Music of Puerto Rico
Encyclopedia
The music of Puerto Rico
has been influenced by the Spanish, African, Taíno
Indians, France, and the United States, and has become very popular across the Caribbean and across the globe. Native popular genres include bomba
, plena
, and seis
, while more modern innovations include the fusion reggaeton
, also puerto rican calypso
, reggae
, ,and soca
.
s. The Taíno Indians have influenced the Puerto Rican culture greatly, leaving behind important contributions such as their musical instruments, language, food, plant medicine and art.
Christopher Columbus
arrived to the island in November 1493, but the indelible mark of Spanish culture
wasn't felt until Juan Ponce de León
invaded the island in 1508 and established a colony near the current capital of San Juan
. The colonists brought with them the musical instruments of their mother country, notably the guitar
, a love of infectious rhythm
s and even some of the scales left in the.. Iberian Peninsula
by the Moors
.
called the Mayohavau and/or Mayahuacan is still played by some performers.
The Spanish vihuelas, lutes, guitarrillos and guitars underwent several changes on the island. This gave birth to the Puerto Rico's native string instruments the cuatro
, tiple
, and flinching is very popular in salsa dancing in Puerto Rico's world famous La Tuna groups.
Puerto Rico also has native pianos like the Panderetas which are a type of hand drums, they are also known as panderos, and are marketed as Pleneras by LP. There is disagreement on whether the panderetas typically used in Puerto Rico today are adapted from instruments known in Spain from the time of the Moors known as an "adufe", or from similar African instruments. There are three different sizes of Panderettas, which each create distinct pitches. Other native drums are Bombas, which are like the Cuban conga drums, but are shorter and wider and produce a deeper sound. Traditionally rum barrels were used, once some of their panels were removed to make them narrower so that goat skins could be stretched across the mouth. Finally, there is the Cua, which is an Afro-Puerto Rican percussion instrument made of bamboo which is played with sticks.
Others instruments include the Marímbula
aka marímbola, Los palitos
, Sinfonía de mano, Flauta de pan and the Bombardino
.
. A performance takes on an added dimension when the audience can anticipate the response of one performer to a difficult passage of music or clever lyrics created by another. This technique in Puerto Rico is called a controversia. A similar dialog creates a heightened appreciation in the classical music of India, or in a lively jam session in jazz.
is a style of music and dance imported from West Africa
during the time of slavery
, with its modern development beginning in Loíza
and Ponce
. Bomba was played during the festival of St. James
, since slaves were not allowed to worship their own gods, and soon developed into countless styles based on the kind of dance intended to be used at the same time; these include leró
, yubá
, cunyá, babú
and belén
.
Bomba often begins with a liana, or a female singer who is answered by the chorus
and musicians with a 2/4 or 6/8 rhythm before the dancing begins. Harmony
is not used. Dancers interact with the drummer, who is usually solo and dance in pairs without touching each other its simaler to calypso and soca.
The dancers challenge the drummers in a kind of competing dialog, like the controversia mentioned earlier. The drummers respond with a challenge of their own. Sometimes one group of dancers will tempt another group to respond to a set of complicated steps. As the bomba proceeds, tension rises and becomes more excited and passionate. It's not unusual for a bomba to end with all the performers thoroughly soaked with perspiration.
The instrumentation is simple: usually the main rhythm is maintained by a low-pitched drum known as the buleador, while the high-pitched drum or subidor dialogs with the dancers. More complicated counter rhythms are created with sticks beaten on any resonant surface. A third set of rhythms is maintained by a maraca.
Rafael Cepeda
and the rest of the Cepeda family have long dominated the genre, while Paracumbé and others have achieved moderate success.
Danza
is a very sophisticated form of music that can be extremely varied in its expression; the Puerto Rican national anthem
, "La Borinqueña
", was originally a danza that was later altered to fit a more anthem-like style. Danzas can be either romantic or festive. Romantic danzas have four sections, beginning with an eight measure paseo followed by three themes of sixteen measures each. The third theme typically includes a solo by the bombardino
and, often, a return to the first theme or a coda at the end. Festive danzas are free-form, with the only rules being an introduction and a swift rhythm.
The first part of the romantic had 8 measures of music without rhythm, when the men circled the room in one direction, and the women circled in the other. This afforded young couples the opportunity to face each other, if only briefly, and to conduct some serious flirting. The second part, called the merengue, grew from the original 16 measures to 34, in 1854, and up to 130 even later. Here the couples held each other, in a proper stance and executed turns that looked very much like a waltz. Like the tango in Argentina, the danza was considered rather naughty and was outlawed for a time.
While the origins of the danza are murky, it probably arose around 1840 as a sort of reaction against the highly codified contradanza
and was strongly influenced by Cuban immigrants and their habanera
music. The first danzas were immature, youthful songs condemned by the authorities, who occasionally tried ineffectively to ban the genre. The first danza virtuoso was Manuel Gregorio Tavarez
and his disciple, Juan Morel Campos
. Campos composed more than 300 danzas in his short life. He died at the age of 37 while conducting his own orchestra.
Although danza composers could still be found in the 20th century, most of them kept writing in a rather conservative way in terms of melody, harmony and structure. At the beginning of the 21st century a young pianist and composer Angel David Mattos (b. 1966) made way for the danza in a project were danza meets jazz. This CD entitled Danzzaj (2004) enrouted danza again into the minds of a new generation of danza composers.
n ballad
s that came to Puerto Rico in the late 17th century. Décima (meaning tenth) usually consists of ten improvised lines of eight syllables each; the form quickly became popular among Jíbaros, or peasants. Note that a décima is also the name of a very specific type of verses in Spanish poetry.
Vicente Martinez de Espinel was a Spanish writer and musician who revived the décima, using Andalusian Jíbaro traditions and medieval Moorish influences. The two varieties are seis
, a dance music
, and aguinaldo
, derived from Spanish Christmas carol
s.
originated in the later half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite common. Men and women form separate lines down the hall or in an open place of beaten earth, one group facing the other. The lines would approach and cross each other and at prescribed intervals the dancers would tap out the rhythm with their feet.
The melodies and harmonies are simple, usually performed on the cuatro, guitar, and güiro, although other indigenous instruments are used depending on the available musicians. The 2/4 rhythm is maintained by the güiro and guitar.
Types of Aguinaldos include: Aguas Buenas,Aguinaldos-cadenas, aguinaldos-plenas, aguinaldos-seises, aguinaldos-villancicos, bombas navideñas, cabayos, cadenas, Cagüeño, Costanero o Costeño, de Trulla, guarachas navideñas, Isabelino, Jíbaro, Lamento, Manola, Parranda, plenas navideñas, Yabucoeño, and Yumac. http://home.coqui.net/alvarezl/modulos.htm Tony Croatto
was one of the mountain masterminds behind the movement during the 70s/80s era.
is a narrative song from the coastal regions of Puerto Rico, especially around Ponce
. Its origins have been various claimed as far back as 1875 and as late as 1920. As rural farmers moved to San Juan
and other cities, they brought plena with them and eventually added horns
and improvised call and response
vocals. Lyrics generally deal with stories or current events, though some are light-hearted or humorous. Manuel A. Jiménez
, or El Canario, is the most highly celebrated of the original plena performers its simaler to calypso and soca and dancehall.
In the 1940s and 50s, artists like Cesar Concepción
and Mon Rivera
made plena slicker and made some hits internationally, but the music's popularity sunk drastically by the mid-1960s.
Plena's popularity blossomed in the 1990s, and the revival has survived and influenced foreign genres from Jamaica
, Cuba, Brazil
and other Latin and Caribbean countries. Artists like Willie Colón
united plena and bomba with salsa music to great critical acclaim and popularity, while other important bands of this revival include Plena Libre (long-time leaders of the genre) and Plenealo.
But also known as the famous singer in Plena Libre from 1922-1954 & loved by his fans.
and mambo are types of Cuban music
that became very popular in Puerto Rico in the 1930s. Puerto Rican migrants soon brought the music to New York City, where it evolved into salsa music
in the early 1950s.
.
The 1980s experienced the rise of "salsa romantica
" and such artists as Frankie Ruiz
, Willie Gonzalez, Nino Segarra
, Tommy Olivencia
, Lalo Rodríguez
, Tony Vega
, and Eddie Santiago
, who sang a softer and more romantic version of salsa. Today's famous Puerto Rican salsa singers include La India
, Marc Anthony
, Víctor Manuelle
, Tito Nieves
, Jerry Rivera
and Gilberto Santa Rosa
.
As to instrumentation, salsa romantica
uses a heavy and varied bass line, with percussion instruments such as the conga
, maraca, bongo
, timbales
, claves
and a cowbell. Horns and wind instruments also play a very important part in the music.
"Corazón Guerrero" was fully responsible for the movement's dawning in 1982.
or Bugalu (shing-a-ling, popcorn music) originated in New York City and said to be "the first Nuyorican
music". Boogaloo, a fusion of Rhythm such as Blues
, R&B and Afro-Cuban
music and was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo was the first contemporary Latin music form that captured my attention because of its funky sounds, engaging choral chants by the audience, English lyrics, references to symbols of African American culture ("cornbread, hog maws and chitlins"), and background sounds of raucous party goers. Boogaloo was a highly successful crossover musical style, capturing the attention of audiences who were previously not familiar with Latin music.
Boogaloo resonated particularly with African American audiences. Performers such as Jimmy Sabater and Joe Cuba
clearly state that Boogaloo was inspired by the interaction between African American
dancers and Latin musicians in New York
at nightclubs such as Palm Gardens Ballroom. They recount stories of how the structure and tone of Boogaloo songs such as "Bang, Bang" were developed in an effort to appeal to African American dancers who were not responding to their traditional mambo
s and cha-cha-chá
s. Many of the Boogaloo musicians report that they were also deeply influenced by the R&B, jazz
and doo-wop
bands of that era. Music historian Juan Flores
, in his seminal work on Boogalu entitled Cha Cha with a Backbeat
, suggests that the song title and refrain "I Like It Like That" may have some roots in a 1961 R&B tune with the same name composed by Chris Kenner
, from New Orleans.
established itself as a melting pot of Latinos from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti
, Dominican Republic, Colombia
, Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. The result was a series of big band groups becoming major stars playing rumba
, mambo, Latin jazz
and chachachá. The Morales Brothers, Rafael Cortijo
and Tito Rodríguez
are probably the best-known Puerto Rican stars of the period.
Out of Cortijo's band came Rafael Ithier
, who formed El Gran Combo
in 1962 in order to create a popular dance music based on Cortijo's plena roots. The band was successful within a few years when "Acangana" became a major hit.
In the 1970s, Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants in New York City produced salsa music
by adding rock
elements to native forms like plena
.
Several international pop-stars have come from Puerto Rico or are of Puerto Rican descent, including Danny Rivera
, and Chucho Avellanet
, alongside Chayanne
, Jennifer Lopez
(although she's a native New Yorker), Luis Miguel, (born in P.R. although he's of Spaniard and Italian descent and raised in Mexico), José Feliciano
, (folk rock
singer and guitarist well-known for infusing Light My Fire
into Latin America
), Briel
& Dagmar
, Wilkins Vélez
, Nydia Caro
, Ednita Nazario
, Lucecita Benítez
, Obie Bermúdez
, Ricky Martin
, Luis Fonsi
, Yolandita Monge
and Noelia
.
Boy band
s like Menudo
and Los Chicos
also topped charts worldwide for a period, and began the careers of Martin and Chayanne, respectively. Menudo has been recognized by many around the world to be history's greatest boy band; but this title is debatable nowadays, with the success generated by The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Menudo's phenomenal fame reached the United States, the rest of Latin America, Europe and Asia. During the group's golden era of the early 1980s, the terms Menudomania and Menuditis were invented.
. La India
, one of house music's top vocalist releases new tracks every few years aside from her mainstream salsa albums. La India
's most recent track which was released in 2011, titled "Tacalacateo" debuted on Billboards Dance chart.
. The single that many consider the first true Latin Hip-Hop record (was not called Freestyle until much later) was Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home." The song was originally signed to Personal Records in New York and not released in the U.S. It was licensed to CBS Records in England and became a big club record on import. The response the record received from the Latin Hip-Hop clubs led Columbia Records to pick up the single for U S release where it became an anthem for teen-age girls. The song reached #34 on the Pop charts in August 1985 and Lisa Lisa became a role model for young Hispanics all over her hometown of New York. Then came other Freestyle artists that were Puerto Rican such as Brenda K. Starr
, Marc Anthony
, Cynthia, George LaMond
, La India
, Judy Torres
, TKA
, Lil Suzy and Lissette Melendez. La India
, Marc,and Brenda would later get more recognition when they stopped singing Freestyle music and began singing Salsa.
see also
Mattador released the first instance of their album Save Us From Ourselves with guitarist Ramón Ortiz
, who would later go on to play with Puya. The band even opened the Iron Maiden concert at the island.
On January 4, 1990, John Rodriguez aka. MetalKid, a radio personality launched the first radio program to cater only Puerto Rican artists at La Mega Station 106 FM along with Edgardo "El Bebo" Adames; giving the opportunity to dozens of acts play their music on the radio. Later that year MetalKid created Brutal Noise Music, the first record label to include metal music on their roster. Bands like Crypta, Homicide, Morbid Death, Deathkross and the Christian act Deathless among others were the first metal releases to be available under Brutal Noise.
Brutal Noise joined forces with local promoter Albert Morales from ShowNet and produced concerts like Iron Maiden, Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer making the way to promote local acts on their shows. Until today this tradition still alive.
In 1994, former Menudo singer Robi Rosa released his first solo album, and Mattador re-released their album, this time with Tito Rodríguez (now with Sol D'Menta) as guitarist.
La Secta Allstar is the most commercially successful rock band in Puerto Rico, selling over 250,000 copies from their last album Consejo and reaching platinum. Since their debut in Puerto Rican charts in 1998.
Reggae "developed" in the '70s in Jamaica and has gone through numerous changes since then, having been combined with other sounds and rhythms. The first Latin American rap (performed by Vico C
) appeared in Puerto Rico in 1985, and in the years to come this movement arrived in other Latin American countries as well as in the United States.
During this peak of Spanish-speaking music movement, Vico C managed to make a breakthrough with his Spanish rap and "merengue house and reggae house fusion"and eventually reggaeton.
In Puerto Rico the youth began listening not only to rap but also to Jamaican reggae and dance hall, which had a great success there and eventually evolved into reggaeton.
One of the reggae-dancehall
songs that first had major succes in Puerto Rico was, "Dem Bow" by shabba ranks
The first sounds resembling modern reggaeton, appeared in Puerto Rico in "The Noise
" disco between 1989 and 1994.
In Puerto Rico, the debate between aficionados of Spanish rock and fans of salsa music had become part of a class antagonism between the growing middle class on the island until the arrival of reggaeton.
In Puerto Rico, reggaeton was first referred to as "Underground", mainly due to its often coarse lyrics and unvarnished language and also because it used to be distributed secretly among young people but eventually it spread all over puerto rico and had more variety like romantic reggaeton songs.
, pop
, [and soca]] & R&B, but resembles R&B the most. Many artists such as Arcangel, De La Ghetto
, RKM & Ken-Y, Zion Y Lennox
, Don Omar
, Wisin & Yandel
, Jowell & Randy
, & more.
Example are Zion featuring Akon
song title "The Way She Moves". Another example is Calle 13
song title "Un beso de Desayuno".
A specialized style of rap exists in Puerto Rico that reflects its ambiguous yet evolving identity as a musical community. Recently, the messages found in underground rap songs have been provocative and assertive. Rap group El Sindicato and rock band Fiel a la Vega
collaborated in creating the politically-conscious song, "O Luchamos o Nos Entregamos" (Either We Fight or We Give In). Religious activism can be found in the song Amor al Rescate song "Somos Hermanos" (We Are Brothers). Assimilating English into his mostly Spanish song Poesia Subterranea, Puerto Rican rapper SieteNueve incorporates fundamental aspects of hip-hop into his music video, such as graffiti and breakdancing, and he also expresses appreciation of his hometown, Villa Palmeras
. As songs such as SieteNueve's are underground, and not too mainstream, in Puerto Rico, they receive even less attention elsewhere around the world.
, Gisselle
, and Olga Tañón
made success in the charts. Elvis Crespo
made a major breakthrough with his hit, "Suavemente
". Several merengue bands like Grupo Mania
, La Makina, and Limi-T 21
also became successful. Merenrap
, or meren-rap, is a subgenre of merengue music with rapping. The first merenrap was "Soy Chiquito (No Inventes Papito, No Inventes)", recorded by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Puerto Rican rapper Lisa M
in 1990.
, Hip Hop
, Funk
and Techno Music within a Tropical musical frame of salsa, in which the conga drums and/or timbales drums are the main source of rhythm of the tune, in conjunction with a heavy salsa "montuno" of the piano. The lyrics of the song can be rapped or sung, or used combining both styles, as well as danced in both styles.
Examples are Ivy Queen
& Don Omar
song title "Robarte Un Beso", the Group 3D Ritmo De Vida song title "Que Siga La Rumba" and the Group Mas Salsa Que Tu song title "Ten Cuida'o".
but does not contain the typical dembow beat and focuses on fusing the sounds and styles of Reggaeton, Hip-Hop, Electropop, and Dance-pop
. This new sound has produced mega hits such as Síguelo by Wisin & Yandel
, Pose by Daddy Yankee
, and Virtual Diva
by Don Omar
.
with a hip flavor. Steeped in the jazz tradition (having studied and performed with Dizzy Gillespie
, Lester Bowie
, Jimmy Heath
, Slide Hampton
, David Murray and Donald Byrd
among others), Cepeda developed this unique artistic expression by incorporating a contemporary jazz perspective with the musical and cultural traditions of his homeland, Puerto Rico.
takes place annually in San Juan, drawing in classical musicians from around the world.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
has been influenced by the Spanish, African, Taíno
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
Indians, France, and the United States, and has become very popular across the Caribbean and across the globe. Native popular genres include bomba
Bomba
Bomba is one of the traditional musical styles of Puerto Rico. it is a largely African-derived music. The rhythm and beat are played by a set of floor drums, cuá and a maraca. Dance is an integral part of the music: the dancers move their bodies to every beat of the drum, making bomba a very...
, plena
Plena
Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...
, and seis
Seis
The seis is a type of Puerto Rican dance music, related to décima. It originated in the later half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite...
, while more modern innovations include the fusion reggaeton
Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
, also puerto rican calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, ,and soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
.
Early history
The history of the music on the island of Puerto Rico begins with its original inhabitants, the TaínoTaíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
s. The Taíno Indians have influenced the Puerto Rican culture greatly, leaving behind important contributions such as their musical instruments, language, food, plant medicine and art.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
arrived to the island in November 1493, but the indelible mark of Spanish culture
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
wasn't felt until Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named...
invaded the island in 1508 and established a colony near the current capital of San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. The colonists brought with them the musical instruments of their mother country, notably the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, a love of infectious rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
s and even some of the scales left in the.. Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
by the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
.
Musical instruments
The evergreen tree. A piece of wood pierces through the shell as a handle and dried seeds or pebbles inside rattle when the musicians shake the instrument. Another Taíno instrument still used today is the Conch Shell Horn which is many times simply called La Flauta (many times used in Bomba music). Also, a slit drumSlit drum
A slit drum is a hollow percussion instrument, usually a log drum of bamboo or wood, that is made with one or more slits in it. Most slit drums have three slits, cut into the shape of an "H". If, as is usual, the resultant tongues are different lengths or thicknesses, the drum will produce two...
called the Mayohavau and/or Mayahuacan is still played by some performers.
The Spanish vihuelas, lutes, guitarrillos and guitars underwent several changes on the island. This gave birth to the Puerto Rico's native string instruments the cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
, tiple
Tiple
Tiple is the Spanish word for treble or soprano, is often applied to specific instruments, generally to refer to a small chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a tiplista.-Colombian tiple:...
, and flinching is very popular in salsa dancing in Puerto Rico's world famous La Tuna groups.
Puerto Rico also has native pianos like the Panderetas which are a type of hand drums, they are also known as panderos, and are marketed as Pleneras by LP. There is disagreement on whether the panderetas typically used in Puerto Rico today are adapted from instruments known in Spain from the time of the Moors known as an "adufe", or from similar African instruments. There are three different sizes of Panderettas, which each create distinct pitches. Other native drums are Bombas, which are like the Cuban conga drums, but are shorter and wider and produce a deeper sound. Traditionally rum barrels were used, once some of their panels were removed to make them narrower so that goat skins could be stretched across the mouth. Finally, there is the Cua, which is an Afro-Puerto Rican percussion instrument made of bamboo which is played with sticks.
Others instruments include the Marímbula
Marímbula
A marímbula is a folk musical instrument of the Caribbean Islands . The marímbula is usually classified as part of the lamellophone family of musical instruments. With its roots in African instruments, marimbula originated in the province of Oriente, Cuba in the 19th century...
aka marímbola, Los palitos
Palitos
A palito is a Puerto Rican musical instrument typically 25 cm long and 3 cm in diameter made of wood. One palito is held in one hand, loosely resting on the palm, and is struck by the other palito in order to create a resonating sound. There are many variations, many of which...
, Sinfonía de mano, Flauta de pan and the Bombardino
Baritone horn
The baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...
.
Improvisation and controversia
The heart of much Puerto Rican music is the idea of improvisation in both the music and the lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
. A performance takes on an added dimension when the audience can anticipate the response of one performer to a difficult passage of music or clever lyrics created by another. This technique in Puerto Rico is called a controversia. A similar dialog creates a heightened appreciation in the classical music of India, or in a lively jam session in jazz.
Bomba
BombaBomba
Bomba is one of the traditional musical styles of Puerto Rico. it is a largely African-derived music. The rhythm and beat are played by a set of floor drums, cuá and a maraca. Dance is an integral part of the music: the dancers move their bodies to every beat of the drum, making bomba a very...
is a style of music and dance imported from West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
during the time of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, with its modern development beginning in Loíza
Loíza, Puerto Rico
Loíza is a small town and municipality in the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico, north of Canóvanas; east of Carolina; and west of Río Grande. Loíza is spread over 5 wards and Loíza Pueblo...
and Ponce
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
. Bomba was played during the festival of St. James
Saint James the Great
James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle...
, since slaves were not allowed to worship their own gods, and soon developed into countless styles based on the kind of dance intended to be used at the same time; these include leró
Lero
Lero is an obscure Celtic god, invoked alongside the goddess Lerina as the eponymous spirit of Lérins in Provence. Nothing is known about these gods apart from these epigraphic dedications.Lero is also an uncommon surname found in the United States....
, yubá
Yuba
-Places:* Yuba City, California* Yuba County, California** North Yuba AVA, California wine region in Yuba County* Yuba River, a major river in California* Yuba State Park, in Utah* Yuba, California, a former settlement* Yuba, Michigan* Yuba, Wisconsin...
, cunyá, babú
Babu
Babu may refer to:Place:* Babu District, in Hezhou, Guangxi, ChinaTitle* Babu , South Asian term of respect People*Babu , list of people with this name* Babù, Anderson Rodney de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer...
and belén
Belen
-In places:*Belén, Catamarca, Argentina*Belén de Umbría, Risaraldam, Colombia*Belén, Honduras, Lempira, Honduras*Belen, Hatay, a town and district in Turkey*Belen, New Mexico, United States*Belen , rail station...
.
Bomba often begins with a liana, or a female singer who is answered by the chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and musicians with a 2/4 or 6/8 rhythm before the dancing begins. Harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
is not used. Dancers interact with the drummer, who is usually solo and dance in pairs without touching each other its simaler to calypso and soca.
The dancers challenge the drummers in a kind of competing dialog, like the controversia mentioned earlier. The drummers respond with a challenge of their own. Sometimes one group of dancers will tempt another group to respond to a set of complicated steps. As the bomba proceeds, tension rises and becomes more excited and passionate. It's not unusual for a bomba to end with all the performers thoroughly soaked with perspiration.
The instrumentation is simple: usually the main rhythm is maintained by a low-pitched drum known as the buleador, while the high-pitched drum or subidor dialogs with the dancers. More complicated counter rhythms are created with sticks beaten on any resonant surface. A third set of rhythms is maintained by a maraca.
Rafael Cepeda
Rafael Cepeda
Rafael Cepeda Atiles a.k.a. "The Patriarch of the Bomba and Plena" was the patriarch of the Cepeda family, known internationally as the exponents of Afro-Puerto Rican folk music.-Early years:...
and the rest of the Cepeda family have long dominated the genre, while Paracumbé and others have achieved moderate success.
Danza
Danza
Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dances, performed to a pattern, usually of squares, to...
is a very sophisticated form of music that can be extremely varied in its expression; the Puerto Rican national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
, "La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña is the official anthem of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. After Puerto Rico became the "The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in 1952, the first elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, signed law #2 of July 24, 1952 that stated that the musical composition known as "La Borinqueña" was to...
", was originally a danza that was later altered to fit a more anthem-like style. Danzas can be either romantic or festive. Romantic danzas have four sections, beginning with an eight measure paseo followed by three themes of sixteen measures each. The third theme typically includes a solo by the bombardino
Bombardino
Bombardino is a drink popular in Italy during the Winter, especially in the ski resorts. It is made by mixing 1/2 Advocaat or eggnog and 1/2 Brandy. It is served hot and with whipped cream on top. It has several variations: with coffee , with rum or whiskey...
and, often, a return to the first theme or a coda at the end. Festive danzas are free-form, with the only rules being an introduction and a swift rhythm.
The first part of the romantic had 8 measures of music without rhythm, when the men circled the room in one direction, and the women circled in the other. This afforded young couples the opportunity to face each other, if only briefly, and to conduct some serious flirting. The second part, called the merengue, grew from the original 16 measures to 34, in 1854, and up to 130 even later. Here the couples held each other, in a proper stance and executed turns that looked very much like a waltz. Like the tango in Argentina, the danza was considered rather naughty and was outlawed for a time.
While the origins of the danza are murky, it probably arose around 1840 as a sort of reaction against the highly codified contradanza
Contradanza
The Cuban contradanza was a popular dance music genre of the 19th century.- Origins and Early Development:...
and was strongly influenced by Cuban immigrants and their habanera
Habanera (music)
The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...
music. The first danzas were immature, youthful songs condemned by the authorities, who occasionally tried ineffectively to ban the genre. The first danza virtuoso was Manuel Gregorio Tavarez
Manuel Gregorio Tavarez
Manuel Gregorio Tavarez , was Puerto Rico's first renowned classical and danza composer and the inspiration behind future generations of composers.-Early years:...
and his disciple, Juan Morel Campos
Juan Morel Campos
Juan Morel Campos , sometimes erroneously spelled Juan Morell Campos, was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level.-Early years:...
. Campos composed more than 300 danzas in his short life. He died at the age of 37 while conducting his own orchestra.
Although danza composers could still be found in the 20th century, most of them kept writing in a rather conservative way in terms of melody, harmony and structure. At the beginning of the 21st century a young pianist and composer Angel David Mattos (b. 1966) made way for the danza in a project were danza meets jazz. This CD entitled Danzzaj (2004) enrouted danza again into the minds of a new generation of danza composers.
Décima
The décima has its roots in 16th century Spain and represents the earliest examples of the combination of native rhythms and the lyrics and melodies from the mother country. Décima is derived from AndalusiaAndalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
n ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s that came to Puerto Rico in the late 17th century. Décima (meaning tenth) usually consists of ten improvised lines of eight syllables each; the form quickly became popular among Jíbaros, or peasants. Note that a décima is also the name of a very specific type of verses in Spanish poetry.
- The rules for the lyrics are complex and particularly difficult to execute since the lyrics are composed on the spot:
- The song is composed of 10 lines, consisting of 5 couplets of 2 lines each
- Each line of the couplet has 8 syllables
- The syllable count is complicated by rules covering adjacent sounds
- The rhyming structure has the form: A B B A A C C D D C
Vicente Martinez de Espinel was a Spanish writer and musician who revived the décima, using Andalusian Jíbaro traditions and medieval Moorish influences. The two varieties are seis
Seis
The seis is a type of Puerto Rican dance music, related to décima. It originated in the later half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite...
, a dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, and aguinaldo
Aguinaldo
Aguinaldo is a folk genre of Christmas music in Puerto Rico, and is based on an archaic form of Spanish Christmas carols. Aguinaldo music is often performed by what is called parrandas—a casual group of people, often family or friends, who go from house to house.- Puerto Rican aguinaldo :In...
, derived from Spanish Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
s.
Seis
The seisSeis
The seis is a type of Puerto Rican dance music, related to décima. It originated in the later half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite...
originated in the later half of the 17th century in the southern part of Spain. The word means six, which may have come from the custom of having six couples perform the dance, though many more couples eventually became quite common. Men and women form separate lines down the hall or in an open place of beaten earth, one group facing the other. The lines would approach and cross each other and at prescribed intervals the dancers would tap out the rhythm with their feet.
The melodies and harmonies are simple, usually performed on the cuatro, guitar, and güiro, although other indigenous instruments are used depending on the available musicians. The 2/4 rhythm is maintained by the güiro and guitar.
Aguinaldo
The Aguinaldo from Puerto Rico is similar to Christmas carols, except that they are usually sung in a parranda, which is rather like a lively parade that moves from house to house in the neighborhood, looking for holiday food and drink. The melodies were subsequently used for the improvisational décima and seis. There are aguinaldos that are usually sung in churches or religious services, while there are aguinaldos that are more popular and are sung in the parrandas.Types of Aguinaldos include: Aguas Buenas,Aguinaldos-cadenas, aguinaldos-plenas, aguinaldos-seises, aguinaldos-villancicos, bombas navideñas, cabayos, cadenas, Cagüeño, Costanero o Costeño, de Trulla, guarachas navideñas, Isabelino, Jíbaro, Lamento, Manola, Parranda, plenas navideñas, Yabucoeño, and Yumac. http://home.coqui.net/alvarezl/modulos.htm Tony Croatto
Tony Croatto
Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto Martinis, better known as Tony Croatto was an Italian singer and composer best known for his interpretations of Puerto Rican folk music. He was also a television presenter.-Biography:Born in Attimis, a comune in the province of Udine, Italy...
was one of the mountain masterminds behind the movement during the 70s/80s era.
Plena
PlenaPlena
Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...
is a narrative song from the coastal regions of Puerto Rico, especially around Ponce
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
. Its origins have been various claimed as far back as 1875 and as late as 1920. As rural farmers moved to San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
and other cities, they brought plena with them and eventually added horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
and improvised call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
vocals. Lyrics generally deal with stories or current events, though some are light-hearted or humorous. Manuel A. Jiménez
Manuel A. Jiménez
Manuel A. Jiménez , or "El Canario", is a Puerto Rican musician most famous for his work in the plena style. During the 1930s, he introduced new elements like piano, horns, and bass into plena, spreading its popularity....
, or El Canario, is the most highly celebrated of the original plena performers its simaler to calypso and soca and dancehall.
In the 1940s and 50s, artists like Cesar Concepción
Cesar Concepcion
Cayetano César Concepción Martínez, , was a Puerto Rican musician and composer, who brought the music of his native land to Latin American ballroom dancing, and ballrooms all over the world...
and Mon Rivera
Mon Rivera
Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians , namely Monserrate Rivera Alers and his oldest son, Efraín Rivera Castillo Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians (both born in Mayagüez), namely Monserrate Rivera Alers (originally...
made plena slicker and made some hits internationally, but the music's popularity sunk drastically by the mid-1960s.
Plena's popularity blossomed in the 1990s, and the revival has survived and influenced foreign genres from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Cuba, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and other Latin and Caribbean countries. Artists like Willie Colón
Willie Colón
William Anthony Colón is a Nuyorican salsa musician. Primarily a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City.-Early years:...
united plena and bomba with salsa music to great critical acclaim and popularity, while other important bands of this revival include Plena Libre (long-time leaders of the genre) and Plenealo.
But also known as the famous singer in Plena Libre from 1922-1954 & loved by his fans.
Guaracha
A lively and highly danceable music style with lyrics. The guaracha came to Puerto Rico from Cuba in the mid-19th century. Characterized mostly by its rhythm, it is generally played with a bolero section in 2/4 time and a clave section in either 6/8 or 3/4 time, although the order of these sections is sometimes reversed. Typically, a guaracha ends with a sensual rumba section. La Negra Tomasa composed in the 1940s, is an interesting (only vocals and percussion), example of this genre. Another example is Corneta sung by Daniel Santos.Son and mambo
SonSon (music)
The Son cubano is a style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin...
and mambo are types of Cuban music
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...
that became very popular in Puerto Rico in the 1930s. Puerto Rican migrants soon brought the music to New York City, where it evolved into salsa music
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
in the early 1950s.
Salsa Romántica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico. It has been the most commercially successful form of salsa in the last 20 years, despite criticism that it is a pale imitation of "real" salsa, often called "salsa dura." Salsa romantica originated in Puerto Rico while Salsa Dura originated in New York state by Puerto Rican's who migrated to the mainland. This genre is represented by Cheo FelicianoCheo Feliciano
José Feliciano, better known as Cheo Feliciano , is a composer and singer of salsa and bolero music.-Early years:...
.
The 1980s experienced the rise of "salsa romantica
Salsa romantica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico...
" and such artists as Frankie Ruiz
Frankie Ruiz
Frankie Ruiz was a famous Puerto Rican salsa singer.-Early years:Born Jose Antonio Torresola Ruiz, he was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. His parents moved from Puerto Rico to the United States in search of a better way of life. In Paterson, Ruiz received his primary and secondary...
, Willie Gonzalez, Nino Segarra
Nino Segarra
Nino Segarra , is a singer, composer, musician and musical arranger.-Early years:Segarra was born in Maricao, Puerto Rico into a family of musicians. He was always surrounded by many musical instruments and as a child learned how to play the drums, guitar and cuatro. He received his primary and...
, Tommy Olivencia
Tommy Olivencia
Tommy Olivencia was a renowned bandleader of salsa music.-Early years:Olivencia, was born Ángel Tomás Olivencia Pagán in the Villa Palmeras section of Santurce, Puerto Rico. His family moved to the city of Arecibo when he was just a child. There received his primary and secondary education...
, Lalo Rodríguez
Lalo Rodriguez
Lalo Rodríguez , born in 1958 in Carolina, Puerto Rico is a salsa singer and musician is best known for his hit "Ven Devórame Otra Vez"....
, Tony Vega
Tony Vega
Tony Vega is a renowned salsa singer and bandleader.-Early years:Vega received his primary education in his hometown. He was born into a family of musicians and therefore learned how to play the bongos and conga at an early age. In 1967, when he was 10 years old, he played the conga for a kids...
, and Eddie Santiago
Eddie Santiago
Eddie Santiago is a salsa singer from Puerto Rico. At a young age, Eddie demonstrated great love for salsa music...
, who sang a softer and more romantic version of salsa. Today's famous Puerto Rican salsa singers include La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
, Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
, Víctor Manuelle
Victor Manuelle
Víctor Manuelle, born Víctor Manuel Ruiz on November 4, 1968 in Bronx, New York, is a successful Latin Grammy nominated Puerto Rican American salsa singer, songwriter, and improvisational sonero, known to his fans as El Sonero de la Juventud...
, Tito Nieves
Tito Nieves
Humberto "Tito" Nieves became one of the leading Salsa singers of the 1980s and the early 1990s....
, Jerry Rivera
Jerry Rivera
-Albums:* Empezando a Vivir Sony Music* Abriendo Puertas * Cuenta Conmigo * Cara de Niño...
and Gilberto Santa Rosa
Gilberto Santa Rosa
Gilberto Santa Rosa, also known as "El Caballero de la Salsa" , is a Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero.-Early years:...
.
As to instrumentation, salsa romantica
Salsa romantica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico...
uses a heavy and varied bass line, with percussion instruments such as the conga
Conga
The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
, maraca, bongo
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
, timbales
Timbales
Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
, claves
Claves
Claves are a percussion instrument , consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short Claves (Anglicized pronunciation: clah-vays, IPA:[ˈklαves]) are a percussion instrument (idiophone),...
and a cowbell. Horns and wind instruments also play a very important part in the music.
"Corazón Guerrero" was fully responsible for the movement's dawning in 1982.
Boogaloo
BoogalooBoogaloo
Boogaloo or bugalú is a genre of Latin music and dance that was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City among teenage Cubans, Puerto Ricans and other groups. The style was a fusion of popular African American R&B and soul with mambo and son montuno...
or Bugalu (shing-a-ling, popcorn music) originated in New York City and said to be "the first Nuyorican
Nuyorican
Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Rican diaspora located in or around New York State especially the New York City metropolitan area, or of their descendants...
music". Boogaloo, a fusion of Rhythm such as Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, R&B and Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
music and was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo was the first contemporary Latin music form that captured my attention because of its funky sounds, engaging choral chants by the audience, English lyrics, references to symbols of African American culture ("cornbread, hog maws and chitlins"), and background sounds of raucous party goers. Boogaloo was a highly successful crossover musical style, capturing the attention of audiences who were previously not familiar with Latin music.
Boogaloo resonated particularly with African American audiences. Performers such as Jimmy Sabater and Joe Cuba
Joe Cuba
Joe "Sonny" Cuba was a Puerto Rican musician who was considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".-Early years:...
clearly state that Boogaloo was inspired by the interaction between African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
dancers and Latin musicians in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at nightclubs such as Palm Gardens Ballroom. They recount stories of how the structure and tone of Boogaloo songs such as "Bang, Bang" were developed in an effort to appeal to African American dancers who were not responding to their traditional mambo
Mambo (dance)
Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and...
s and cha-cha-chá
Cha-cha-cha (dance)
The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953...
s. Many of the Boogaloo musicians report that they were also deeply influenced by the R&B, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
bands of that era. Music historian Juan Flores
Juan Flores
Juan Flores was a 19th century Californio bandit who, with Pancho Daniel, led an outlaw gang known as "las Manillas" and later as the Flores Daniel Gang, throughout Southern California during 1856-1857...
, in his seminal work on Boogalu entitled Cha Cha with a Backbeat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
, suggests that the song title and refrain "I Like It Like That" may have some roots in a 1961 R&B tune with the same name composed by Chris Kenner
Chris Kenner
Chris Kenner was a New Orleans R&B singer and songwriter, best known for two hit singles in the early 1960s, that became staples in the repertoires of many other musicians.-Biography:...
, from New Orleans.
Puerto Rican pop music
In the 1940s and 50s, the city of New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
established itself as a melting pot of Latinos from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Dominican Republic, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. The result was a series of big band groups becoming major stars playing rumba
Cuban Rumba
In Cuban music, Rumba is a generic term covering a variety of musical rhythms and associated dances. The rumba has its influences in the music brought to Cuba by Africans brought to Cuba as slaves as well as Spanish colonizers...
, mambo, Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
and chachachá. The Morales Brothers, Rafael Cortijo
Rafael Cortijo
Rafael Cortijo , was a Puerto Rican musician, orchestra leader, and composer.As a child, Cortijo became interested in Caribbean music and enjoyed the works of some of the era's most successful Plena music musicians...
and Tito Rodríguez
Tito Rodriguez
Tito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...
are probably the best-known Puerto Rican stars of the period.
Out of Cortijo's band came Rafael Ithier
Rafael Ithier
Rafael Ithier , is a Salsa musician and the founder of the highly successful orchestra El Gran Combo. Ithier was born in Río Piedras, now a part of greater San Juan.-Early years:...
, who formed El Gran Combo
El Gran Combo
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, commonly known as El Gran Combo, is a Puerto Rican Salsa music orchestra. It is Puerto Rico's most successful musical group, and one of the most popular salsa orchestras across Latin America...
in 1962 in order to create a popular dance music based on Cortijo's plena roots. The band was successful within a few years when "Acangana" became a major hit.
In the 1970s, Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants in New York City produced salsa music
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
by adding rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
elements to native forms like plena
Plena
Plena is a folkloric genre native to Puerto Rico. Its creation was influenced by African and Spanish music.-History:The music is generally folkloric. The music's beat and rhythm are usually played using hand drums called panderetas, but also known as panderos or pleneras. The music is accompanied...
.
Several international pop-stars have come from Puerto Rico or are of Puerto Rican descent, including Danny Rivera
Danny Rivera
Danny Rivera is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who was born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well-known in Puerto Rico for his political activism.-Musical career:...
, and Chucho Avellanet
Chucho Avellanet
Armando Hipólito Avellanet González , nicknamed "Chucho" is a Puerto Rican singer and comedic actor...
, alongside Chayanne
Chayanne
Elmer Figueroa Arce , best known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 solo-albums and sold over 20 million albums worldwide.-Early life:...
, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
(although she's a native New Yorker), Luis Miguel, (born in P.R. although he's of Spaniard and Italian descent and raised in Mexico), José Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
, (folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
singer and guitarist well-known for infusing Light My Fire
Light My Fire
"Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after...
into Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
), Briel
Lou Briel
Lou Briel, is a Puerto Rican singer, composer, comedian, producer, pianist, and host, among other things.-Early Years with Anexo 3:...
& Dagmar
Dagmar (Puerto Rico entertainer)
Dagmar , is a Puerto Rican television host, comedian and singer.-Early years:Dagmar Rivera was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Dorado, Puerto Rico. She started her career as a teenage singer in 1976. The only hit single of her first album was Soy la Mañana , by Puerto Rican composer Rafi...
, Wilkins Vélez
Wilkins Vélez
German Wilkins Vélez, commonly known as Wilkins , is a Puerto Rican pop music singer and composer.-Early years:Wilkins was born in the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, but raised in Mexico City, Mexico. His father, Germán Vélez Forestier, was a radio announcer and part-time singer...
, Nydia Caro
Nydia Caro
Nydia Caro is an American & Puerto Rican actress and singer. Born in New York City to parents from Rincón, Puerto Rico, she initiated her career in the arts at a very young age while living in New York...
, Ednita Nazario
Ednita Nazario
Ednita Nazario is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age, and has released over twenty albums throughout her career....
, Lucecita Benítez
Lucecita Benítez
Luz Esther Benítez , better known in the music world as Lucecita, is a Puerto Rican singer.-Biography:Lucecita was a member of what is historically known in Puerto Rico as the New Wave, or Nueva Ola of popular music, created by Alfred D. Herger, alongside Lissette and Chucho Avellanet, among others...
, Obie Bermúdez
Obie Bermúdez
Obie Bermúdez , is a Puerto Rican-American R&B/Salsa singer and composer.-Early years:Bermúdez was born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico into a family who loved music. His father and grandfather were both musicians. He received his primary education in the town of Aibonito, however in 1992 the family...
, Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, Luis Fonsi
Luis Fonsi
Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, more commonly known by his stage name Luis Fonsi, is a Latin Grammy winning Puerto Rican singer and composer.- Early life :...
, Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge
Yolandita Monge is an international singer and actress from Puerto Rico and the first Puerto Rican female singer to be nominated to the Grammy Music Awards. She is also Puerto Rico's highest selling female artist. She has been in the music business since adolescence, and has recorded over thirty...
and Noelia
Noelia
Noelia Lorenzo Monge , in San Juan, Puerto Rico), mostly known as Noelia, is a Puerto Rican pop singer who rose to fame in 1999. She is the first daughter of Puerto Rican singer Yolandita Monge....
.
Boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
s like Menudo
Menudo (band)
Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in the 1970s by producer Edgardo Díaz, releasing their first album in 1977. The band achieved much success, especially during the 1980s, becoming the most popular Latin American teen musical group of the era....
and Los Chicos
Los Chicos
Los Chicos was a popular boy band in Puerto Rico, created to rival Menudo's success.The band was created by Eric Laboy in 1978 to 1985, with the name Encuentro. Due to a political campaign slogan, the name was changed to Los Chicos, which translates to The Kids. They enjoyed huge success during the...
also topped charts worldwide for a period, and began the careers of Martin and Chayanne, respectively. Menudo has been recognized by many around the world to be history's greatest boy band; but this title is debatable nowadays, with the success generated by The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Menudo's phenomenal fame reached the United States, the rest of Latin America, Europe and Asia. During the group's golden era of the early 1980s, the terms Menudomania and Menuditis were invented.
Latin house
In the second half of the 1980s, some the pioneers of house music of Latin-American descent gave birth to this genre by releasing house records in Spanish. Early examples include "Amor puertoriqueño" by Raz on DJ Flex Onee International and "Break 4 Love" by Raze. However, the undisputed queen without a crown was the American-Puerto Rican singer Liz Torres, who released Spanish versions of her songs "Can't Get Enough", "Mama's Boy" and "Payback Is A Bitch". Willie Colón was responsible for producing, remixing, singing, arranging (7:25), performing and engineering Grant's "Amor Verdadero" in 1980 during the release of Can't Stop the MusicCan't Stop the Music
Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. It is a pseudo-biography of disco's Village People which bears only a vague resemblance to the actual story of the group's formation...
. La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
, one of house music's top vocalist releases new tracks every few years aside from her mainstream salsa albums. La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
's most recent track which was released in 2011, titled "Tacalacateo" debuted on Billboards Dance chart.
Freestyle
In 1984, Puerto Ricans in New York were beginning their own sound of Freestyle musicFreestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...
. The single that many consider the first true Latin Hip-Hop record (was not called Freestyle until much later) was Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home." The song was originally signed to Personal Records in New York and not released in the U.S. It was licensed to CBS Records in England and became a big club record on import. The response the record received from the Latin Hip-Hop clubs led Columbia Records to pick up the single for U S release where it became an anthem for teen-age girls. The song reached #34 on the Pop charts in August 1985 and Lisa Lisa became a role model for young Hispanics all over her hometown of New York. Then came other Freestyle artists that were Puerto Rican such as Brenda K. Starr
Brenda K. Starr
Brenda K. Starr is an American singer-songwriter. She is well known originally in dance-pop, but now mostly in salsa-based music...
, Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
, Cynthia, George LaMond
George Lamond
George Lamond, born George Garcia, is an American Freestyle music singer, who is of Puerto Rican descent.-Career:George Lamond began singing backup for various artists before landing a solo deal with Columbia Records...
, La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
, Judy Torres
Judy Torres
Judy Torres, also referred to as the "Queen of Freestyle", "The Legendary Miss Judy Torres", or "KTU's Own Judy Torres", is a Puerto Rican freestyle music artist...
, TKA
TKA
TKA was a Latin Freestyle trio that was prominent in the 1980s and early 1990s, mainly in New York City and Miami, Florida. Its members were Tony Ortiz, Louis "Kayel" Sharpe, and Alejandro "Aby" Escoto later replaced by Angel "Love" Vasquez. The acronym TKA represents their collective initials...
, Lil Suzy and Lissette Melendez. La India
La India
La India , known also as "La Princesa de la Salsa" , is a singer of salsa. She has been nominated for both Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.-Early years:...
, Marc,and Brenda would later get more recognition when they stopped singing Freestyle music and began singing Salsa.
see also
Puerto Rican Rock
"Rock in Puerto Rico has been a product of direct and indirect influence from both American rock music and Latin rock music", and "its fusion with other genres". Throughout history, the genre has suffered ups and downs having a significant peak in the 1990s. During this decade, rock music reached its peak in the island. Rock en Español fully reached the island, and artists like Miguel Mateos, Charly García, Soda Stereo, Hombres G Robi Draco Rosa and others were heard in radio stations.Mattador released the first instance of their album Save Us From Ourselves with guitarist Ramón Ortiz
Ramon Ortiz (musician)
Ramon Ortiz is a Puerto Rican guitarist, best known as a member of the band Puya. He is currently sponsored by Fernandes Guitars, who built him his first signature 7 string tribal themed guitar, designed by him....
, who would later go on to play with Puya. The band even opened the Iron Maiden concert at the island.
On January 4, 1990, John Rodriguez aka. MetalKid, a radio personality launched the first radio program to cater only Puerto Rican artists at La Mega Station 106 FM along with Edgardo "El Bebo" Adames; giving the opportunity to dozens of acts play their music on the radio. Later that year MetalKid created Brutal Noise Music, the first record label to include metal music on their roster. Bands like Crypta, Homicide, Morbid Death, Deathkross and the Christian act Deathless among others were the first metal releases to be available under Brutal Noise.
Brutal Noise joined forces with local promoter Albert Morales from ShowNet and produced concerts like Iron Maiden, Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer making the way to promote local acts on their shows. Until today this tradition still alive.
In 1994, former Menudo singer Robi Rosa released his first solo album, and Mattador re-released their album, this time with Tito Rodríguez (now with Sol D'Menta) as guitarist.
La Secta Allstar is the most commercially successful rock band in Puerto Rico, selling over 250,000 copies from their last album Consejo and reaching platinum. Since their debut in Puerto Rican charts in 1998.
Reggaeton
Although Reggaeton was born in Puerto Rico, it's roots are Jamaican Dancehall Reggae.Reggae "developed" in the '70s in Jamaica and has gone through numerous changes since then, having been combined with other sounds and rhythms. The first Latin American rap (performed by Vico C
Vico C
Vico C is an Puerto Rican rapper and rap artist. He is considered one of the founding fathers of rap and has played an influential role in the development of Latin American hip hop....
) appeared in Puerto Rico in 1985, and in the years to come this movement arrived in other Latin American countries as well as in the United States.
During this peak of Spanish-speaking music movement, Vico C managed to make a breakthrough with his Spanish rap and "merengue house and reggae house fusion"and eventually reggaeton.
In Puerto Rico the youth began listening not only to rap but also to Jamaican reggae and dance hall, which had a great success there and eventually evolved into reggaeton.
One of the reggae-dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
songs that first had major succes in Puerto Rico was, "Dem Bow" by shabba ranks
Shabba Ranks
Shabba Ranks is a Jamaican dancehall musician.He was one of the most popular dancehall artists of his generation. He was also one of the first Jamaican deejays to gain worldwide acceptance, and recognition for his 'slack' lyrical expressions and content, when "ridin' di riddim"...
The first sounds resembling modern reggaeton, appeared in Puerto Rico in "The Noise
The Noise
the Noise is a monthly newspaper serving the cities of Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome, Clarkdale, and Winslow in northern Arizona...
" disco between 1989 and 1994.
In Puerto Rico, the debate between aficionados of Spanish rock and fans of salsa music had become part of a class antagonism between the growing middle class on the island until the arrival of reggaeton.
In Puerto Rico, reggaeton was first referred to as "Underground", mainly due to its often coarse lyrics and unvarnished language and also because it used to be distributed secretly among young people but eventually it spread all over puerto rico and had more variety like romantic reggaeton songs.
Romantiqueo
A recent sound known as "Romantikeo", its similar to American R&B and jamaican dancehall. Its is a fusion of ReggaetonReggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, [and soca]] & R&B, but resembles R&B the most. Many artists such as Arcangel, De La Ghetto
De La Ghetto
Rafael Castillo , better known by his stage name De La Ghetto, is an American reggaeton singer/rapper originally of the duo Arcángel & De La Ghetto.-Biography:...
, RKM & Ken-Y, Zion Y Lennox
Zion y Lennox
Zion & Lennox are a reggaeton duo from Carolina, Puerto Rico. As of 2010, Zion & Lennox released their 3rd studio album titled Los Verdaderos under Pina Records.- Career :...
, Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
, Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel are a Puerto Rican reggaeton Duo, consisting of Juan Luis Morera Luna and Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar . They started their career in 1998 and have been together since, winning several awards during that time....
, Jowell & Randy
Jowell & Randy
Jowell & Randy are a Puerto Rican reggaeton duo composed of Joel Alexis Muñoz Martínez and Randy Ariel Ortiz Acevedo. The duo have been active since the mid-2000s and have become one of the most popular acts in reggaeton.-Early years:...
, & more.
Example are Zion featuring Akon
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...
song title "The Way She Moves". Another example is Calle 13
Calle 13 (band)
Calle 13 is a band formed by stepbrothers René Pérez Joglar , who calls himself Residente and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez , who calls himself Visitante Calle 13 is a band formed by stepbrothers René Pérez Joglar (born February 23, 1978 in Hato Rey, a subsection of San Juan, Puerto Rico), who calls...
song title "Un beso de Desayuno".
Puerto Rican rap
A specialized style of rap exists in Puerto Rico that reflects its ambiguous yet evolving identity as a musical community. Recently, the messages found in underground rap songs have been provocative and assertive. Rap group El Sindicato and rock band Fiel a la Vega
Fiel a la Vega
Fiel a la Vega is a Rock en Español band from Puerto Rico formed in 1994. Band members Tito Auger and Ricky Laureano come from the northern city of Vega Alta, while brothers Pedro Arraiza and Jorge Arraiza come from the city of Vega Baja, which is next to Vega Alta.-Early years :Childhood friends...
collaborated in creating the politically-conscious song, "O Luchamos o Nos Entregamos" (Either We Fight or We Give In). Religious activism can be found in the song Amor al Rescate song "Somos Hermanos" (We Are Brothers). Assimilating English into his mostly Spanish song Poesia Subterranea, Puerto Rican rapper SieteNueve incorporates fundamental aspects of hip-hop into his music video, such as graffiti and breakdancing, and he also expresses appreciation of his hometown, Villa Palmeras
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Santurce is a district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.-Summary:Santurce is one of the top ten most populated areas of the island holding Miramar, Loíza, Isla Grande, Barrio Obrero, and Condado as main cultural hot spots for art, music, cuisine, fashion, hotels, technology, multimedia, film, textile and...
. As songs such as SieteNueve's are underground, and not too mainstream, in Puerto Rico, they receive even less attention elsewhere around the world.
Merengue
Merengue originated from the Dominican Republic and rose to popularity during the 1990s. During the decade, singers like Manny ManuelManny Manuel
Cruz Manuel Hernández Santiago , known artistically as Manny Manuel, is a Puerto Rican singer of merengue, boleros, and tropical music. He became famous first as a member of the group Los Sabrosos del Merengue, before launching a successful solo career in 1994.-Early life:Manny Manuel was born in...
, Gisselle
Gisselle
Gisselle Ortíz Cáceres, known simply as Gisselle is a Puerto Rican Merengue singer.-Musical career:...
, and Olga Tañón
Olga Tañón
Olga Tañón is a two-time Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy-winning Merengue and Latin Pop artist. Tañón has earned 5 Latin Grammy Awards and 19 Premios Lo Nuestro awards during her career.-Early years:...
made success in the charts. Elvis Crespo
Elvis Crespo
Elvis Crespo , is a Puerto Rican-American Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning Merengue singer.-Early years:Crespo was born in New York City and was named "Elvis" after Elvis Presley...
made a major breakthrough with his hit, "Suavemente
Suavemente (song)
"Suavemente" is a song recorded and composed by Puerto Rican-American Elvis Crespo on his first solo album, Suavemente, which followed his departure from Grupo Manía. Released as the lead single, Suavemente reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks on May 16, 1998 and remained atop the chart...
". Several merengue bands like Grupo Mania
Grupo Manía
Grupo Manía is a popular merengue group from Puerto Rico that released its debut album in 1993. The group was formed by brothers Héctor, Edwin and Oscar Serrano together with Alfred Cotto in the early 90s...
, La Makina, and Limi-T 21
Limi-T 21
Limi-T 21 is a popular merengue group from Puerto Rico. The group was formed in 1991 and have been together since....
also became successful. Merenrap
Merenrap
Merenhouse/Merenrap, is a hip hop music style formed by blending Dominican merengue music with rap, dancehall reggae and hip hop.-History:...
, or meren-rap, is a subgenre of merengue music with rapping. The first merenrap was "Soy Chiquito (No Inventes Papito, No Inventes)", recorded by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Puerto Rican rapper Lisa M
Lisa M
Marlisa Marrero Vázquez better known by her stage name Lisa M or her nicknames "The Queen of Spanish Rap" or "La Suprema" , is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, record producer and dancer who fuses genres such as pop, merengue, rap, and reggaetón. She is known as one of first female rap artists...
in 1990.
Tropikeo
"Tropikeo" is the fussion of R&B, RapRapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
, Hip Hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, Funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and Techno Music within a Tropical musical frame of salsa, in which the conga drums and/or timbales drums are the main source of rhythm of the tune, in conjunction with a heavy salsa "montuno" of the piano. The lyrics of the song can be rapped or sung, or used combining both styles, as well as danced in both styles.
Examples are Ivy Queen
Ivy Queen
Ivy Queen is a Puerto Rican Latin Grammy nominated reggaeton composer and singer. She is most commonly known as "La Reina del Reggaeton" . She is also known as the Queen of Rivalries.-Early years:...
& Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
song title "Robarte Un Beso", the Group 3D Ritmo De Vida song title "Que Siga La Rumba" and the Group Mas Salsa Que Tu song title "Ten Cuida'o".
Electro Flow
A new sound from Puerto Rico is taking the Caribbean, South America, the United States and many other places around the globe by storm. It has yet to be given an official name, but it is starting to be called Electro Flow. It is a spin-off genre of ReggaetonReggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
but does not contain the typical dembow beat and focuses on fusing the sounds and styles of Reggaeton, Hip-Hop, Electropop, and Dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
. This new sound has produced mega hits such as Síguelo by Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel are a Puerto Rican reggaeton Duo, consisting of Juan Luis Morera Luna and Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar . They started their career in 1998 and have been together since, winning several awards during that time....
, Pose by Daddy Yankee
Daddy Yankee
Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez , known artistically as Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican Reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball,...
, and Virtual Diva
Virtual Diva
"Virtual Diva" is the first single by Puerto Rican reggaeton performer Don Omar from his third studio album iDon. It was released on February 3, 2009 through Machete Music and VI Music...
by Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
.
Afro-Rican jazz
Afro-Rican jazz is an original concept developed by trombonist, composer/ arranger William Cepeda that celebrates the heritage of Puerto Rican music and its African roots while creating a new shade of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
with a hip flavor. Steeped in the jazz tradition (having studied and performed with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, Jimmy Heath
Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath , nicknamed Little Bird, is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He is the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.-Biography:...
, Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
, David Murray and Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
among others), Cepeda developed this unique artistic expression by incorporating a contemporary jazz perspective with the musical and cultural traditions of his homeland, Puerto Rico.
Classical music
There are two main orchestras, renowned in the Caribbean area. One is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico and another is the Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico. The renowned Casals FestivalCasals Festival
The Casals Festival is a classical music event celebrated every year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in honor of world renowned musician Pablo Casals.-Background:...
takes place annually in San Juan, drawing in classical musicians from around the world.
See also
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- Puerto RicoPuerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
- History of Puerto RicoHistory of Puerto RicoThe history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the archipelago of Puerto Rico by the Ortoiroid people between 3000 and 2000 BC. Other tribes, such as the Saladoid and Arawak Indians, populated the island between 430 BC and 1000 AD. At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New...
Sources
- Sweeney, Philip. "Not Quite the 52nd State". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 481–487. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
External links
- Puerto Rican Cuatro Project (El Proyecto del cuatro)
- La Parranda Puertorriquena: The Music, Symbolism, and Cultural Nationalism of Puerto Rico's Christmas Serenading Tradition
- Music Of Puerto Rico — website of songs, artists and other related information