Tropipop
Encyclopedia
Tropipop is a Music genre
born in Colombia
in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is a blend of traditional musical forms of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, mainly Vallenato
, with foreign latin genres such as Salsa
and Merengue
, and Pop
and Pop rock
. The term "tropipop" comes from the synthesis of the words "tropical
" and "Pop music
" describing the genre's mix of Latin Tropical roots with American popular music
.
Some popular tropipop acts are Fanny Lú
, Bonka
, Mauricio & Palodeagua
and Lucas Arnau
.
in the 1960s and 70's, bands like Genesis (Colombian rock band)
began to experiment fusioning traditional colombian music with pop rock. In the following decades, rock bands like Aterciopelados
continued bringing elements of colombian folklore into rock music.
released the album Clásicos de la Provincia
. This very popular album was notable for the use of rock instruments like electric guitars to sing traditional Vallenato
songs. Vives' and his band, La provincia, continued experimenting the fusion of vallenato and cumbia with pop, rock and funk in their subsequent albums La Tierra del Olvido
and Tengo Fe
.
For his following album, El Amor de Mi Tierra
, Vives hooked up with the successful Cuban American
producer Emilio Estefan
. Estefan stylized Vives music into a more pop-oriented sound, with less instrumental breaks, more prominent vocal parts, and less dominant vallenato
and cumbia
elements. Vives continued this sound in his next two albums, gaining a loot of success. It was this stylized fusion style, heard in Vives songs such as "Tu amor eterno", which was later adopted by tropipop artists. Vives' influence and success was so big that it has been said that all the artists that came after him playing fusions of pop rock and vallenato are either "imitators or part of the school that he formed".
and other big Colombian cities, inspired by Carlos Vives' success began recording fusions of vallenato and pop rock. What a decade before would have been considered experimental, was now mainstream. The group of artists which played this style of fusion began being commercialized under the term Tropipop. During the 2000s, Tropipop became the most popular music genre in Colombia alongside Reggaeton
. Furthermore, some artists gained some success internationally. Mauricio & Palodeagua
were nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2004 and Bogotan singer Fonseca won one in 2006.
, a pinch
of cumbia
and a singer with a fashioned look."
Critics [who?] generally agree in saying that Tropipop musicians have not really investigated Colombian folklore in order to include Colombian traditional music in a genuine way. They [who?] say that the Colombian elements in tropipop are superficial. Critics usually also give preference to fusions different to Tropipop as the ones made in Carlos Vives' early albums, or the ones played by Sidestepper
and Bomba Estereo
.
However, some critics defend the tropipop artists will to include Caribbean elements in their music.
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
born in 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...
in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is a blend of traditional musical forms of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, mainly Vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
, with foreign latin genres such as Salsa
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...
and Merengue
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
, 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 Pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
. The term "tropipop" comes from the synthesis of the words "tropical
Tropical music
Musica tropical or tropical music is a broad term for vocal and instrumental music with "tropical" flavor usually associated with the Afro-Caribbean music. It is part of an even broader category of Latin music. Usually it is an upbeat dance music, but also includes ballads. It features complex,...
" and "Pop music
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...
" describing the genre's mix of Latin Tropical roots with American popular music
American popular music
American popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno,...
.
Some popular tropipop acts are Fanny Lú
Fanny Lu
Fanny Lucía Martínez Buenaventura , known professionally as Fanny Lú, is a Colombian singer-songwriter and actress from Santiago de Cali, Colombia.-Early life:...
, Bonka
Bonka
Bonka is a Colombian Tropipop band. Soon after forming, the group won all the national awards of "Artist of the Year", as their five first songs were in the Top Ranking on local radio....
, Mauricio & Palodeagua
Mauricio & Palodeagua
Mauricio & Palodeagua is a Colombian tropipop band based around singer Mauricio Rodríguez. Starting in 2003, they have released three albums. They have had numerous hits in Colombian radio as well as some moderate international successes...
and Lucas Arnau
Lucas Arnau
Lucas Arnau is a Colombian singer-songwriter who was born in Medellín, Antioquia on May 16, 1979.Arnau's first album, "Un Poco Más" was produced by Jose Gaviria and Andres Munera in Miami, Florida and was released in Latin America in April, 2004....
.
Early development
Since the early emergence of colombian rockColombian rock
Colombian Rock is a generic term that describes the different types of rock music from Colombia, the most common being based on Rock en Español, but also, in recent years, being based on indie rock, as well as the traditional focus of hard rock Colombian bands....
in the 1960s and 70's, bands like Genesis (Colombian rock band)
Genesis (Colombian rock band)
Génesis was a Colombian folk-rock band, very popular during the 1970s. They are regarded as a significant part of the Colombian social progressive and hippy movements of the time. Génesis is considered a pioneer in fusing rock music with the native folk music of Colombia...
began to experiment fusioning traditional colombian music with pop rock. In the following decades, rock bands like Aterciopelados
Aterciopelados
Aterciopelados , also referred to as los Aterciopelados on some albums and other promotional materials, are a rock band from Colombia. Led by Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago, they have been one of the first rock bands from Colombia to gain international notice and is among the country's top...
continued bringing elements of colombian folklore into rock music.
Carlos Vives & La Provincia
Tropipop stylistic origins can be traced back to 1993 when Carlos VivesCarlos Vives
Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo is a Grammy Award and three-time Latin Grammy Award winning-Colombian singer, composer and actor.-Biography:...
released the album Clásicos de la Provincia
Clásicos de la Provincia
Clásicos de la Provincia is the breakthrough album by Colombian singer/composer Carlos Vives.Released in late 1993, internationally on February 22, 1994, it contained three chart-topping hits that propelled Vives to fame in Latin America...
. This very popular album was notable for the use of rock instruments like electric guitars to sing traditional Vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
songs. Vives' and his band, La provincia, continued experimenting the fusion of vallenato and cumbia with pop, rock and funk in their subsequent albums La Tierra del Olvido
La Tierra del Olvido
La Tierra del Olvido is the second major-label album by Colombian singer/composer Carlos Vives.Released on July 25, 1995 it is considered Vives' second proper release, and his seventh album overall...
and Tengo Fe
Tengo Fe
Tengo Fe is the third major-label album by Colombian singer/composer Carlos Vives.Released on August 12, 1997, it is Vives's eighth album overall . The album follows La Tierra del Olvido, with a sound that is less dance-oriented, further emphasizing Vives's desire to be taken seriously as a...
.
For his following album, El Amor de Mi Tierra
El Amor de Mi Tierra
El Amor de Mi Tierra is the fourth major-label album by Colombian singer/composer Carlos Vives.Released on October 19, 1999 it is Vives's ninth album overall . The album was a return to form for Vives, after the darker and more introspective Tengo Fe...
, Vives hooked up with the successful Cuban American
Cuban American
A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US...
producer Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan
Emilio Estefan, Jr. is a Cuban-American of Lebanese ancestry who is a musician and producer. Estefan's first taste of celebrity came as a member of the Miami Sound Machine, but he is also recognized as the producer of many famous singers. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan...
. Estefan stylized Vives music into a more pop-oriented sound, with less instrumental breaks, more prominent vocal parts, and less dominant vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
and cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
elements. Vives continued this sound in his next two albums, gaining a loot of success. It was this stylized fusion style, heard in Vives songs such as "Tu amor eterno", which was later adopted by tropipop artists. Vives' influence and success was so big that it has been said that all the artists that came after him playing fusions of pop rock and vallenato are either "imitators or part of the school that he formed".
Tropipop
In the early 2000s, young musicians from BogotaBogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
and other big Colombian cities, inspired by Carlos Vives' success began recording fusions of vallenato and pop rock. What a decade before would have been considered experimental, was now mainstream. The group of artists which played this style of fusion began being commercialized under the term Tropipop. During the 2000s, Tropipop became the most popular music genre in Colombia alongside 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...
. Furthermore, some artists gained some success internationally. Mauricio & Palodeagua
Mauricio & Palodeagua
Mauricio & Palodeagua is a Colombian tropipop band based around singer Mauricio Rodríguez. Starting in 2003, they have released three albums. They have had numerous hits in Colombian radio as well as some moderate international successes...
were nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2004 and Bogotan singer Fonseca won one in 2006.
Criticism
Due to the simplistic nature of the music, and the lack of prominence of colombian traditional music elements in favour of pop music structures, Tropipop has been criticised by sectors of the public and the media for its lack of originality. For example it has been said that Tropipop is "a cocktail that has a little bit of rock, two drops of accordionAccordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, a pinch
Pinch (cooking)
A pinch in cooking is a very small amount of an ingredient, typically salt, sugar or spice. Traditionally it was defined as "an amount that can be taken between the thumb and forefinger". Historically the pinch was more precisely defined by some U.S...
of cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
and a singer with a fashioned look."
Critics [who?] generally agree in saying that Tropipop musicians have not really investigated Colombian folklore in order to include Colombian traditional music in a genuine way. They [who?] say that the Colombian elements in tropipop are superficial. Critics usually also give preference to fusions different to Tropipop as the ones made in Carlos Vives' early albums, or the ones played by Sidestepper
Sidestepper
For the enemy in the Mario Bros game, seeRecurring enemies in the Mario seriesSidestepper is a Colombian band centered around English DJ/producer Richard Blair and Colombian producer/songwriter Ivan Benavides. Their sound is influenced both by Afro-Colombian popular music styles like salsa and...
and Bomba Estereo
Bomba Estéreo
Bomba Estéreo is a band founded 2001 in Bogotá, Colombia that describe their music as "Electro Vacilón" or "Electro tropical". The band began as a project of Simón Mejía's, releasing their first album as a solo project with contributions from various musicians...
.
However, some critics defend the tropipop artists will to include Caribbean elements in their music.