Music And Dance Of The Caribbean

The genre bachata was developed in the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic. This genre was created based on boleros (slow-tempo Latin music), son cubanos, waltzes, Mexican music and merengue. Bachata is well known as love and depressing songs in which many people describe them self with this genre. At one point back in the earlier 1960s, bachata was considered vulgar and low-class. “Acceptance of the music has increased significantly in the last two decades, although some dominicans, both individuals living on the island and stateside, still do not accept the music because of the implication of its lower-class origins and associations with such themes as crime, poverty, drinking, and prostitution’’(Stavans 47). The genre Bachata has spread and grown so quickly for the past few years that is has become very famous in the United States, Europe, China, and South America. The genre bachata is well known to attract people with its lyrics, instruments, and dance since it identifies many people with real life events.

I found it very interesting that, as it mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, Latin American culture is so closely tied with European and African culture. However, I can see why since Spanish colonies, Portugal, and other places interacted with Latin America even so far as to leave an influence on their language, and black slaves were brought to parts of Latin America to be imported. One musical feature that the Europeans helped to incorporate into Latin America music is the singing with their languages. In fact, we learned in the reading that the Quichua language incorporated some Spanish into it. Most of the Latin American songs that I’ve heard are sung in Spanish, although this isn’t to say that what I’ve heard is best representative

Hispanic’s music had a great impact in USA. Nowadays, Americans listen to Hispanics’ music. Hispanics’ music now is part of American’s culture. These changes in USA began around of 19th century, when Hispanics immigration increases in the USA. One of the big changes in music occurred around 1940s, when Americans began to recognize the efforts of Cuban-American musicians. One of the Cuban bands was Cugat. It was known better Orchestra ‘based in New York’s Waldorf Astoria’ which had a great visual and musical style. Another Cuban band was Machito who were dominated as one of the best New York’s scenes at that time. Thanks, to those bans Americans adopted some of Cubans’ dances and performances such as rumba, mambo and cumbia. Americans used and still using the Cuban instruments like bongos and maracas to create their rhythms. Later on, Americans created Jazz by African Americans with the influenced of Cuban’s music.

Latin Dance has evolved into a vivid kaleidoscope of many different cultures dancing to the beat of a single drum. These types of music which find their origin in African influence have developed into a meshwork of individual sounds and have grown to be identified with a particular culture. An example of such can be seen in the evolution and history of one of these, Merengue. This type of dance is native to the Carribean, however, it has developed and taken its precedence in the Dominican Republic. This Carribean nation has been crucial to the spread of this music on an international level.

How did Cuba and Brazil affect popular music, culture and dance in the 1940’s and 50’s? In this investigation I am going to establish what affects Cuba and Brazil had on popular music and dance. The first thing I’m going to do is discover how the music from Cuba and Brazil spread to America, the center of music. While doing my research I will be looking at what types of music were popular in Cuba and Brazil during the 40’s and 50’s as well as how these types of music affected American popular music. Two of the sources I used in this essay, Latin Music USA and Music in Brazil will then be evaluated. To

Reggae is a genre of music that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. It is known for the heavy and strong emphasis on the bass within the background beat. Reggae was perceived as a kind of music used to express feelings about the social, political, and economic hardships in Jamaica during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was performed by musicians from black ghettos who used unhurried beats to make a style of music of their own. Reggae became an important part of the lifestyle of many Caribbean islanders; expressing a sense of pride of their Caribbean culture.

The calypso music that comes from a Trinidad musician is exciting, not on the ground of the blood that he carries in his veins but rather the historical, cultural, and religious favors that are brought together to ensure its production.

Merengue is the official dance and music of the Dominican Republic. While Merengue has been part of the Dominican culture since the 19th century, it was in the mid 1030s that Merengue became the dominant dance and music of the island. What makes Merengue so special is that it manage to raise from a considered “low-quality” music to an international sensation that not only dominated the radios stations all over the island but influenced all over North and South America. The toxicant beats had everyone in and out the island on their feet dancing and celebrating.

Deeply connected to Haitian music, dance in Haiti is filled with community, emotion, spirit, and history. Most often used Languages are French, Haitian Creole and most commonly known have religious beliefs of Catholicism, and Haitian Vodou. Some related ethnic groups are Haitian, West/Central Africans, Afro-Argentine, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Chilean, Afro-Costa Rican, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Dominican (Dominican Republic), Afro-Ecuadorian, Afro-Jamaican, Afro-Latin American, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Peruvian, Afro-Puerto Rican, Afro-Trinidadian, Afro-Uruguayan, Creoles, Louisiana Creoles, African-American Afro-Haitians are Haitians of African descent. They are mostly the descendants of the African slaves who were brought to the island to work on plantations by the French and despite cultural stereotypes that label dance as a taboo activity reserved only for religious or spiritual rituals, or the views of many who think of dance as a “women’s only” activity, dance has managed to evolve and embed itself into the lifeblood of the Haitian people.

I must say that my hole spring quarter has been dedicated to deepening my overall understanding of West-African dance alone. In preparation this to study with the Urban Bush this summer I wanted to make sure that I was able to develop a stronger foundation in my West-African dance technique this quarter. My Mondays and Wednesday from 2:00-6:30 were dedicated to Professor Parker's ( Makeda- Kumasi) West-African dancing and drumming classes held at UCR. I also seeked outside the classroom to gain a community experience of this dance genre so that I could compare and contrast the similarities and differences I found. My goals were to truly embody the many elements that are associated in this dance genre. In my discoveries I was able to

Music helps to conserve and promote the most prized possession of human civilization: religion, culture and tradition. Each community has its distinct music through which it can display its culture and tradition. For example though dāpā and gospels both are religious and devotional songs they introduce us to two distinctly different cultures. Dāpā is a religious Newari music that praises Nāsadya, the local god of music and dance. On the other hand, gospels are highly emotional evangelic vocal music that originated from the African-American Christian community in the

In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.

The music of Jamaica began five centuries ago, when Columbus colonized the land of the Arawak Indians. This dates the start of oppression by first the Spanish and then the English in this area of the Caribbean. Blacks were brought in as slaves by the English, and although Jamaica has had it's independence since 1963, the tension of authority and control still reigns. Jamaica is a story of injustice, international influence, ineffective governing, and unequal distribution of wealth; all of these elements provide a solid base for the theme of oppression and the need for a revolution and redemption in Jamaican music. Reggae in particular reflects these injustices, and the feelings, needs and desires to change the lifestyle that Jamaicans have historically lived. Reggae music has two meanings. It’s generic name for all Jamaican popular music since 1960, West Indian style of music with a strongly accented subsidiary beat. Reggae can also refer to the particular beat that was extremely popular in

The evolution of Caribbean Literature started centuries before the Europeans graced these shores and continues to develop today. Quite noticeably, it developed in a manner which transcended all language barriers and cultures. Today the languages of the Caribbean are rooted in that of the colonial powers - France, Britain, Spain and Holland - whose historical encounters are quite evident throughout the region. The cosmopolitan nature of the region's language and cultural diversity develop from the mixture of European languages with Native American languages (mainly the Caribs and Arawaks) in the formation of creoles and local patois (hybrid languages) and those of Africans brought to the Caribbean as