Central & South America
What? Music in Latin America is widely influenced by colourful and exotic carnivals and a range of dance styles. Carnivals may include fanfarras, featuring brass instruments associated with fanfare, and almost always a samba band.
Where? From Mexico all the way to the bottom of Chile.
When? All the different styles come from different times. All can be traced back to their carnival routes though.
What Styles? Styles include: Samba, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Tango.
Structure - Structures vary in each different style:
Samba music is built up of ostinatos. An ostinato is a rhythm that is played over and over again. The rhythms used to create an ostinato are usually 4 or 8 beats long.
Bossa Nova often but not always follows a similar 12 bar pattern to the Blues.
In salsa, the instruments nearly always tie into the clave pattern, including the bass and the piano. The clave is fundamental to the music and the dance. Clave in English means "key", which makes good sense... it is the key to the music/beat.
In Tango, the structure is built around the dance. A typical phrasing pattern is A-B-A-B-C where sections of music sound similar, giving dancers chance to anticipate during the repeated sections.
Instruments -
A samba band normally consists of Tamborims , Snare drums (Caixa), Agogo bells, surdos, Ganzás / Chocalho (shakers), Cuíca, Timbal, Pandeiro, and the Repinique (often played by the leader for calls) whistles (at the beginning to give the samba a beat). The Apito is often used by the leader to signal breaks and calls. Other instruments have been added in many samba bands such as frigideira, 4 stringed guitars, 7 stringed guitars, trombones and Singers.
The typical instruments heard in Bossa Nova songs are the classical guitar, piano, electronic organ, acoustic bass and drums.
Salsa ensembles are typically based on one of two different Cuban instrument formats, either the horn-based son conjunto or the string-based charanga. Some bands are expanded to the size of a mambo big band, but they can be thought of as an enlarged conjunto. The traditional conjunto format consists of congas, bongos, bass, piano, tres, a horn section, and the smaller hand-held percussion instruments: claves, guíro, or maracas, played by the singers. The Cuban horn section traditionally consists of trumpets, but trombones are frequently used in salsa. The section can also use a combination of different horns. Most salsa bands are based on the conjunto model, but the tres is almost never used.
Tango music is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, known as the orquesta típica, which includes at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneóns. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet join the ensemble. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist.
Venue / Location - We are talking about a vast area stretching all the way from Mexico to the bottom of Argentina & Chile. It's important to note that there is a debate surrounding the origins of Salsa music with many American musicians claiming it began in New York.
What? Music in Latin America is widely influenced by colourful and exotic carnivals and a range of dance styles. Carnivals may include fanfarras, featuring brass instruments associated with fanfare, and almost always a samba band.
Where? From Mexico all the way to the bottom of Chile.
When? All the different styles come from different times. All can be traced back to their carnival routes though.
What Styles? Styles include: Samba, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Tango.
Structure - Structures vary in each different style:
Samba music is built up of ostinatos. An ostinato is a rhythm that is played over and over again. The rhythms used to create an ostinato are usually 4 or 8 beats long.
Bossa Nova often but not always follows a similar 12 bar pattern to the Blues.
In salsa, the instruments nearly always tie into the clave pattern, including the bass and the piano. The clave is fundamental to the music and the dance. Clave in English means "key", which makes good sense... it is the key to the music/beat.
In Tango, the structure is built around the dance. A typical phrasing pattern is A-B-A-B-C where sections of music sound similar, giving dancers chance to anticipate during the repeated sections.
Instruments -
A samba band normally consists of Tamborims , Snare drums (Caixa), Agogo bells, surdos, Ganzás / Chocalho (shakers), Cuíca, Timbal, Pandeiro, and the Repinique (often played by the leader for calls) whistles (at the beginning to give the samba a beat). The Apito is often used by the leader to signal breaks and calls. Other instruments have been added in many samba bands such as frigideira, 4 stringed guitars, 7 stringed guitars, trombones and Singers.
The typical instruments heard in Bossa Nova songs are the classical guitar, piano, electronic organ, acoustic bass and drums.
Salsa ensembles are typically based on one of two different Cuban instrument formats, either the horn-based son conjunto or the string-based charanga. Some bands are expanded to the size of a mambo big band, but they can be thought of as an enlarged conjunto. The traditional conjunto format consists of congas, bongos, bass, piano, tres, a horn section, and the smaller hand-held percussion instruments: claves, guíro, or maracas, played by the singers. The Cuban horn section traditionally consists of trumpets, but trombones are frequently used in salsa. The section can also use a combination of different horns. Most salsa bands are based on the conjunto model, but the tres is almost never used.
Tango music is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, known as the orquesta típica, which includes at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneóns. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet join the ensemble. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist.
Venue / Location - We are talking about a vast area stretching all the way from Mexico to the bottom of Argentina & Chile. It's important to note that there is a debate surrounding the origins of Salsa music with many American musicians claiming it began in New York.