HIST390

Latin music is a huge influence on North American music

Cuban and Puerto Rico migrants come to New York with a distinctive style. We listened to music influenced by Cuban style like “Oye Como Va” by Carlos Santana, who is a Mexican American artist. The music that was created in New York moved by the West Coast, played by Santana. We also see how New Orleans was influences by Cuban style, the mambo. In the 1950s and 60s there is a “mambo craze”.

 

History of La Bamba

We watched the original version of La Bamba (1925) and videos of different versions of La Bamba like the Mexican version and La Bamba by Ritchie Valens.

Lambada We compared it to Lambada which was originated in Brazil. Lambada is jumpier and faster. There is a Bolivian folklore version of the Lambada which I have danced but it a faster rhythm. Then the lambada was recreated by a French artist, which sounded relaxed yet jumpy. We see how it was recreated in a modern/disco version by Jlo and Pitbul. This song was recreated by different countries, artist and cultures with very different backgrounds yet still had a little bit of the original song.  Additionally, Don Omar, a reggaetonero also recreates the lambada for the Fast and Furious movie and recorded in Brazil.

Displacement persons are the story of the USA. Displaced from England, from Africa, from Europe, from Asia and from Central and South America. Displacement is a major engine of cultural innovation and creativity.

Tango-

We listened to tango, which originated in Argentina, and listened to a more upbeat influenced tango by Lalo Schifrin- mission impossible (1966). According to Professor O’Malley, Brazil and Argentina are the Latin countries more musical influential.

 

We learned about the process of making music and all the steps to record a single, finding a record label, manager, going to the studio to record it, sign the copy rights and marketing. I particularly did not know the process of music and of course, I found this to be a long and expensive process. We talked about how our generation does not like paying for music and somehow do not recognized the hard work of artist behind their music. Needless to say, our generation has more expenses to worry about such as education and housing; therefore, we rather find a way to download/stream free music. Someone in the classroom also mentioned how artist profit so much from their concert nowadays. Also, artist earn money from sources like Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, YouTube. etc.  At the end of the day, artist still make their profit and recognition from their music.