Southward from the Isthmus of Panama stretches the second great continent of the New World. From its northernmost point in Colombia, some 830 miles north of the equator, it spans more than 40 degrees of latitude to its southernmost point – Cape Horn. This vast land mass encompasses many regional types, mountains, deserts, and pampas (grasslands). This is the continent of South America.

Latin American Music is very diverse in the Americas, Mexico and The Caribbean. There are many regions in South America, Central America and Mexico and the Caribbean that contain a rich variety of cultural and musical heritages. These diversities were not born only out of these countries alone, but were created over a period of time stemming from many years of travelers coming to and from the area. The countries representing Latin American present cultural traits mainly inherited from the Iberian Peninsula. However, in the following lessons, the students will discover how Latin American music became so vast in its musical style. There were many outside influences that helped to create the Latin American music that we know of today. The Spanish conquest had a profound affect in the development of this "new world" music. The path that Columbus took in order to reach his planned destination, and the eventually influx of other countries sailing west to reach this new region had its influences in the development of Latin American Music.

This unit will familiarize middle school students with the music of Latin America, the countries and regions that had an influence on its style of music, and how the change came about. The students will visit the countries of Portugal, Spain, and West Africa. The students will use the library for research projects.

Arts and Humanities: Standard #1) All students describe the meanings they find in various works from the visual and performing arts and literature on the basis of aesthetic understanding of the art form.

Arts and Humanities: Standard #3) All students relate various works from the visual and performing arts and literature to the historical and cultural context within which they were created.

Communications: Standard #1) All students use effective research and information management skills, including locating primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies.

Rogers Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts is comprised of 300 students. Forty-Five percent African-American, Forty-Five percent White, and Ten percent fall in the other category. Rogers is one of the two magnet schools in the Pittsburgh School District specializing in the Arts. Many students come to us with the desire to hone their skills in one of the many Creative Arts that we teach; Costume, Multi-Media, Visual Art, Stage Craft or Creative Writing. In the Performing Arts category, students exercise their skills in Dance, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music and Drama. Rogers is considered a school that is strong in its academics as well. Spanish as a second language is taught and students are privileged to study Computer Literacy as well. Students have support from a Title I and Special Education staff. These students come to Rogers with various backgrounds and experiences ranging from very well off to very needy. Many of the students move in and among other races and ethnic groups as well as their own. Not many students stay within the confines of their own race. Diversity is quite prominent at Rogers.

In my chorus and general music classes, students have the opportunity to sing songs in other languages. Many of them would rather sing in English because it is the familiar. However, as time goes on, they become quite fascinated by what they are hearing and begin to accept it.

I decided to write this unit because of my love of the Spanish language and culture. I have vacationed in the Dominican Republic many times and have always been fascinated by the natives’ love for their music. I have been in taxicabs with drivers who have stopped their cars, gotten out and started dancing in the streets to the beat of the music blaring over the radio or even along the side of the road. Everywhere you go you hear music being played. There is a genuine love for music and the Latin beat. People working will stop what they are doing to take a "dance break". There is great respect for this music and for the people who play it and dance to it. No one is taunted for dancing to the beat in the street. The people just look at them and smile. The music is so rhythmic that you are constantly tempted to move with it. The beach area is bustling with lots of people swimming and dancing to the music. Many people are playing their own musical instrument, making their own music. I met four men with instruments in the town of La Romano singing in the amphitheatre for tips from tourists. The people understand work ethics and are willing to do whatever it takes to make money to pay their bills and survive. They are not too proud to shine shoes, sell things from their garden, or entertain you in many different ways – There is no shame.

The music of Latin America includes the areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The region of Latin America contains a rich variety of cultural and musical heritages. This includes those of lowland Native Americans in the Amazon area and parts of Central America, those of highland Native Americans in Mexico, Guatemala, and the Andes. Also included are African Americans, especially in the Caribbean, Ecuador, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, coastal Venezuela, Colombia, and Northeastern Brazil and those people of Spanish and Portuguese descent.

Even though this region of the world has become unique and individualistic in its musical style and development, this development was not born out of its indigenous culture alone. There were many external musical influences that came together to bring about its conception, or if you will, inception. Some types of Latin American music can be traced back to its original cultural sources. Much of the musical traditions that you know of today in Latin America have existed since the colonial period (beginning about the 16^th century). The most prevalent musical styles in much of Latin America, however, are the result of various types and degrees of fusion of different cultural heritages and musical resources. Latin Americans have a rich history and exhibit great passion for their music. This unit will present to middle school students the music of Latin America and the different origins and influences that other regions have had on its development.

My general music class will benefit tremendously from this Latin American Music unit. They will be introduced to a variety of musical cultures within Latin America allowing them to learn about early instrumentation created by the peoples of that region. Students will discover that the indigenous people had their use of instrumentation as well. Various types of wind instruments, drums, and other percussion instruments, along with vocal music, were the predominant means of musical expression during the pre-Columbian period (before 1492). Stringed instruments apparently were unknown in pre-Columbian Latin America. In Mesoamerica and the Andes, there seems to have been an aesthetic preference for high-pitched instruments and singing. Musicians used a variety of scales, and music and dance were closely associated with state and religious activities, as well as with agricultural ceremonies in the Andes.

Latin American music has become very prominent in the United States today. With the likes of Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and a more recent newcomer, Christina Aguliera, this style of music seems to flourish since its beginnings many years ago. Many adults were introduced to Latin American music in their youth through a very popular T.V show, I Love Lucy. Cuban-born bandleader, Ricky Ricardo, came into millions of homes via the black and white television in a comedy with his real wife, the famous Lucille Ball. He introduced his audiences to beautiful Latin American tunes. Charo, another Latin American singer, the "Coochee-Coo" girl, as people fondly remember her, was another personality who made her way into the public eye by way of national T.V. singing tunes in her native tongue. Xavier Cugat, another famous recording artist, was another Latin American who presented his music to millions of people over the airwaves. Commercial advertisement was another way in which people of the United States were introduced to the Latin American culture. Carmen Miranda, the "Chiquita Banana" girl appeared in her native garb dancing and swaying to that new "make-you-wanna-move" music in commercials all over the world advertising the Chiquita banana.

As you can see, Latin American music has successfully infiltrated the music industry within the United States. It is very much alive and kicking with its unique rhythms that make you want to move to a new beat. Salsa is a Latin American music genre that originated in New York as a result of the mixture of Afro-Caribbean music brought by the Latinos (Puerto Rican, Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan, Panamanian, Dominican) and North American Jazz and Rock.

The countries constituting Latin America presents cultural traits inherited from the Iberian Peninsula, but their folk music traditions have generally preserved less of that heritage than North American folk music has kept of British lore. Many parts of what is called ‘Latin America’ are virtually devoid of any Latin cultural elements. Some tropical forest Amerindian culture, for example, and some Indian groups of the Bolivian highlands are still relatively untouched by European traditions. Moreover, in many cases the prevailing cultural influences have been more African than European. African-American students will gain an appreciation of their culture and heritage by understanding the contributions that Africans have made in the establishment of this music genre in Latin America.

Teachers of other subjects will find this unit useful within their classrooms as well. Teachers of Spanish, as a second language, will be able to study the origin of the Spanish language and familiarize their students with the native tongue of Latin America and from which country that language derived. Their students will learn that Spanish is not the only language spoken in the Latin American region, what people speak the different language and by what avenue the language was brought to that continent.

History teachers can present to their students the various countries that inhabit the continents of Central and South America, how the cultures came together, by what means they were associated with one another, the indigenous people of the countries, the influx and time period of the Spaniards, the enslavement of the indigenous people and the transporting of new slaves to that region. All of these topics will be discussed within the context of the unit presented on Latin American Music. By utilizing the library for readings, writings and journal writing, the students will gain an understanding and appreciation for the culture.

Completing this unit will open a new curriculum of interest to all students who are interested in the Latin American Culture and its music. Content standards will include the following:

Arts and Humanities:

Standard #1) All students describe the meanings they find in various works from the visual and performing arts and literature on the basis of aesthetic understanding of the art form.

Standard #3) all students relate various works from the visual and performing arts and literature to the historical and cultural context within which they were created. And from Communications:

Standard #1) All students use effective research and information management skills, including locating primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies.

Within my music classes, students have a chance to sing Spanish songs with understanding due to the Spanish Language classes at Rogers School for the Creative and Performing Arts. This unit will be used as an extension of the singing, giving more meaning to what the students are performing.

It would be of great interest to the students to know the different shades of people within the race, which includes white Latinos and Afro-Latinos. The entire unit will give students an appreciation for Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Racial diversity within the world.

After this unit has been taught, a collaborative between the Spanish, Vocal, Instrumental, Social Studies, Creative Writing, and Costume departments in any school can create an all inclusive performance of the Latin American Culture.

The Central Andean regions of the countries of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile are among the richest in the world with regard to variety of musical and

folkloric traditions. Long before the Spanish conquest, and even before the Inca civilization, the diverse native cultures of the region had rich musical traditions. Ancient tombs have yielded flutes, trumpets, drums and other musical artifacts; many ceramic jars found in ancient tombs depict musical instruments being used in various contexts (shamanism, propitiation to the gods, hunting, dancing) that are difficult to interpret. Music was obviously important in the human and supernatural worlds of ancient Andean people.

With the coming of the Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century, accompanied by Catholic missionaries and African slaves, additional musical languages were introduced. Today, three principal racial and cultural strains---Native, Spanish, and African---are unique in some regions of the Andes and have blended in others to form the racial and cultural amalgams known as mestizo and criollo.

The geography also makes the central Andes a region of contrasts. As you travel from the highlands of Ecuador, through the northern, central, and southern Andes of Peru, across the altiplano in southern Peru and northern Bolivia, and into the valleys of southern Bolivia, great geographic as well as cultural contrasts can be seen, the latter represented by the numerous ethnic groups that existed in great numbers before the Spanish conquest. Each of these groups spoke its own language at one time, even throughout the centuries of the Incan conquest, until the Spanish imposed Quechua as a lingua franca; and their autonomy still exists to a certain extent today.

The central Andes, however, are somewhat united by several musical/cultural factors: patron saint festivals that reveal a fusion of Roman Catholicism and indigenous beliefs; the ubiquitous wayno dance and its variants; the Spanish-derived guitar and other European instruments; and, since the 1970s, a "pan-Andean" musical style (featuring kena flutes, siku panpipes, and a small charango guitar) which has diffused from southern Peru and Bolivia into many of the cities and towns in the central Andes, largely because of tourism.

The native Andes were basically flute and drum oriented. The main winds in ancient times included notched-end kena (quena) flutes of bone (human, llama, and/or pelican), cane, gold, and silver; ocarinas made form clay; and panpipes (antata among the Aymara). Since the colonial period, native Andean people have played fipple flutes of cane or wook (pinquillo), some performed in pipe-and-tobor fashion as in Europe. The main drums were the Quecheu tinya, a small-frame drum with two heads, and a larger instrument which today is called bombo (an onomatopoeic Western name for a deep-frame drum), also with toe heads. All of these exist today, although the kena, siku, and bombo are the most common.

Europe’s interaction with the Caribbean began in 1492 with the Spanish sponsored voyages of Christopher Columbus. Columbus’ voyages to the Caribbean incorporated two differing traditions of expansion. His Genoese roots and his experience in the Portuguese mercantile system influenced the first voyage. This background allowed Columbus to view his task as mainly one of discovery to be followed by the establishment of commercial outposts and trading centers that would tap into indigenous resources. The primary goal of this system was the quick exploitation of the local area with minimum investment. This contrasted dramatically with the Spanish Castilian tradition born of the reconquista that emphasized a military advance, followed by the sharing out of new lands. The primary goal of this system was the conquest and eventual settlement of new lands for the purpose of long-term exploitation. The difference between these two traditions created expectations that brought Columbus into immediate conflict with the Spanish settlers who accompanied him. The Crown was called on in several occasions to mediate between Columbus and the settlers, usually deciding in their countrymen’s favor. By his death in 1506 Columbus had already fallen to the wayside of Spanish exploration because he was a poor governor in the Spanish tradition.

The Spanish ventures in the Caribbean had to recoup their sponsors’ initial investment and this led to an obsession with discovering gold deposits. Once these deposits were found the Spanish had to secure sufficient labor to mine it so the encomienda system was instituted by the Spanish Crown to regulate the new settlements. An encomienda was a grant of land with a number of indigenous slaves given to a settler, whose only obligation was to bring Christianity to his slave.

The Spaniards, far from bringing progress and civilization to their Caribbean subjects, enslaved and effectively exterminated them. The Indians were forced to work in mines, while Spanish pigs overran their crops. Those who did not perish from starvation, disease, or forced labor were killed outright or committed mass suicide.

Christopher Columbus himself set the tenor, presiding over the death of a third of the population of Hispaniola during his sixteen-month governorship (1496-1497). By 1570, the Caribbean Indians were effectively extinct, except for a few villages in Dominica and the African-intermixed "Black Caribs" of St. Vincent, later exiled to Honduras. To fill the need for labor, the colonists had to turn to slaves from Africa; as Trinidad’s prime minister Eric Williams put it, the Europeans "used Negroes they stole from Africa to work the land they stole from the Indians."

To a certain extent, early colonial-era culture emerged as a mixture of European, African, and Amerindian traditions; the still-popular Cuban cult of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, for instance, mixes elements of the worship of the Taino god Atabey, the Yoruba deity Oshun, and the European Virgin of Illescas. On the whole, however, little remains of Indian culture except for place-names, foods, and words like "hammock," "manatee," " yucca," " hurricane," and tobacco"---the last surviving as the Indians’ parting gift (or retributive curse) to the world.

If the Amerindian heritage has played little role in post-Columbian music, then we must look elsewhere for the roots of Caribbean music---specifically, in the musical cultures of Europe and Africa.

The Caribbean is host to a variety of ethnic groups, including East Indians, Chinese, Syrians, and Caucasian Europeans. However, throughout the region, descendants of the four or five million enslaved Africans brought by the colonists are a common denominator. In islands such as Haiti, they constitute nearly the entire population, while even in the more Caucasian Puerto Rico; black communities have exerted a musical influence quite incommensurate with their size. Moreover, just as Afro-American music and its derivatives like rock have come to pervade world culture in the twentieth century, so have the African-derived elements in Caribbean music provided much of what has distinguished it and made it internationally famous.

In the realm of more distinctly musical features, the most often noted feature of African music is its emphasis on rhythm. African music is rich in melody, timbral variety, and even two- and three-part harmony, but rhythm is often the most important aesthetic parameter, distinguishing songs and genres and commanding the focus of the performers’ and listeners’ attention. Accordingly, the rhythms of African and Afro-Caribbean traditional music are often formidably complex, in ways that lack any counterparts in Western folk or common-practice classical music. Much of the rhythmic interest and complexity derives from the interaction of regular pulses (whether silent or audible) and offbeat accents. This feature is often described as "syncopation," but that term is vague and problematic, as is indeed the notion of a single, regular pulse in the multiple.

With each new voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, it became clearer that Columbus had been mistaken in believing he had reached the East. In 1500, on his way to India, Pedro Alvares Cabral (1567?-1519?) tried to follow Da Gama’s route, making a wide sweep west into the Atlantic, but he sailed much farter west than Da Gama and landed on the coast of Brazil. According to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494---which attempted to resolve disputes over ownership of newly discovered lands by granting Spain the right to those west of an imaginary line some 350 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, and Portugal the right to land east of that given line---Brazil fell within the Portuguese sphere of influence. Therefore, acknowledging Brazil as a completely new land, and moreover one that by rights "belonged" to Portugal, Portugal sent out an expedition to ascertain its size.

On this Portuguese expedition of 1501 sailed the man who was to give his name to both the great continents of the New World. Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512) was a Florentine merchant who had studied geography and navigation as a hobby and who, lat in life, had turned explorer. He had already made a voyage to the new World in 1499-1500 with Alonso de Ojeda (1465?-1515) and Juan de la Cosa (?-1509), Columbus’ pilot on his second expedition. On this, Vespucci’s second expedition, he claims to have sailed as far south as 50 degrees S. This claim is generally unaccepted, as indeed are Vespucci’s reports of two other voyages he made to the Americas.

Whatever the truth about Vespucci’s voyages, his account of them was widely believed in his own time. It even led the geographer Waldseemuller to regard him, rather than Columbus, as the discoverer of the great landmass in the west, and to suggest that it should be called America in honor of his explorations.

As you can see, many countries have infiltrated the territories of South America and the Caribbean bringing many cultural and musical influences. In order to get a better understanding of each country’s influence, I have included a list of different countries, their capitals, the language of that region, and its general population from 1990.

Netherlands Antilles (Abuba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten)
(Neth.): Willemstad; pop. 187,000.
Surimane: Paramaribo; pop. 408,000 (31 % African, 37 % East Indian, and 15 % Javanese).

Anguilla (U.K.): The Valley; pop. 7,000.
Antigua and Barbuda: St John, pop. 64,000.
Bahamas: Nassau; pop. 251,000.
Barbados: Bridgetown; pop. 260,000.
British Virgin islands (U.K.): Road Town; pop. 13,000.
Cayman Islands: George Town; pop. 23,000.
Dominica: Roseau; pop. 74,000. English and French Creole spoken.
Grenada: St. George; pop. 84,000.
Guyana: Georgetown; pop. 765,000 (30 % African, 51 % East Indian, 14 % mixed).
Jamaica: Kingston; pop. 2,513,000.
St. Kitts-Nevis: Basseterre; pop. 40,000.
St. Lucia: Castries; pop. 153,000. English and French Creole spoken.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Kingstown; pop. 106,000.
Trinidad and Tobago: Port of Spain; pop. 1,270,000 (43 % African, 40 %, East Indian, and 14 percent mixed).
Turks and Caicos Islands (U.K.): Grand Turk; pop. 9,000.
U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas) (U.S.A.): Charlotte Amalie; Pop. 106,000.

French Guiana (Fr.): Cayenne; pop. 94,000.
Guadeloupe (Fr.): Basse-Terre; pop. 340,000.
Haiti: Port-au-Prince; pop. 6,409,000.
Martinique (Fr.): Fort-de-France; pop. 336,000.

Cuba: Havana; pop. 10,582,000.
The Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo; pop. 7,253,000.
Puerto Rico (U.S.A.): San Juan; pop. 3,700,000.

        The name of an old dance or danzón.

BAMBUCO
        A Columbian popular dance in use in other West Indies and Central America countries.

BEMBE

        Afro-Cuban dances and ceremony dedicated to the orishas.

BOLERO

        The Cuban bolero, a musical and dance style, keeps no much likenesses with its old ancestor, the Spanish bolero.

Romantic, sometimes too much sentimental, it takes its inspiration in opera tunes, French romances and Neopolitan songs. Punctuated by a 2/4 time, it develops classical and sophisticated melodies, immediately familiar for Occidental ears, with poetic lyrics talking about nostalgia, charm of women, and thwarted love.

Amalgam of diverse influences, this style becomes stabilized near 1880 in Oríente, region in the East of Cuba, popularized by the Trova singers. In their boleros, they play guitar in a special way, with syncopation, called ravado.

            Tristeza, maybe the first bolero, was composed in 1885 by José "Pepe" Sanchéz, singer and self taught guitarist. In the beginning of the 20th century, bolero style really reaches Havana, and established itself in peñas and bars, because of musicians arrived from Oríente, like Sindo Garay.

During the ‘20ties, the bolero crossbreeds with the son, and gives birth to the bolero-son popularized at this time by the trios and the septetos. Today, a modern bolero-son style is sometimes called balada, or salsa romantica. By our time, the style, like a young man, is in great form: each salsa record contains one or two boleros, where the public judges the singer’s quality; his interpretation must be faultless.

In the middle of the 60ties, in the USA, Latin music is in crisis. Pachanga, that shakes dancers from few years, begins to run out of steam from 1965. With its big bands, pachanga is not adapted to the brand new times, getting excited about the sound of the Beatles (came from England), about twist (a degradation of rock ‘n roll), and about the nervous rhythm ‘n blues, seriously subdued by the Motown’s commercial soul music.

The swing of the Latin big bands seems like an old timer in the young Latinos’ eyes born in New York; they don’t care about their roots, and more and more they identify with Black Americans: both of them know what hard living conditions are, and both of them visit every day the bad side of the American dream.

From this fusion – Latin music, twist, rhythm ‘n blues – the boogaloo rises. The new fashion, generally using English for the lyrics, looks for commercial success. Sometimes it succeeds, with hits like I like it like that by Pete Rodriguez, who is sacred " king of boogaloo ".
Affected by the virus, all the Latin musicians are converted to the new fashion, and try to take advantage of the commercial effects.

The lyrics of boogaloo are generally devoid of interest, but the musical impact is powerful. Some people think that boogaloo is only a degradation of Latin music; but it’s also an adaptation to the change of time, that prefers a more aggressive and nervous sound.

Sign of times: hundreds of little groups grow like mushrooms after a summer rain; the line-up - more compact and more adaptable than old big bands - make easier their formation and expression.

The silly but effective boogaloo (and its few variants like shing a ling, and afroloo) reach its highest point in 1967; it reigns on Latin music till the early ‘70ties, before being dethroned by salsa, for which it prepared the ground. Following in its wake, salsa is going to win a bet: to overflow the restricted Latin audience, and be established to last in the White market.

CARIACO

An old Afro-Cuban dance.

CARINGA

Afro-Cuban folk dance, often named zapateo.

In the early 40ties, ritmo nuevo was born: a new style coming from the danzón, and boosted by Arcaño y sus maravillas. Among the musicians of this new rhythm, the brothers Israel and Cachao Lopez (with Coralia), Antonio Sanchez, Félix Reina, and a violinist coming from Candelaria (Pinar del Rio, Cuba), but now in Havana: Enrique Jorrin.

In some danzones of his composition, in ritmo nuevo style, Enrique Jorrin integrates a formula used by chorists in few montunos. For example, in Doña Olga, La que sea varón, chorists repeat in unison: "Chachachá, chachachá, es un baile sin egual".

Enrique Jorrin explains that, with his musician words:

"I composed some danzones, in which I gave few little choral parts to the musicians of the band. The public liked that, and so I carried on. By example, in Constancia, I inserted some well-known montunos. The public was very happy, and everybody wanted I speak about him in my lyrics... that why I asked the musicians to sing, in unison. The unison had multiple advantages: it was easier for the public to understand the lyrics; voices, among the orquestra, were more powerful and it was a way to hide... the bad quality of musicians' voices. Because they were not really singers: in cha cha chá, the singing is entrusted to the musicians themselves".

Jorrin has already noticed the difficulties for dancers in danzón-mambo style: because the steps are not on the beat, but on the syncopation, and so the dance is rather delicate. So Jorrin prefers to look for a simplified form, and then composes melodies with, if it is possible, no syncopations. And so, dancers can follow the melody like an indicator.
Orchestral arrangements, as for them, stay peppered with syncopations.

This mixture – with melody on the beat, and accompaniment on the after-beat- is characteristic of this new style, the cha cha chá.

The style was gauged for dancers, and owes the life to them. In Havana cabarets, dancers begin to elaborate new steps, in harmony with the new form. So is created the figure escobillo, easy for all: 1-2, 1-2-3, the two sides in alternation.

The first recorded title, La Engañadora, was released by América (Jorrin's band), still classified as mambo-rumba. It is in a well-known club of Havana, the Silver Star, which the style is christened and wins its definitive name:cha cha chá.

The success is immediate. From 1953, Jorrin composes many cha cha chá songs, and the popularity of this modern style conquers the island... before the whole world. El Alardosa, El Túnel, Nada para ti, is listed among these historical titles.

Seeing which way the wind is blowing, many musicians follow close behind the new wave, and so contribute to its popularity: Antonio Sanchez (Yo Sabia); Félix Reina (Angoa); Rosendo Ruiz (Rico vacilón, Los Marcianos); Rosendo Rosell (Calculadora); Richard Egues (El Bogeguero); Rafael lay (Cero codazos).

Surfing on its success, boosted by radios and records, easy to dance, cha cha chá spread, and its wave spill onto the world: Chicho O’Farril, Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Charles Aznavour, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón, ...

As its more difficult brother, the mambo, it rules in the 50ties, before loosing a part of its influence during the 60ties.

Afro-Spanish dance of the 17th century.

Traditional Afro-Cuban dance (and its music), often practiced in carnivals, especially in Oriente, Cuba. It came from Haiti, but its origin is in Dahomey (Africa), French ex-colony.

 

Traditional Afro-Cuban dance. Colombia is one of the three rumba parts (with the yambú and the guaguanco). Only men practice this slow dance, with only percussions.

Group of dancers, sometimes bound with a neigh borough or a city. The comparsa parades during the carnival, with the same choreography and the same costume.

This old dance born in Cuba take its roots in the French contredanse, brought in the island by French people at the end of 18th century. In the early 19th century, it is metamorphosed in contradanza thanks to Black people.

The contradanza is composed of four movements: paseo, cadena, sostenido, and cedazo. The two first ones are slow, but the sostenido and the cedazo are brisk.

With time, the contradanza lost its collective character, and began to be danced in couple.

Contradaza is the origin of the danzón.

African dance, in the past danced in Cuba. It is the origin of the cumbancha.

Very widespread traditional dance in Spain.

Dance known in Cuba since the 18th century.

Dance practiced by the Black slaves in Cuba in 17th century.

Afro-Cuban folk dance, only accompanied by percussions.
This dance is rhythmed by three congas: the tumbadora, doing the rhythmic basic; the Segundo puts in charge of the counterpoint; and the little quinto improvises.

The guaguanco is one of the three rumba dances (the others are the jambú and the colombia). The fast and erotic guaguanco is danced by a couple.

The term indicates also a specific rhythm.

Spanish popular dance of the 16th century.

This fighting dance, close to a martial art, grew in 19th century among slaves of sugar plantations in Cuba.

Only the men take part in it: the dancer, in the circle, do movements simulating fight, and choose a protagonist among the others men of the circle. Then the elected "adversary" comes in the circle, and, in harmony with the other dancer, execute choreography of movements, between fight and dance.

Dance mixing conga and others African influences.

MULATA

Dance practiced in Cuba in the 18th century.

Afro-Spanish dance, practiced in Cuba during the 17th and 18th centuries: probably, a variant - or another name – of cumbé.

Slow figure of the contradanza. The dancers are aligned in two files, one gathering the men, the other bringing the women together. The man at one of the ends puts his arm round his partner’s waist and passes with her through the passage formed between the two files; then the couple separates and the two partners come to line up at the other end of the files.

"Salsa: a different manner to name Cuban music. Mambo, cha cha chá, son... all the Cuban rhythms joined together by only one name ". (Celia Cruz).

But strictly speaking, salsa, born in New York at the end of the 60ties, created by musicians of the barrios, the poor Latino neighborhoods.

The style grows rich quickly by a social dimension, through the impulse of Willie Colón, who reveals the back side of the American dream, while putting in words the harsh ghetto reality, where misery, violence and hard drugs reign. His friend Rubén Blades imposes a conscious, claiming and political salsa (salsa conciente).

International figures like Cecelia Cruz contribute to establish the style durably. Thanks to its worldwide impact, which overflows the framework of Latin audiences, salsa becomes a generic term: people will call salsa whole of Latin music: boogalo, mambo, old son, or recent Latin-house.

Cuban musicians, estimating that the USA recycled and usurped their music, sulked the term for a long time. But the word salsa (the sauce) seems definitively adopted today. It is real that the term is perfect, seeing that it evokes at the same time a mixture, a know-how, a heat, an excitation of the senses, and all that give taste - and pepper! - to the things.

SOPIMPA

Afro-Cuban dance, in the 19th century.

TANGO CONGO

The tango congo rhythm is similar to the famous Argentinian tango, of which it is the origin. This style of song develops in Cuba during the 20ties of the 20th century.

TIMBLEQUE

Recent popular figure of dance in which the dancers vibrate in a frantic way as if they were shaken by an electric shock.

Movement of the pelvis suggesting the sexual act, frequently used by the dancers in salsa.

YAMBU

This Afro-Cuban dance is one of the three parts of the rumba.

Dance of fertility, native to Congo, in which the movements of the pelvis suggests the sexual act. These movements (the vacuano) are still used today by the salsa lovers (¡A que rico!).

ZAPATEO

Country dance, practiced in Cuba and Puerto Rico, originating from Spain. The presence of zapateo in Cuban countries is detected from the early 18th century.

The couple of dancers strike the ground with the heels, stressing the rhythm. The man, his hands behind his back, does the most complicated figures. Sometimes, the dancer fixes knives at his shoes, thus imitating the cock and his spurs. The woman arouses the man by rolling up her skirt.

Very widespread in the Cuban rural feasts during the 19th century, this practice seems completely vanished today.

ZARAMBEQUE

An Old Afro-Cuban dance, very frantic.

 

 

Objective: The students will be able to:

• Listen to Latin American Music.
• Compare early styles with styles of today.
• Identify the instrumentation within the music
• Recognize a distinct rhythmic pattern associated the "Latin beat".
• Compare Latin American music to the music of the USA.
• Research and create instruments used by the people
• Observe the skin color of the people¹
• Research the early music of Latin America

Arts and Humanities: Standard #3)

Recordings     Videos     Library      CD’s

Journals     Handouts     Globe          Stereo

Stereo                          T.V.

Overhead Projector     VCR

What is so unique about the music?
How does the music differ from the music of the USA?
In what ways are the styles similar?
What instruments do you recognize in the music?
What kind of affect does it have on you as you listen to it?
How do you think this music was created?
Who are your favorite Latin American performers?
Are there any obvious influences from other countries?

Students will be quizzed on their ability to recall the music styles that were presented to them and identify the names of the dances that will have viewed in the videos.

Objective: The students will be able to:

• Listen to the music of Spain
• Compare the music of Spain with the Music of Latin America
• Understand the differences in musical style
• Recognize the instrumentation within the music
• Understand the similarities in musical style
• Recognize rhythmic patterns of this music
• Observe the skin color of the people
• Research and create instruments used by these people
• Research the music of Portugal and Spain

Library         Maps          Globe     CD’s
Handouts     Journals     Recordings

Stereo T.V.
Overhead Projector VCR

What makes this music unique?
In what way is it related to Latin American Music?
Where is Portugal located on the map in regards to Spain?
What are the similarities in the music of Portugal and Spain?
Did this country have any recognizable influences in its music?
How does it compare with Latin American music?

The students will be quizzed on their ability to listen, identify and distinguish the music of Latin America from the music of Spain.

Objective: The students will be able to:

• Listen to the music of West Africa
• Recognize its uniqueness
• Notice the instruments of the people
• Observe the skin color of the people
• Identify distinct rhythm patterns unique to the people of West Africa
• Research the music of West Africa
• Research and create instruments unique to the people

Recordings Videos Library Maps

Journals Handouts Globe

Stereo T.V.

Overhead Projector VCR

What instruments do you recognize in the music?
What do you feel when you listen to the music?
How does the music differ from the other styles that we have listened to?
What influences do you think this music had on Latin America?
In what way was this music influential to the USA?

The students will be tested on their ability to recognize and recall information given on African music. Students will be graded on their individual research projects.

 

Objective: The students will able to:

• Trace the path that Christopher Columbus took to reach the new world
• What stops Columbus made along the way
• Do research to find out what took place at each stop
• Collaborate with the World Cultures class to get more information
• Create a map and time line related to Christopher Columbus’ voyage
• Combine the different musical styles researched from Portugal, Spain, Africa and the Indigenous people to create the "New Latin American Music".

Interdisciplinary Connection: World Cultures

Recordings Videos Library Globe

Handouts Journals Maps

Stereo T.V.

Overhead Projector VCR

What countries had an influence on Latin America?
What country had the most musical influence on Latin America?
What role did Christopher Columbus play in this new infused music style?
How did the African influence get to Latin America?
What country came to the new world against its will and why?

Students will be tested on their ability to perform a successful all-school performance at the end of this unit.

 

 

 

 

Topic: Diversity Among the People (A Newly Developed Culture)

Objective: The students will be able to:

• Combine all previously learned lessons to show cultural diversity among the people.
• Show why the people of Brazil are mostly of African decent.
• Show why the people of Argentina are mostly of European decent.
• Retrace the path of Columbus to bring it all together.
• Present a performance for the school showing cultural divergence in South America.
• Use costumes to depict different countries before the conquest.

Interdisciplinary Connection: World Cultures, Costume Dept., Vocal and

Dance Departments, and Creative Writing Dept.

Recordings Videos Library Globe
Handouts Journals Maps Costumes
Dancing C.D.’s Auditorium

Stereo T.V. Stereo

Overhead Projector VCR Slide Projector

How did the Americas come to be?
What South American country has more influence from Portugal?
What regions have more African influence?
What country in South America has a more European influence?

Beckford, W.: A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica (London, 1790)

Behague, Gerard: "Popular Music." In Handbook of Latin American Popular Culture, edited by Harold e. Hinds, Jr. and Charles Tatum. Westport, CT:

Boggs, Vernon: Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in New York. New York: Excelsior Music Publishing Company, 1992.

Carvalho, Marth de Ulhoa: "Musical Style, Migration and Urbanization: Some Considerations on Brazilian Musica Sertaneja (Country Music)." Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 1993.

Chase, G.: A Guide to the Music of Latin America (Washington, DC, 1962)

Coplan, David B: In Township Tonight: South Africa’s Black City Music and Theatre. New York: Macmillan, 1985.

Courlander, H.: The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People (Berkeley, 1960)

Dower, Catherine: Puerto Rican Music following the Spanish American War, 1898. Landham, MD. University Press of America, 1983.

Ellis, Richard: New Mexico Past and Present: A Historical Reader, Albuquerque:  UNM Press, 1971

Elsasser, Nan, MacKenzie, Kyle, and Tixier y Vigil, Yvonne. Editors. Las Mujeres: Conversations From a Hispanic Community. Old Westbury, New York. The Feminist Press. 1980.

Garcia, Florencia Oscar: Samba: A Bibliography with Introduction. Albuquerque. NM: FOG Publications, 1992.

Hernandez, Deborah Pacini: Bachata: A Social history of a Dominican Music. Temple University Press: Philadelphia, 1995.

Hispanic Biographies. (A Collection of 16 individual biographies by various authors). 1989. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Globe Book Company.

Hispanic Stories. The Steck-Vaughn Classroom Library. (A collection 15 individual biographies by various authors. Includes teacher’s guide). 1993. New York: Steck-Vaughn.

Izikowitz, K.G.: Musical and Other Sound Instruments of the South American Indians (Goteborg, 1934/R1970)

Jenkins, Myra Ellen and Shroeder, Albert. A Brief History of New Mexico.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1974.

Kahl, Willi: "Bolero." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Ed. Stanley Sadie. Washington, DC: Macmillan Publishers, 1980

Knight, Franklin: The Caribbean. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Lewis, Gordon: The Growth of the Modern West Indies. New York: Monthly Review, 1968.

Ligon, R.: A True and Exact history of the Island of Barbados (London, 1657). Temple University Press: Philadelphia, 1995.

Loza, Steven: Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American music in Los Angeles. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Manuel, Peter: Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music From Rumba to Reggae.

Martinez, Elizabeth. 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures. Albuquerque NM, South West Organizing Project, 1991.

May, Elizabeth: Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction: (University of California Press.)

McGowan, Chris, and Richard Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil. New York: Billboard Books, 1991.

Morey, Janet Nomura, and Dunn: Famous Hispanic Americans. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1996.

Olsen, Dale A.: Musics of Many Cultures: Study Guide & Workbook, 3^rd ed. (Kendall/Hunt and Co.)

Pacini Hernandez, Deborah: Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music. Philadelphia, PA: (Temple University Press, 1985).

Peter, Manuel: Popular Musics of the Non-Western World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Peterson, Anya Royce: Ethnic Identity" Strategies of Diversity. Bloomington:  (Indiana University Press, 1982)

Ramos, A.: ‘The Negro in Music’, The Negro in Brazil (Washing, DC, 1939)

Roberts, John Storm: Black Music of Two Worlds (New York: Praeger, 1972)------. 1985. The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States. Tivoli, N.Y.: Original Music

Ruiz, Jose Luis: Chicano! The Quest for a Homeland. Los Angles, CA: National Latino Communication Center, 1996.

Shorris, Earl. 1992. Latinos - A Biography of The People. New York: Avon Books.

Sloane, H.: Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers, and Jamaica (London, 1707.

Southern, E.: The Music of Black Americans: a History (New York, 1971)

Steward, J. H., Ed: Handbook of South American Indians (New York, 1963).

Stevenson, R.: Music in Mexico: a Historical Survey (New York, 1952)
------: ‘The Afro-American Musical Legacy to 1800s, MQ, liv (1968)
------: Music in Aztec and Inca Territory (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968.

Walterman, R. A.: ‘African Influence on the Music of the Americas’, Acculturation in the Americas: XXIXth International Congress of Americanists (Chicago, 1952)

Winn, Peter: Americas: The Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean.
University of California Press, 1995. (Updated Edition, 1999).

Beethoven, Jane and Carmen Culp, et al. World of Music 5, Teacher Resource Book, Morristown, New Jersey: Silver              Burdett and Ginn, 1991
            This contains background information, interdisciplinary connections and a pronunciation guide for Spanish for              "De Colores." It also contains "Zuni Sunrise Song" and "Amazing Grace."

Cordova, Josephine M. No Lloro Pero Me Acuerdo. Dallas, TX:   Taylor Publishing Company. 1976.
            Personal accounts of life in the village of Taos during the mid-twentieth century were told from the perspective               of a resident and the school principal. The descriptions of "Los Bailes: are of particular interest."

Gutierrez, Ramon A. When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality and Power in New              Mexico, 1500-1846. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.
            This scholarly work begins with a detailed analysis of the Pueblo Indian world of the sixteenth century. It                continues through the reconquest of New Mexico in the eighteenth century. It presents in-depth descriptions and              analysis of the sociological contact between Spaniards and Native Americans.  Some of these descriptions could              be considered R-rated.

Kurath, Gertrude P. and Antonio Garcia. Music and Dance of the Tewa Pueblos.
            Sante Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1969.
            This contains very thorough descriptions and analysis of the dances of these specific Pueblos. It contains                 amazing details, and is a wonderful resource.

Anaya, Rudolfo A. Illustrated by Edward Gonzales. Los Farolitos of Christmas.  New York, NY: Hyperion Books, 1995.
            This is a beautifully illustrated and easy to read story about a young girl who makes farolitos (luminaries),               for her family’s holiday celebration. It is written in English and uses numerous Spanish words. Readers will              have a glimpse of life in Northern New Mexico in the 1940s.

Minton, Charles E. et al. The Spanish-American Song and Game Book. New York, NY: Barnes and Co., 1942.
            This charming vintage book of folk music and games was collected as a WPA project without credit given to              individual contributors. The Coronado Cuatro Centennial Commission held the copyright. This book has many fun              activities and songs arranged by age.

Tripp, Valerie. Happy Birthday, Josefina! A Springtime Story. Middleton, WS: Pleasant Company Publications, 1998.
            This book is from The American Girls Collection. It is the story of a young Hispanic girl living in New Mexico in             1824. It contains much cultural and historical information in the story as well as in photographs and illustrations.

Yoder, Walter D. The American Pueblo Indian Activity Book. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 1998.
            Besides containing interesting activities that teach about the Pueblo Indians, there are two Native American              short stories that would interest students.

Yoder, Walter D. The Big Spanish Heritage Activity Book: Hispanic Settlers in the Southwest. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 1997.
            This book has fun and informative activities for young students to learn about the Hispanic culture in the                  times of early settlement.

Florida Museum of Hispanic and Latin American Art LATIN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM formerly The Florida Museum of Hispanic and Latin American Art Spanish Version En Espanol

http://www.latinoweb.com/museo/

Celia Cruz                                         Mi Abuelita
Chayanne                                          Simplemente (CD Title)
Christina Aguilera                               Genie In A Bottle
David Sanchez                                  Puerto San Juan
DLG                                                  No Morira
Elvis Crespo                                      Pintame
Enrique Inglesias                                 Bailamos (CD Title)
Gloria Estefan                                     Mi Tierra
Jennifer Lopez                                    Waiting for Tonight
Jon Secada                                        Heart, Soul & A Voice (CD Title)
La Bouche                                         Be My Lover
Los Unbrellos                                     No Tengo Dinero
Lou Bega                                          Mambo #5
Ricardo Arjona                                  Tu Mi Amor
Ricky Martin                                      Living La Vita Loca
Rozalla                                              Everybody’s Free
Só Pra Contrariar                               Juegos de Amor (CD Title)
Selena                                              Itti Bidi Bom Bom

Arts and Humanities:

Standard #1) All students describe the meanings they find in various works from the visual and performing arts and literature on the basis of aesthetic understanding of the art form.

Standard #3) All students relate various works from the visual and performing arts and literature to the historical and cultural context within which they were created.

Standard #1) All students use effective research and information management skills, including locating primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging library technologies.