The purpose for
this glossary is to educate and enhance your understanding of
the evolution of Latin music. The more familiar you become with
all of the terms and their definitions, the more you'll be able
to enjoy listening to Latin Jazz, as well as other forms of Caribbean
and Central/South American music.
You can find
this glossary and other insightful information about the evolution
of Latin music in the classic book "The Latin Tinge"
written by John Storm Roberts. This book can be found
in most public libraries.
NOTE: The definitions highlighted
by blue type have been added to this glossary. If you can't find
a specific Latin American music term in this glossary, feel free
to send
us an email with the word, phrase or questions and we will try to help
you.
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Latin Rhythms The basic meter of salsa
is 4/4, organized by the two-bar clave pattern. The individual
forms, of which the most common are listed below, are not simply
"rhythms" that can be tapped with a pencil, but combinations
of rhythmic pulse, melodic phrases, speed, song forms, and so
on.
Agogó A percussion instrument
of West African origin, the agogó is essentially a two-note
clapperless double-bell, joined by a curved piece of metal and
struck by a stick. Used in the African-derived religions of Brazil,
it is one of several new percussion instruments introduced to
the U.S. by Brazilian musicians during the 1970s.
Aguinaldo Though they are sung
around Christmas, Puerto Rican aguinaldos cover a wide range
of social and topical as well as religious subjects. They are
sung solo or by a choir and are based on the ten-line décima,
which travelled from Renaissance Italy to Spain, and thence to
virtually all of Latin-America.
Baiáo One of many rhythms
of the African-influenced Northeast of Brazil, the baiáo
became popular in Rio de Janeiro around 1950 as a reaction against
the increasingly international popular music of the time. Its
most famous exponent, Luis Gonzaga, made the accordion-led regional
group extremely popular. A few U.S. jazzmen experimented with
the baiáo in the early 1950s, but it was too unsuccessful
to be called a bridge between the samba and the bossa nova.
Bajo Sexto A form of 12-string
guitar used as an accompanying instrument by Chicano singers.
Barrio El "The district."
The districts or areas of Latin American towns are called barrios,
so when Latin immigrants settled in large numbers in New York's
East Harlem, it became The district. The nickname has stuck even
though many major U.S. cities now have barrios.
Batá
Drums
Double-headed drums shaped like an hour-glass with one cone larger
than the other. Sacred to Yoruba religion in Nigeria, they are
also necessary to Cuban and U.S. lucumí worship. A number
of salsa musicians have recently began using batá drums
in secular music.
Berimbau A Brazilian musical
bow of Congo-Angolan origin. An open goured resonater is held
against the chest, and the instrument's string is tapped with
a stick.
Bolero The Cuban bolero, originally
a mid-paced form for string trios, became very popular internationally,
usually in a slower and more sentimental form. The modern bolero
is a lush romantic popular-song form, largely distinct from salsa,
and very few singers are equally good at both.
Bomba Orginally a Puerto Rican
three-drum dance form of marked west-central African ancestry,
the bomba is especially associated with the Puerto Rican Village
of Loiza Aldea. In its old form it is still played there at the
festival of Santiago, and New York Puerto Rican folk revival
companies also perform it from time to time. Even in the dance
band form introduced by Rafael Cortijo in the late 1950s, the
bomba's melodies, as well as rhythmic pulse, are strongly African.
Bongó Small double-drum played
resting on the claves of a seated musician, called a bongosero.
Its heads are tuned a fourth apart. Widely used in Cuban music
of many sorts, especially the quartets and sextets playing sones,
and an integral part of the salsa percussion section. In salsa,
as in earlier string-based groups, the bongó tends to
be played more ad lib than other drums and to provide a complex
counterpoint to a number's main rhythmic pulse. The basic toque
for the bongó, called the martillo, can be rendered onomatopoeically
as "Dicka-docka-dicka-ducka."
Bossa Nova A Brazilian fusion of
cool jazz elements with various Brazilian rhythms, including
the baiáo but particularly the samba. Often wrongly considered
Afro-Brazilian, it is a sophisticated and recent form developed
by hip musicians and avant-guarde poets. Most were white, though
Bola Sete a leading bossa nova guitarist, is an exception.
Bugalú, Latin The Latin
bugalú was a somewhat simplified and more sharply accented
mambo with English lyrics, singing that combined Cuban and black
inflections, and r&b influenced solos. For a few years the
bugalú, and a less known Puerto Rican rhythm, the jala
jala, were staples of the "Latin soul" movement.
Cencerro Large hand-held cowbell
played with a stick, producing two notes according to where it
is struck. In Cuban music and salsa, usually played by the bongó
player when the band goes into the "ride" or mambo,
after the main vocal sections.
Cha cha chá The chachachá
is said by some to have derived from the second section of the
danzón, by others to be a slower mambo. It was sometimes
called a "double mambo" in New York, because its basic
dance step was the mambo with a double step between the fourth
to first beats. The chachachá developed around 1953 in
the hands of Cuban Charangas, most notably the Orquesta Aragón.
Charanga A Cuban dance orchestra
consisting of flute backed by fiddles, piano, bass, and timbales.
Charangas tended to play different dances from the Afro-Cuban
conjuntos, the most characteristic being the danzón. Charangas
ranged from large society units to small street-bands. Modern
charangas use bongó and conga in the rhythm section and
have taken on many more Afro-Cuban elements than their predecessors.
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Masters of Latin
Jazz
Since the dawn
of its founding, Latin
Jazz
has been an ever evolving gerne of music thriving on a spontaneous
amalgamation of physical characteristics that are based on Afro
and indiginous rhythms from the Latin American diaspora, and
combined with the harmonic language of Jazz.
LatinJazzClub Magazine presents a Tour D' Force
into the world of Latin
Jazz
featuring some of the greatest musicians that helped shape the
sound of this unique America artform: Poncho Sanchez, Patato
Valdez, Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Dizzy Gillespie, Federico
Britos, Mario Rivera, Mongo Santamaria, Michel Camilo, Eddie
Palmieri, Charlie Palmieri, Paquito D' Rivera, Dave Valentin,
Cal Tjader, and others.