Spanish music spans from flamenco’s fiery rhythms to reggaeton’s infectious beats, offering a range of styles that reflect its rich cultural legacy. No matter your dance preference or just enjoyment factor, Spanish music offers something for everyone within this diverse genre.
Navarre and La Rioja are home to traditional jota, an Aragonese genre which often incorporates dulzaina (shawm) ensembles as part of its repertoire.
Danzonete
Danzonete, a Cuban genre that emerged during the 1800s and was heavily influenced by European sequence dance music such as contradanza and African rhythms, evolved as dance music to form part of its structure, along with complex choreography and musician improvisations. Over time it merged with son (a musical genre popular during 1920s) (Gerard and Moore 2001).
Miguel Failde’s orchestra in Matanzas performed “Las Alturas de Simpson,” the inaugural danzon piece ever to be known. This sensuous dance featured slow tempo, charanga instrumentation and intricate dancing moves.
Today, the danzon is still popular both within Cuba and outside its borders in orchestra halls and dance salons worldwide. Its influence can be felt throughout Latin American genres such as salsa, mambo and cha-cha; its presence can even be felt on ballroom dances like the bolero! Miguel Failde’s great-grandson leads a group dedicated to keeping its tradition alive within Cuba – the great-grandson now heads a group dedicated to keeping alive this beloved art form.
Corrido
Corridos provide marginalized groups such as farmers and immigrants an artistic outlet to express themselves through music and lyrics. Corridos often depict historical events and family histories as well as drug smuggling or barroom shootouts in songs with corridos being an expressive form.
This genre developed during Mexico’s War of Independence (1810-1821) and reached its pinnacle during its Revolution (1910-1920). This genre greatly influenced Tejano music and American Western genres, and remains widely utilized today during celebrations of Chilean national holidays.
Corridos are classic Spanish epic ballads known as romances and are structured around greeting from the singer, prologue, story, moral, and then an epilogue, concluding with a despedida (final verse). Poetic language with vivid imagery such as metaphors and dialogue makes these stories come alive – originally these songs could go up to 30 stanzas long; nowadays they can fit on audio recordings easily! They are performed soloistically or collectively with accompaniment from guitars, bajo sexto, trumpets and bass.
Flamenco
Flamenco is an art form combining song (cante), dance (baile) and guitar playing (toque), considered one of the world’s great musical traditions. Flamenco lyrics express various emotional states such as sorrow, joy, tragedy or fear – qualities recognised by UNESCO as part of their Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
At its zenith, gypsies truly flourished during the 18th century, after persecution by the Inquisition had subsided and they were allowed to travel with their music, performing at private juergas for elite parties.
Flamenco takes many forms, from profound and serious forms such as cante jondo to lighter forms such as cante chico. Some forms fall somewhere in between these categories and are known as cante intermedio. Most great artists specialize in one particular genre while often working alongside other musical genres such as rumba and rock music in collaborations that draw new audiences into flamenco’s world and expand its fame.
Merengue
Merengue, hailing from Dominican Republic, is an energetic rhythmic dance that has quickly become one of the pillars of Salsa culture. The steps involve hip movements and close embraces between partners while its tempo is faster.
merengue originated in rural communities and Afro-Dominican culture in Dominica and was often subject to censorship and discrimination by upper classes during its initial flourishing in the early 20th century. However, Rafael Trujillo adopted merengue, giving it its rightful place on radio programs and ballrooms alike.
In the 1960s, many Dominicans immigrated to New York City with merengue in tow. Artists like Johnny Ventura and Wilfrido Vargas used outside influences from rock music, jazz, salsa, zouk soukous reggae rap to push merengue into modernity; thus increasing its wide popularity – becoming the backbone of bachata dance music in Dominica as well as around the world today.