Spain has long had deep cultural and historical ties to Latin America. Common forms of music from this region are salsa, merengue, and bachata – with Romeo Santos (aka the ‘King of Bachata”) being particularly well known globally for his performances of these genres.
Salsa combines Afro-Latin rhythms with the big band sound created in New York by musicians such as Machito. Additionally, traditional Cuban elements such as danzon and plena are often added.
Reggaeton
Spain is home to an abundance of musical genres spanning flamenco guitar strums to reggaeton beats. Each genre offers its own distinct facet of culture and history that are celebrated both domestically and abroad.
Reggaeton is an extremely popular music genre that blends elements of reggae, Jamaican dancehall music and Latin rhythms such as salsa, bomba and plena into one dynamic soundscape. Driven by a “dembow” beat and featuring rapping and singing often in Spanish (usually by artists such as Daddy Yankee and J Balvin), reggaeton has quickly become an international phenomenon.
Salsa originated during the 1960s and ’70s as an amalgamation of jazz and Afro-Caribbean traditions, drawing influence from both. It is driven by conga and timbales drums as well as powerful brass sections with piano montunos as its driving rhythm.
Danzonete
Miguel Failde’s 1879 work Las Alturas de Simpson marked the introduction of danzon as a musical genre. However, its development took off after Jose Urfe incorporated montuno music as part of his El Bombin de Barretto. Aniceto Diaz then composed works such as Rompiendo la Routina and La Pulga y Telefono de Longa Distancia that added new vocal elements into danzon.
Danzon continued to evolve over time and was instrumental in the evolution of Cuban rhythms such as son, songo and timba as well as Mexican genres danza and mariachi. Furthermore, its influence can still be heard today at festivals in Veracruz and Oaxaca as well as major plazas throughout Mexico.