From flamenco’s fiery rhythms to reggaeton’s infectious beats, Spanish music embodies its rich cultural legacy. Renowned classical composers Isaac Albeniz and Manuel de Falla have each made significant contributions to this genre of music.
More than 53 million Americans speak Spanish and enjoy listening to Latin pop and other contemporary genres that combine Latin American rhythms with modern pop aesthetics.
Corridos
Corridos are narrative metrical songs that tell tales of crime and other socially relevant topics. Their lyrics frequently reference Mexican history or the Southwest American frontier and have an epic sound.
Genre has its origins in romantic ballads brought over from colonial days and Aztec itoloca poetry as well as Spanish folk music. These four-octosyllable lines often follow an ABCB rhyme scheme and can vary in length from just a few stanzas up to telling complex narratives.
Corridos were used during the Mexican Revolution as a means to spread news and shape public opinion in rural areas where communication was limited. While most corridos were fact-based, some contained errors with dates or names; others may be embellished or exaggerated to enhance public sentiment.
Corridos have become an iconic expression of Mexican culture. Artists such as Peso Pluma have gained global renown for their chart-topping hits; his song, “Ella Baila Sola”, peaked at number one for months on Spotify’s global charts.
Danzonete
Melody, rhythm and dance are three universally-appreciated elements that unite cultures around the globe in creating music and dance genres; an excellent example is Cuba’s Danzon National Musical and Dance Genre.
Contradanza evolved from contradanza and danza danced during 19th-century ballroom dancing, and features an underlying rhythm known as baqueteo that features cinquillo and tresillo patterns – the latter consisting of an eighth note followed by a dotted sixteenth, an eight rest note, followed by another eighth note; with both patterns featuring an eighth rest (Ciguillo) while its counterpart (Tresillo) features dotted treble sixteenth eighth beat (Gerard 2001).
Jose Urfe first introduced African influences into danzon music with his 1910 composition El Bombin de Barreto when he introduced a montuno section which added swinging, syncopated notes for an authentic jazz feel. Another similar influence can be heard in Aniceto Diaz’s Rompiendo la Rutina from 1929.
Merengue
Merengue is a dance and music genre which originated in Dominican Republic. It draws its inspiration from Spanish ballroom music combined with African and indigenous Taino instruments. Merengue features a five-beat rhythmic pattern played with instruments such as diatonic accordion imported by German trade merchants, tambora two-headed drum, or metal scrapers such as guira or charrasca scrapers.
Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, popularized merengue as a national symbol in his nation. Many merengue songs at that time praised Trujillo’s regime; after Trujillo died however, merengue became used for political propaganda purposes against it.
Merengue made its mark worldwide during its popularity surge in New York City during the 1960s. By the 1980s, merengue had overtaken salsa as a dance form. All-female groups like Las Chicas del Can had an important effect on its music by convincing men to accept that women could also perform merengue. Artists like Juan Luis Guerra (trained at Boston’s Berklee school) and Tono Rosario added rock, merengue tipico, and Dominican roots music into their recordings, truly internationalizing merengue as an art form.
Tango
Tango is a musical and dance form that was developed on the streets of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in Argentina and Uruguay, thanks to a diverse population that settled here after migrating from Africa (candombe) and Spain (flamenco).
These influences combined with existing music from Argentina and Uruguay to create what became its own genre of tango music.
Music and lyrics that express romantic feelings such as love, heartbreak and longing have an immersive style that instantly sends waves of emotions coursing through you from the first note played.
Traditional instruments of tango music include the bandoneon (a type of concertina accordion popular among German immigrants), guitar and an ensemble of violins and double basses. Its rhythm is slow yet hypnotic while its melody opens and closes in phrases with pulses or pulses and silences or loudness depending on emotion conveyed – music which motivates one to dance!