If you want to learn Spanish, it is essential that you familiarize yourself with its musical genres. Listening to music helps reinforce vocabulary while at the same time offering new words and phrases for memory retention.
Rosalia demonstrates how singers adapt their linguistic repertoire when performing certain genres, using innovative variants of Spanish that do not form part of her native dialect.
Salsa
Salsa is an uptempo style of Latin music characterized by rhythm sections and horn arrangements heavily influenced by Afro-Cuban styles, originally developed in New York City beginning in the 1940s and ’50s before reaching its pinnacle of popularity in the 1970s. Salsa emerged out of Cuban son, Puerto Rican bomba music, American jazz music as well as influences from various Latin American countries whose musicians had immigrated to New York.
Salsa can be traced back to Cuban musical form son, which features an intricate rhythm structure with anticipations (when the bass line precedes each downbeat by half beat), giving it its distinctive pulse. Salsa orchestras usually feature instruments such as claves, timbales and congas in its rhythm section as well as possibly violin or trumpet for extra authenticity – the latter two typically featuring one head per instrument for easier playing of this Cuban instrument that is similar to bongo drums but made of metal and featuring only one head per head per head each head makes playing precise hits easier!
Merengue
Merengue is an extremely popular dance music genre from Dominican Republic that blends waltz- and Caribbean rhythms with African influences to produce an energetic yet relaxing style of dancing that has quickly spread throughout North and South America. Merengue dancers typically utilize relaxed step movements with pretzel-like hand movements that require greater flexibility than in Salsa or Swing styles of music.
Merengue music may have taken its name from meringue, a dessert made by whipping white meringue into air pockets to form airy layers reminiscent of merengue music. By the early 20th century, merengue had become an expression of Dominican nationalist sentiment during both American occupation and Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship.
At first, merengue was played by small bands of musicians; as its popularity grew, large orchestras were established to accompany singers and dancers. Notable merengue artists include Juan Luis Guerra, Wilfrido Vargas, Eddy Herrera Milly Quezada and Los Hermanos Rosario; its sound also incorporates elements from rock and bachata music.
Bachata
Bachata music originates in the Dominican Republic and draws upon European, Taino indigenous, and African influences. This genre features slow romantic tunes with lyrics that describe heartbreak, love, poverty and poverty-stricken landscapes. Bachata has had an immense influence over other Latin American musical genres such as salsa and merengue.
Historically, bachata was initially played by rural working-class communities known as campo. This style consisted of just two guitars (one playing rhythm and melody respectively) along with bongos or maracas for percussion. Bolero campesino artists first recorded this genre and their songs spoke about daily struggles faced in rural environments.
In the 1990s, Aventura elevated bachata to new heights through their modernized interpretation of it and helped make it one of the most beloved dance music genres today. They sold out Madison Square Garden several times with hits like “Dile al Amor”. More recently a hybrid style has evolved which incorporates elements such as turn patterns from Salsa dance into their music as a turn pattern style of bachata has emerged.
Flamenco
Flamenco is a musical genre from southern Spain, characterized by guitar playing (toque), singing and dance performed to a complex rhythm consisting of handclaps, foot stomping and audience cheers. Although its roots lie within Gitano culture, Flamenco has since evolved to incorporate elements from other cultural traditions.
Although Latin-Pop music can be difficult to classify, there are still numerous artists who keep this tradition alive – one such artist being Rosalia who has expanded on this genre by including urban rhythms into her soundscape.
Vicente Fernandez is another notable artist in this category, boasting an enormous following on Spotify and Deezer – particularly in Mexico where his streaming has seen an astounding 96% surge!