AFRO-LATIN AMERICAN AND POPULAR MUSIC

MUSIC OF AFRICA
 Music has always been an important part in the daily life of the African, whether for work,
ceremonies, or even communication. Singing, dancing, hand clapping and the beating of drums
are essential to many African ceremonies including those for birth, death initiation, marriage
and funerals. Music and dance are also important to religious expression and political events.
 Led to the birth of Jazz forms.
 African music has been a collective result from the cultural and musical diversity of the more
than 50 countries of the continent.

Traditional Music of Africa

 African traditional music is largely functional in nature.

Some Types of African Music

1. Afrobeat – term used to describe the fusion of West African with Black American Music.
2. Apala (Akpala) – musical genre from Nigerian in the Yoruba tribal style to wake up the
worshippers after fasting during the Muslim holy feast of Ramadan. (Percussion instruments).
3. Axe – popular musical genre from Salvador, Bahia, and Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Caribbean styles
of the marcha, reggae, and calypso.
4. Jit – hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music played on drums and guitar
accompaniment, influenced by mbira-based guitar styles.
5. Jive – popular form of South African music featuring a lively and uninhibited variation of the
jitterbug, a form of swing dance.
6. Juju – popular music styles from Nigeria that relies on the traditional Yoruba rhythms where the
instrument are more Western in origin. A drum kit, keyboard, pedal steel guitar, and accordion
are used along with the traditional dundun (talking drum or squeeze drum).
7. Kwasa Kwasa – is a dance style begun in Zaire in the late 1980’s popularized by Kanda Bongo
Man. In this dance style, the hips move back and forth while the arms move following the hips.
8. Marabi - is a South African three-chord township music of the 1930s-1960s which evolved into
African Jazz.

LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC INFLUENCED BY AFRICAN MUSIC

 Reggae - is a Jamaican sound dominated by bass guitar and drums. Music style - traditional
mento and calypso musicSalsa - music is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian dance music.
 Samba - is the basic underlying rhythm that typifies most Brazilian music. It is a lively and
rhythmical dance and music with three steps to every bar, making the Samba feel like a timed
dance.
 Soca - is a modern Trinidadian and Tobago pop music combining “soul” and “calypso” music.
 Were – This is Muslim music performed often as a wake-up call for early breakfast and prayers
during Ramadan celebrations.
 Zouk - is fast, carnival-like rhythmic music, from the Creole slang word for ‘party.

VOCAL FORMS OF AFRICAN MUSIC

Maracatu - first surfaced in the African state of Pernambuco, combining the strong rhythms of African
percussion instruments with Portuguese melodies. The maracatu groups were called “nacoes” (nations).
Blues - The slaves and their descendants used to sing as they worked in the cotton and vegetable fields.
Soul - It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz. (James
Brown, Etta James).
Spiritual - The term spiritual, normally associated with a deeply religious person. This musical form
became their outlet to vent their loneliness and anger, and is a result of the interaction of music and
religion from Africa with that of America.
Call and response - The call and response method is a succession of two distinct musical phrases usually
rendered by different musicians, where the second phrase acts as a direct commentary on or response
to the first. Much like the question and answer sequence in human communication.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA

Classification of Traditional African Instruments

A. Idiophones - These are percussion instruments that are either struck with a mallet or against
one another. (Balafon, Rattles, Agogo, Atingting Kon, Slit drum, Djembe, Shekere, Rasp).
B. Membranophones - are instruments which have vibrating animal membranes used in drums.
(Body percussion, Talking drum).
C. Lamellaphone - One of the most popular African percussion instruments which is a set of
plucked tongues or keys mounted on a sound board. It is known by different names according to
the regions such as mbira, karimba, kisaanj, and likembe.
D. Chordophones - are instruments which produce sounds from the vibration of strings. These
include bows, harps, lutes, zithers, and lyres of various sizes.
E. Aerophones - are instruments which are produced initially by trapped vibrating air columns.
Flutes in various sizes and shapes, horns, panpipes, whistle types, gourd and shell megaphones,
oboe, clarinet, animal horn and wooden trumpets fall under this category.

AFRICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT

Many instruments of Africa are made from natural elements like wood, metal, animal, skin and horns, as
well as improvised ones like tin cans and bottles. These are mainly used to provide rhythmic sounds.

MUSIC OF LATIN AMERICA

The music of Latin America is the product of three major influences – Indigenous, Spanish-Portuguese,
and African. Sometimes called Latin music, it includes the countries that have had a colonial history from
Spain and Portugal.

INFLUENCES ON LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC

1. Indigenous Latin-American Music - Before the arrival of the Spanish, Portuguese, and other
European colonizers, the natives were found to be using local drum and percussion instruments
and wind instruments.
2. Native American/Indian Music - Some of the Native American music includes courtship songs,
dancing songs, and popular American or Canadian tunes like Amazing Grace, Dixie, Jambalaya,
and Sugar Time.
3. Afro-Latin American Music - The African influence on Latin American music is most pronounced
in its rich and varied rhythmic patterns produced by the drums and various percussion
instruments.
4. Euro-Latin American Music - The different regions of Latin America adopted various
characteristics from their European colonizers. Melodies of the Renaissance period were used in
Southern Chile and the Colombian Pacific coasts.
5. Mixed American Music - The diversity of races and cultures from the Native Americans, Afro-
Latin Americans, and Euro-Latin Americans account for the rich combinations of musical
elements.
6. Popular Latin American Music - Latin America has produced a number of musical genres and
forms that had been influenced by European folk music, African traditional music, and native
sources. Its danceable rhythms, passionate melodies, and exotic harmonies continue to enthrall
music and dance enthusiasts worldwide.
a) Samba - Was meant to be executed for singing, dancing, and parading in the carnival.
b) Son - is a fusion of the popular music of Spain and the African rumba rhythms of Bantu origin.
c) Salsa - is a social dance with marked influences from Cuba and Puerto Rico Its style contains
elements from the swing dance and hustle.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF LATIN AMERICA

The varied cultures developed in Latin America gave rise to different types of wind and percussion
instruments. (Tlapitzalli, Teponaztli, Couch, Rasp, Huehueti, Whistles)

Incan Instruments (Ocarina & Panpipes)

Andean Instruments - The Andean highlands made use of several varieties of flutes and string
instruments (Pitus, Wooden Tarkas, Quenas & Charango)
Mariachi
The Mariachi is an extremely popular band in Mexico whose original ensemble consisted of violins,
guitars, harp, and an enormous guitarron (acoustic bass guitar).

VOCAL AND DANCE FORMS OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC

1. Cumbia - Originating in Panama and Colombia, the cumbia became a popular African courtship
dance with European and African instrumentation and characteristics.
2. Tango –means “African dance” or from the Spanish word taner meaning “to play” (an
instrument).
3. Cha Cha - is a ballroom dance the originated in Cuba in 1953, derived from the mambo.
4. Rumba - popular recreational dance of Afro-Cuban origin, performed in a complex duple meter
pattern and tresillo.
5. Bossa nova - bossa means either “trend” or “something charming”. A slower, gentler version of
the samba. It was music for easy and relaxed listening, conducive to romantic dates and quiet
moments at the lounges. Foremost figure of bossa nova is Antonio Carlos Jobim and Sitti
Navarro.
6. Reggae - is an urban popular music and dance style that originated in Jamaica in the mid 1960’s.
The best-known proponent of reggae music is Bob Marley
7. Foxtrot - is a 20th century social dance. It was executed as a one step, two step and syncopated
rhythmic pattern.
8. Paso Doble - (meaning “double step”) is a theatrical Spanish dance used by the Spaniards in
bullfights.

Jazz
It was an offshoot of the music of African slaves who migrated to America. The Africans used music to
recall their nostalgic past in their home country.
Ragtime - is an American popular musical style mainly for piano. Its music is written unlike jazz which is
mainly improvised.
Big Band - The term ‘Big Band” refers to a large ensemble form originating in the United States in the
mid 1920’s closely associated with the Swing Era with jazz elements. (Glenn Miller Orchestra).
Bebop - Bebop or bop is a musical style of modern jazz which is characterized by a fast tempo,
instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation that emerged during World War II.
Jazz rock - is the music of 1960’s and 1970’s bands that inserted jazz elements into rock music. A
synonym for “jazz fusion,” jazz rock is a mix of funk and R&B (“rhythm and blues”).

POPULAR MUSIC
Popular music literally means “music of the populace,” similar to traditional folk music of the past. As it
developed in the 20th century.

1. Ballad – dealing typically about love. Today, the term ballad now refers to a love song in a
slightly pop or rock style.(Blues Ballads, Pop Standard and Jaz Ballads, Pop and Rock Ballads)
2. Standard - In music, the term “standard” is used to denote the most popular and enduring songs
from a particular genre or style. Foremost proponents of this style – Frank Sinatra, Nat King
Cole, Matt Monroe.
3. Rock and Roll - It combined Afro-American forms such as the blues, jump blues, jazz, and gospel
music with the Western swing and country music. In its classic form, rock and roll employed one
or two electric guitars (lead, rhythm), a string bass or bass guitar, and a set of drums that
provided the rhythmic pattern. The greatest exponent of the rock and roll style was the
legendary Elvis Presley and the British band The Beatles.
4. Disco - disco music pertained to rock music that was more danceable, thus leading to the
establishment of venues for public dancing also called discos. Famous figures of the disco genre
include ABBA, Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, (Earth, Wind, and Fire).
 5. Pop Music - Parallel with the disco era. Pop superstars in more recent years include solor artists
as well as vocal groups.
Michael Jackson “The King of Pop”
Todays pop music idols – One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Rihanna
6. Hip Hop and Rap - Hip hop music is a stylized, highly rhythmic type of music that usually (but
not always) includes portions of rhytmically chanted words called “rap.” In rapping, the artist
speaks along with an instrumental or synthesized beat. Among the early hip hop artists were LL
Cool J and Run-D.M.C. While more recent popular names in this genre have been Beastie Boys,
Eminem, and Kanye West.
7. Alternative music - was an underground independent form of music that arose in the 1980’s. It
became widely popular in the 1990’s as a way to defy “mainstream” rock music. Known for its
unconventional practices. (You Belong With Me, Shake It Off)

PHILIPPINE POPULAR MUSIC

The one word that comes to mind when we think of contemporary Philippine music is the type
commonly termed as Original Pinoy Music or Original Philippine Music, or OPM for short. It was
originally used to refer only to Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads.
(Ryan Cayabyab, George Canseco, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera etc.)
More recently OPM stars – Yeng Constantino, Sarah Geronimo, Arnel and others

PHILIPPINE POP MUSIC

Pop music in the Philippines started as an adaptation or translation, if not complete imitation, of
Western hits.

PHILIPPINE JAZZ
Philippine musicians have also been inspired by jazz music. Among them are jazz pianist and recording
artist Boy Katindig.

PHILIPPINE ALTERNATIVE FOLK MUSIC

This new form combined ethnic instrumentation with electronic accompaniment, while presenting
themes or issues of society and the environment.

PHILIPPINE ROCK
The year 1973 saw the birth of Philippine or “Pinoy” rock music which successfully merged the rock beat
with Filipino lyrics. This new sound was introduced by the legendary Juan de la Cruz Band (with their
song Ang Himig Natin).

PINOY RAP
In the Philippines, rap was also made popular by such composers and performers as Francis Magalona
(Mga Kababayan Ko and Watawat) and Andrew E (Humanap Ka ng Pangit).