The Link Between Latin Music And North American Music

Julia Iorio Professor’s name

Global studies 5th December 2019 World Music Survey

Music is an art form, cultural activity whose medium is sound and is organized in time. Music plays an important part in life of many people as it enables a person to express his/her emotions whether it’s pure joy or grief. Some people consider it as an escape from reality of this world into a parallel universe. Today’s world has a numerous options in music from different styles, beats, notes, and languages. In this essay, we’ll be discussing the two main musical styles that are Latin and American music. Both American and Latin music encompasses a wide range of genres stemming from numerous cultures and ethnicities. The American music style can be described more as rock and roll whilst the Latin music style can be described as a rhythmic theme that revolves around the use of drums. Latin music was a potent commercial force in the United States and has influenced American music for a long time. From the early times when Latin music started to reach new heights and get popular, the rise of Latin Jazz and the explosion of the Mambo and the Cha Cha Cha as they swept the US from East to West. While American music was going down low, the famous artists from the American industry started mixing music styles and started crossover careers. This highly influenced the true essence of American music and changed music styles in general. In the 1980s, the ballroom dances and jazz music were admired and preferred by everyone. The reason behind this was that certain changes were made in the social dances, Jazz music and ball dances were brought forward. The industrial age was upon the people at that time and the upper-class people were getting comfortable with the idea of music and social dances. Jazz music and ball dances played a significant role in society at that time it brought people together in a way that nothing else ever did. It was preferred the artistic release where one could express feelings without saying anything. Segregation in the 1980s was at a peak, during a period in which white non-Hispanic New Yorkers became a minority and the gap between black and white median income in some boroughs narrowed greatly, integration of the city's private and public housing proceeded only to upper-class white people. In this period, music and dance brought people together, no matter what the differences were, and helped re-shape society. Talking about the cultural changes, exchanging music with Cuba was difficult, the politics affected the exchange of art between the two countries, due to the US embargo and fall of Soviet-Union Cuba faced high isolation. This directed towards prodigious loss of talent and cross-works that could’ve been possible, the opportunities to explore were destroyed by the power of politics. Latin music were in our popular music traits since the early 1930s when rhumba came followed by calypso, mambo, chachacha, charanga, bolero, and boogalo. All these records won hearts and now Latin music has its own recognition the world with growing numbers every-day. The great evergreen Carlos Santana was featured in this film because he pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Santana was Mexican American and he has a mark on Latin American music. His unique guitar-playing skills have changed the game of the music industry. Moreover, he always valued his cultural values as a Mexican. He taught the importance of music and how it brought together cultures, religions, and people from around the world. Although, Latin and America are like completely different worlds, I am surprised to see how people from both cultures have teamed up in the name of music. What is interesting is that even after political issues and different hurdles, musicians still made efforts to bridge the gap of caste, racism and cultural difference.

Work Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY (n.d.). https://www.pbs.org/video/latin-music-usa-hour-1-bridges/.