From flamenco guitar strums to reggaeton beats, Spain has an abundant musical legacy that spans the genres and centuries of its cultural evolution. Every style offers insight into Spain’s rich past and modern identity.
Son cubano emerged in the late 19th century by blending African rhythms with Spanish guitar tradition. Buena Vista Social Club’s performance at Carnegie Hall in 1998 made this style known to global audiences.
Corridos
Corridos are folk songs that tell tales based on real-life events and experiences, usually through an uninterrupted series of stanzas with the same melody, often beginning with phrases such as: “Esto es el corrido” or “Ladies and gentlemen, lend me your ears”.
Even though most corridos are based on facts, they may contain distortions or exaggerations; over time they may even change as people pass along stories passed down from generation to generation or popular culture influences them.
Corrido recordings in the Frontera Collection span both sides of a 78 rpm record for maximum drama. Digital platforms now enable new hybrid forms that mix traditional sierreno/norteno instrumentation with trap drums and urban vocal phrasing to provide rich detail about dramatic events being described. While Mexican American cultural heritage plays an integral part in shaping corrido compositions, its message can resonate across borders.
Merengue
Merengue, the national music and dance of Dominican Republic, is an upbeat style characterized by fast rhythms and percussion, often played with large orchestras but can also be performed solo or with smaller combinations. Merengue first gained widespread popularity during its Golden Age from 1930-60 with Rafael Trujillo’s support; many merengue lyrics then used merengue as a political tool by extolling his regime through lyrics in song.
After Trujillo was murdered, merengue underwent significant changes. Johnny Ventura and Wilfrido Vargas established a new format for merengue orquesta by shrinking its wind section while adding salsa influences into its style.
Dominican immigrants in the United States helped revitalize merengue with their innovations. Artists such as former rock musician Luis Diaz and classically trained Juan Luis Guerra combined African and indigenous Caribbean sounds with pop and rock, attracting international audiences with this lively, danceable musical genre.
Danzonete
Paulina Garca Alvarez was an outstanding Cuban singer known for her ability to cover any genre of Cuban music with ease and elegance. A legend of danzon, Paulina became known as the Empress of Danzonte (Emperatriz del Danzonte).
The danzon developed from contradanza by adopting elements of European ballroom dances such as the waltz, polka and mazurka to complement Afro-Cuban rhythmic cells (Gerard and Moore 2001). It reached its full bloom during the 1870s-1880s when “Las Alturas de Simpson” premiered in Matanzas as its flagship performance of this form (Gerard and Moore 2001).
It introduced a sung refrain, making the singer the focal point in the orchestra and providing it with a lyrical standard. Additionally, this new structure thickened up melody-rhythm interactions which would later give way to later developments such as danzon-cha and cha-cha-cha as well as mambo. A typical danzon song typically consists of an A section consisting of sixteen bars followed by a B section in which variations in cinquillo rhythm occur both melodically and basslineically to form a rondo structure called ABACA.
Bolero
Boleros originated in Cuba at the end of the 19th century as part of trova music tradition which set poetry to music. Jose “Pepe” Sanchez is considered the father of trova style music and its ancestor of salsa genre. He created its inaugural composition.
Slow and melodic, lament is often associated with romantic themes of longing and longing, making for more emotional songs than other Latin rhythm styles such as cha-cha or mambo.
Concertina music is often performed by solo singers accompanied by guitar or even piano or even orchestra; however, harmonized voices can also perform this form.
One of the most acclaimed bolero artists was Cuba’s Matamoros trio, who became widely beloved during the 1940s and 50s. Estela Raval, Lucho Gatica and Mona Bell from Mexico as well as Colombians Rocio Durcal and Ibrahim Ferrer are also notable bolero artists who made an impactful statement through bolero’s themes of love and nostalgia – which bridge generations.