Sobre nuestra música típica. Panama: Editorial Universitaria, 1996.
Melissa González
Musique Créole
Musique Créole is an umbrella term for several styles of urban dance music that
emerged in the French-speaking islands of the Caribbean, particularly Martinique
and Guadeloupe. In the 19th century, the most popular dances in French society
were the polka, the mazurka, and the waltz. Their equivalents in the French An-
tilles are, respectively, biguine , mazouk , and the valse créole. These are the three main song types of musique Créole, with several variants on these forms emerging
over the course of the 20th century.
As in most of the Caribbean, French Antillean dance styles are a blend of Af-
rican and European musical characteristics. In the second half of the 19th cen-
tury, an elite class made up of locally born whites and Afro- Creoles revered and
sought to emulate French culture. However, the musicians who provided music
for upper class ballroom dances were from the Afro- Creole working class, who
reinterpreted fashionable dances by blending aspects of African-based polyrhythm
with European-based melodies and harmonies. The biguine is a syncopated dance
in simple duple meter, based on an eight-bar binary structure. Both the valse créole
and mazouk are in simple triple meter with alternating sections (A B). The contrast-
ing section of the valse créole is often in compound duple meter. In the mazouk,
there may be a contrasting section called la nuit that has a different rhythmic pat-
tern than the first section.
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Créole
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277
The typical ensemble for accompanying these dance styles in the early part of
the 20th century included a clarinet, violin, cello, or trombone, and a military style
bass drum. The melodies usually accompanied lyrics that expressed aspects of
daily life, particularly love and romance, and the beauty of the Caribbean. In the
1920s, a number of Antillean musicians emigrated, finding employment in Paris
playing various styles then popular, such as New Orleans style jazz and various
Latin American dances such as the tango , bolero, and rumba . Martinican clarinetist Alexandre Stellio was the first musician to introduce traditional biguines and
mazouks to Parisian audiences. Influenced by playing with various jazz bands in
Paris, Stellio changed the sound of the traditional ensemble by adding piano and
drum set. Stellio’s Orchestre Antillais performed at the 1931 Exposition Coloniale
International de Paris, and their success with Parisian audiences created a demand
for the biguine and related styles with ballroom dancers throughout the city.
Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” which was written in 1935 while the com-
poser was living in Paris, is based on the rhythms of the Antillean biguine: Porter
uses the Spanish rather than French Creole spelling of the dance. The popularity of
Porter’s tune, despite the fact that it lacks the rhythmic vitality of a true Antillean
biguine, did help draw attention to Caribbean music in Europe and North America.
Meanwhile, Antillean dance orchestras both in Paris and back in the Caribbean con-
tinued to perform a wide repertoire of genres, and gradually changed the orchestra-
tion of their ensembles to a big band format. Famous Martinican musicians of the
1930s and 1940s include the singer Léona Gabriel and bandleaders Sam Castendet
and Pierre Rassin.
In the 1950s and 1960s, bandleaders continued to diversify the sound of musique
Créole. During this time, there were strong influences from the surrounding Ca-
ribbean, particularly Cuban mambos , rumbas, boleros, and calypso from Trinidad and Tobago. There were, however, composers who sought to find a local sound.
One example is Martinican composer Frantz Denis “Francisco” Charles. Francisco
had studied Afro-Cuban and African dance and drumming in Paris, and when he
returned to Martinique he learned bèlè drumming from rural musicians. He then
opened his own nightclub with a house band comprised of bèlè drum, tibwa (little
sticks played on bamboo), piano, guitar, and congas , inviting local songwriters to debut their latest works with the band. He also hosted a daily radio show that
featured both established artists and new talent. Thus by tapping into Martinique’s
Afro- Creole traditions, Francisco helped to modernize musique Créole.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Haitian styles such as mini-jazz and kadans came
to dominate the popular music scene in the region. It is the blending of these styles
with musique Créole, along with other French Antillean music such as Dominican
cadence, which resulted in zouk in the 1980s. However, new variants of musique
Créole, particularly biguine, continued to emerge during this time. These include
biguine vidé (or just videé ), a type of biguine played on the road during Carnival
278 | Musique Créole
in Guadeloupe and Martinique. This style features large percussion based ensem-
bles that accompany call-and-response singing. In the 1970s and 1980s the singer
and bamboo flutist Eugene Mona blended biguine with gwo ka drumming, rock, and reggae to accompany his songs that made powerful commentaries on life in
contemporary Martinique. The continued relationship between musique Créole and
jazz is represented in the music of groups such as Malavoi, Falfrett, Difé, and Pak-
atak, as well as the annual Festival Jazz Biguine in Martinique. While musique
Créole may be less popular as social dance music, it continues to be an influential
part of the region’s cultural heritage.
Further Reading
Cyrille, Dominique. “Sa Ki Ta Nou (This Belongs to Us): Creole Dances of the French
Caribbean.” 2002. In Caribbean Dance: From Abakuá to Zouk, edited by Susanna Sloat,
221–44. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Cyrille, Dominique, with Malena Kuss and Julian
Gerstin. “Martinique.” 2007. In Music
in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History. Volume 2: Performing
the Caribbean Experience, edited by Malena Kuss, 281–320. Austin: University Press of
Texas.
Guilbault, Jocelyne, with Gage Averill, Édouard Benoit, and Gregory Rabes. Zouk:
World Music in the West Indies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Hope Smith
N
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras and
Costa Rica. The majority of Nicaraguans are mestizo (69%), although 17 percent of
the population is white, 9 percent black, and 5 percent Amerindian. The culture of
Nicaragua has been significantly influenced by both the United States and Mexico.
For example, Mexican music styles like canción ranchera are popular in the western
region of the country, as are musical trios like the famous group Los Girasoles. Ma-
riachi bands are also common on the Pacific coast. The Mexican influence is often
attributed to the prosperity of the Mexican film industry, beginning in the 1930s.
Since the 1940s, Afro-Cuban styles like rumba , mambo, and cha-cha-chá have enjoyed considerable popularity in Nicaragua. Cuban genres such as guaracha
and bolero also became popular around the same time. Mexican and Colombian
cumbia is danced in the country and gaining widespread acceptance. Also, the son
nica achieved recognition in the same decade, as it was promoted to combat Mexi-
can dominance of Nicaraguan music. Camilo Zapata is credited with the invention
of the style, as he borrowed from the repertoire of the marimba de arco trio com-
prised of the marimba , guitar, and guitarrilla. The baile de la marimba, a traditional Indian dance performed in Amerindian communities on the western coast of
Guatemala, accompanied by Spanish music styles, reflects the influence of Eu-
ropean cultures on indigenous music. The baile de la marimba is now considered
the national dance of Nicaragua. The music is generally performed in 6/8 meter
and the harmonic support in a major key. The main instrument is the marimba de
arco, accompanied by the guitar and guitarilla. With the advent of the radio and
record players, the marimba declined in importance until the 1950s, when música
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