LA on Music Theory Print

Ladishah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Ladishah genre originally emerged as a popular lyrics narrating with a combination of situational ballad, humorous and melody tone in Jammu and Kashmir princely state around eighteenth or nineteenth century. It has its roots in the culture of Kashmir written and narrated by the same entertainer. Literary associated with Kashmiri literature, it was initially used to criticise the rulers engaged in human rights abuse. Some local people believe that ladishah songs were used to be sung during the harvest season particularly exercised by nomads to get food in return. Over the times with modern music revolution, the genre became less popular or almost unknown to the people, and subsequently it declined due to Kashmir conflict, a war that triggered unrest since the military conflict started in the region.

Laïko

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rebetiko and elafro tragoudi#

Until the 1930s the Greek discography was dominated by two musical genres: the Greek folk music demotica and the elaphro tragoudi. The latter was represented by ensembles of singers/musicians or solo artists like Attik and Nikos Gounaris. It was the Greek version of the international popular music of the era. In the 1930s the first rebetiko recordings had a massive impact on Greek music. Markos Vamvakaris stated that they “were the first to record laïka songs”. In the years to follow this type of music, the first form of what is now called laïko tragoudi, became the mainstream Greek music.

Lambada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Maxixe#

The association of Lambada and the idea of ‘dirty dancing’ became quite extensive. The appellative “forbidden dance” was and is often ascribed to the Lambada. This was largely due to its links to Maxixe, a dance of the early 1920s, because of its spicy lyrics and close contact with the dance partner. This idea was further perpetuated by the 1990 movies Lambada and The Forbidden Dance, and the short skirts, typical for the Lambada dance, that were in fashion around 1988. Lambada has many links with Maxixe and also with Forro. They have many figures in common. For example: *Balão apagado, a figure in which the lady rotates her head while it hangs loose. *Peão (also called boneca or toy doll), a figure in which the lady swings her head from side to side.

Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

England#

Thomas Tallis set the first lesson, and second lesson, of Tenebrae on Maundy Thursday between 1560, and 1569: “when the practice of making musical settings of the Holy Week readings from the Book of Jeremiah enjoyed a brief and distinguished flowering in England (the practice had developed on the continent during the early 15th century)”. The lessons are drawn from Lamentations (Lam. 1, vv.1-2, and Lam. 1, vv.3-5). These famous and notably expressive settings are both a 5 for ATTBB and employ a sophisticatedly imitative texture. Tallis like many other composers included the following text: * the announcements Incipit Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae (“Here begins the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet”), and De Lamentatione Ieremiae Prophetae (“From the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet”); * the Hebrew letters ALEPH, BETH, GIMEL, DALETH, and HE, that headed each verse in the Vulgate; and, * the concluding refrain Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God”). Tallis’s inclusion of the refrain emphasises the sombre and melancholy effect of the music. The Latin Vulgate Bible of Tallis’s day considered the Hebrew letters integral to the text, although most English translations of the Bible omit them. The Vulgate indicates ‘He’ for verse 5 facti sunt hostes, and Heth for verse 8 peccatum peccavit Hierusalem; the Maundy Thursday Tenebrae lessons do not go as far as verse 8; but the use of ‘Heth’ for verse 5 by Tallis may indicate only its inclusion in contemporary liturgy. Tallis’s settings happen to use successive verses, but the pieces are in fact independent even though performers generally sing both settings together. Composers have been free to use whatever verses they wish, since the liturgical role of the text is somewhat loose; this accounts for the wide variety of texts that appear in these pieces. William Byrd’s early setting of 1563 is rarely performed despite his later popularity and importance. A voice part is missing from the majority of the work as found in the only copy of the lost original manuscript and so performance editions require substantial reconstruction. Robert White (1538-1574), a Catholic composer from East Anglia, set the Lamentations twice: a 5, and a 6. Another English setting of the Renaissance is that by Osbert Parsley (1511-1585).

Landfill indie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The Guardian defined the traits of landfill indie bands as having “angular, jangly guitars plus big riffs plus amusingly pretentious lyricism”. Reynolds later professed his belief that " n one of the groups could honestly be described as pointing the way to any kind of future; there was little about them that would have been incomprehensible to, say, a Smiths fan in 1985". However, publications like the NME championed many landfill bands at the time by frequently placing them on the front page. Metro Magazine later claimed that the 2000s landfill indie era was a time when “the NME ruled a new saviour of rock music seemingly every week.” Vice magazine dexcribed Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell as the “one man who defined, embodied and lived Landfill Indie” due to his forming of a “spectacularly middle-of-the-road” band, despite his close proximity to the Libertines.

Lao music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Khene#

The Khene () is the instrument most identified with Laotian music. A national proverb says that “a person living under a stilted house, eating sticky rice, listening to any music related to Lam () or Morlam, and playing the Khene is likely to be Lao or associated with Lao people.” Khenes are made from a special kind of bamboo. It looks slightly Andean in appearance with its sets of bamboo and reed pipes of various lengths, which are strapped together, and then blown into by the player. It can be played solo as in traditional Lao music or in combination with other musical instruments to accompany modern songs.

Lao pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Lao pop music started forming itself in the late 1980s, when Laos started benefiting from an economic growth that has lasted till nowadays. Before the reforms implemented by the government, the entertainment industry was completely limited due to the tight censorship and the widespread poverty, which prevented the music scene from flourishing. From the 1970s to the late 1980s, the strictly patriotic songs, sponsored by the communist government, and the traditional Mor Lam genre were the only genres available to listen. At the start of the 1990s, the Lao music scene started transformating. The first private music labels started emerging in Vientiane, the capital city, and some live music pubs appeared. However, these labels, at first, were financially weak and had a very limited capacity to promote their artists. Although at first the traditional Lao music, was still the most popular genre, the foreign influence of Korean K-Pop music, Japanese J-Pop music, and the pop music made in the neighbouring Thailand started being felt, not only in the fashion trends, but also in the local musical scene. From the start of the 2000s, Lao pop saw a dramatic increase of popularity due to the growing strength of the mainly Vientiane based music labels such as Lao-Pride Records, KPY Entertainment, Indee Records and Muanson Media. Lao pop gained local and international spotlight through Alexandra Bounxouei, who is considered to be the first Lao pop princess. Other Lao artists popular with the younger generation include Cells, L.O.G, Overdance, Princess, Caramel, Pull-T Club, Super One, Genii, Xtreme, Dozo, Tik Keoprasert, MAY, Annita, and Aluna. From the mid-2000s, Lao Pop started benefiting itself from the growing number of musical events held in the country. For example, in 2008, was held from first time, the first edition of the Lao Music Awards, which was broadcast live by the Lao National Television. In this event, the most outstanding Lao Pop, rock and Mor Lam singers are awarded in its different categories. Since then on, this gala has been held almost annually in the National Cultural Hall of Vientiane. Apart from this event, other kinds of shows also encouraged the growth of the local music scene. Lao pop today embraces a wide variety of styles that are mainly based in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. There are also a number of Lao artists from Luang Prabang, Laos.

Latin alternative

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Rock music has been produced in Iberian America since the late 1950s. Some rock bands started to use unusual instruments such as maracas and quenas. In the late 1960s, artists like Santana started using a different technique to make rock music; by incorporating influences of Latin jazz. Its sound was incorporated by young Latino-players in the US, as an answer to the rock en Español movement in Americas and Spain led by bands like Héroes del Silencio, Caifanes or Los Prisioneros. In the early 1990s, it was used by Mexican bands such as Maldita Vecindad and Café Tacuba, they were accepted on the Latino circuit in the US, especially by the Mexican community. Subsequently, experimental musician Lynda Thomas earned recognition and commercial success with alternative music in the same decade. With the passage of time and many musical styles in the US-Latin, Latin alternative has become as diverse as the rock music genre itself. Today, many music journalists and fans regard Latin alternative as a subgenre of rock en Español, and like rock en Español, it may be further divided into more specific genres of music.

Latin ballad

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin and evolution#

Music fans can find roots of “Ballads” in pre-war years. Blues and jazz in the United States underwent transformations that were brewing since the 1930s and 1940s and that led to the origin of new rhythms. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich’s “Lili Marleen” and Dooley Wilson’s “As Time Goes By” were examples of early Ballad singers. Rock and roll in the mid-1950s transforms contemporary types of music in terms of how to sing them and instrumentation, which includes electric instruments in addition to the traditional balladism. Ballads spread in the acetates records and in American cinema to the world also influencing. One of the main diffusers was Elvis Presley, when he diversified his music, in addition to rock and roll, cultivating the new ballad, influencing the romantic Sentimental ballad of the late decade (led by Paul Anka “You are my Destiny”,1958, “Put your Head on my Shoulder”,1959, and Neil Sedaka ). Postwar years 1950s, Latin America, Europe and the other continents received American musical influence and produced reissues of American ballads with new lyrics in native languages for more than a decade. Trio Los Panchos gained latin ballad hits such as “Besame Mucho”, “Sabor a Mí”, “Solamente Una Vez”, and “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas”. The Latin or romantic ballad has its origin in the Latin American bolero in the 1950s (Lucho Gatica, Leo Marini), but also in the romantic song in Italian (Domenico Modugno) and French (Charles Aznavour, George Mustaki) in the 1960s and 1970s. In Mexico, the ballad recorded as such is “Sonata de Amor” (Sonata of Love) of Mario Álvarez in 1961. In 1965 the famous bolero singer-songwriter Armando Manzanero, sang his ballad, “Pobres besos míos” (My Poor Kisses). Latin ballad was popular during the 1970s in Latin America, where artists such as Mocedades, Emmanuel, Julio Iglesias, José José, José Luis Rodriguez, Camilo Sesto, Raphael, Roberto Carlos, Rocío Dúrcal and others released hits. The main hits of Mocedades “Eres Tú”, José José were “El triste” (The Sad One), “La nave del olvido” (The Ship of Forgetfullness), “Te extraño” (I Miss You, also written by Manzanero), “Amar y querer” (To love and To want). By Roberto Carlos(singer) the songs “Amigos” (Friends) or “Detalles” (Details). By Camilo Sesto the hits “Algo de Mí” (Something from Me), “Perdóname” (Forgive Me), “Si Tú Te Vas” (If you leave), “Melina”, “Jamás” (Never), “Todo por Nada” (All for Nothing), “Fresa Salvaje” (Wild Strawberry) . Rocío Dúrcal enjoyed Latin America success and was known as “La Dama de la canción” (The Lady of Song). These songs gained hit in Latin America. The heyday of the ballad was romantic in the 1980s, where artists such as Julio Iglesias, Amanda Miguel, Ricardo Montaner, Diego Verdaguer and others released a big number of hits. The main hits of Julio Iglesias “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”, Amanda Miguel were “Así no te amará jamás” (This Way He Will Never Love You), by 1984 among many others that were released in Los Angeles. These songs are widely known today in Southern California. In the course of their existence the genre merged with diverse rhythms to form several variants, such as romantic salsa and cumbia aside others. From the 1990s, globalization and media internationalization processes that integrated contributed to the ballad’s spread international spread and further homogenize around a common Latin identity. As part of the Latin Americanization of the United States and the dominant presence in the genre of multinational record labels, Miami has become the main producer of ballads which in turn has fed back trends of migration of Latino and Hispanic performers, producers and musicians to that city. By the turn of the 2010s however, Latin ballads have begun to lose popularity as uptempo Latin genres such as bachata, reggaeton, and Spanish-language electropop music have gained popularity with the Hispanic audience in the radio.

Latin Christian music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Latin American artists#

Notable artists include Brazilian singers Ana Paula Valadão and Aline Barros http://www.billboard.com/artist/278612/aline-barros/chart , Panamanian musician Santiago Stevenson (d. 2007), Jaime Murrell, Luis “Funky” Marrero, Puerto Rican rapper in the genre of hip-hop, reggaeton, and Christian contemporary music, Willy Redimi2 González Dominican rapper in Latin hip-hop, trap, and Christian contemporary music, Venezuelan pop singer José Luis Rodríguez, Daniel Calveti and Christian Sebastia, Mexican singers/pastors Jesús Adrián Romero, Marcos Witt, and Armando Flores, and singers Alejandro Alonso (musician), Marco Barrientos, Ecuador’s Paulina Aguirre, Salvadorian Álvaro Torres, Colombia’s Alex Campos and Ericson Molano, and Mexican band Rojo. Other artists include Samuel Hernández, Roberto Orellana, Annette Moreno, and Christian singers like Daniela G Mangrum.

Latin hip-hop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

West Coast#

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, most Latin rap came from New York and the West Coast of the United States. Due to the heaviest Puerto Rican migration to New York City in the ’50s, during the ’70s, the birth of Latin Hip-Hop involved Hispanic from the Caribbean island. Early hip-hop from the United States had a significant influence on early Puerto Rican hip-hop pioneers such as Ruben DJ, DJ Negro, and Vico-C. Mellow Man Ace, from Cuba, was the first Hispanic artist to have a major bilingual single, the 1989 track “Mentirosa”. This song went platinum, leading Mellow Man Ace to be described as the “Godfather of Latin rap” and inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame inductee. In 1990, fellow West Coast artist Kid Frost further brought Hispanics to the rap forefront with his hit song “La Raza”. In 1991, Kid Frost, Mellow Man, A.L.T. and several other Latin rappers formed the rap super group Latin Alliance and released a self-titled album which featured the hit “Lowrider (On the Boulevard)”. The remake of the song Tequila was an A.L.T. hit later that year. Cypress Hill, of which Mellow Man Ace was a member before going solo, would become the first Hispanic rap group to reach platinum status in 1991. The group was also the first major hip-hop music group to include Spanish and Latin slang in their lyrics. Cypress Hill gained hit “Insane in the Brain”(1993) and Platinum record. Ecuadorian-born American rapper Gerardo received heavy rotation on video and radio for his single Rico Suave. While commercially watered-down, his album enjoyed a status of being one of the first mainstream Spanglish CDs on the market. Johnny J was a multi-platinum songwriter, music producer, and rapper who was perhaps best known for his production on Tupac Shakur’s albums All Eyez on Me and Me Against the World. He also produced the 1990 single Knockin’ Boots for his classmate Candyman’s album Ain’t No Shame in My Game, which eventually went platinum thanks to the single. N2Deep, A Lighter Shade of Brown, Proper Dos, and Slow Pain were popular in Latin rap scene. In the mid-1990s, the success of LA’s Cypress Hill led to additional Latin hip-hop artists finding label support. Delinquent Habits were a horn-sampling trio that found MTV support for their breakout bilingual single “Tres Delinquentes” in 1996. By the early 2000s, two Mexico-born, United States-raised Latin hip-hop acts found success on major labels. LA’s Akwid fused banda with hip-hop on hits like “No Hay Manera” while Milwaukee’s Kinto Sol told tales of Mexican immigrant life over more minimalist beats. Mr.Criminal, Mr.Capone-E, Mr.Knightowl, Ms.Krazie, Charlie Row Campo and Mr.Sancho released Latin and Chicano rap CDs.

Latin house

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

In the second half of the 1980s, some of the pioneers of house music of Latin-American descent gave birth to this genre by releasing house records in Spanish. Early examples include Jesse Velez’s “Girls Out on the Floor” 1985, “Amor Puertorriqueño” by Raz on DJ International and “Break 4 Love” by Raze.

1990s to present#

In the 1990s, a new generation of producers and labels broke into the market. Nervous Records released “Quiero Saber” by the Latin Kings, produced by Todd Terry, as well as “Everything’s All Right” by Arts of Rhythm and “Philly The Blunt” by Trinidad. Strictly Rhythm employed producer Armand van Helden, who released “Pirates of The Caribbean Vol. III”. Songs from the same label include DJ Dero’s “Sube”, The Tribe’s “Go-san-do”, R.A.W.’s “Asuca” produced by Erick Morillo, Rare Arts’ “Boricua Posse”, Escandalo’s “Mas Buena” and Fiasco’s “Las Mujeres” produced by Norty Cotto, Latin Kaos’ “El Bandolero” and “Muevete Mama” and “Sugar Cane” by Afro-Cube. During the same period (1991 -1992), Chicago native Pizarro produced “The Five Tones”, New Perspective EP, “Plastica”, “Caliente” and “Perdoname”. Other producers like Ralphi Rosario and Masters at Work created Latin house classics, for instance Ralphie’s production “Da-Me-Lo” and his remix of Albita’s “No se parece a nada” as well as “Sul Chu Cha” by Rosabel, the Louie Vega and Kenny Gonzales remix of “Sume Sigh Say” by House of Gypsies (Todd Terry), and “Robi Rob’s Boriqua Anthem” by C+C Music Factory. Hybrid experiments were put on the market by the likes of New York’s Proyecto Uno, who combined house and merengue in their LPs Todo el mundo and In da House. Their female counterpart is Lisa M from Puerto Rico, who can be heard on the No lo derrumbes and Flavor of the Latin albums. Another merengue-house record worth of mention is “Así mamacita” by Henry Rivera on Los Angeles Aqua Boogie. Also from Los Angeles we had producer DJ Juanito who released Latin house hits like ‘A Mover la colita’ and ‘Esa Nena Linda". The duo Sandy & Papo are known for their LPs Sandy & Papo and Otra Vez. During the mid-1990s, Cutting broke into the Latin house scene and became the most representative label of this genre. Cutting’s DJ Norty Cotto was deemed the most representative producer of Latin house. Among the various hits are 2 in a Room’s “Las Mujeres”, “Carnival” and “Dar la vuelta”, Fun City’s “Padentro” and “Baila”, Sancocho’s “Tumba la Casa”, “Alcen las manos” and “Que siga el party” (LP) and Los Compadres’ “La Rumba”. Norty Cotto’s mixed compilations also became classics. Fulanito and their LP El hombre mas famoso de la tierra is a combination of house and Latin-American rhythms from that time. El General’s “Muevelo” was another of the tunes of that time remixed to the sounds of Latin house by DJ/producers Pablo Pabanor Ortiz and Erick More Morillo, and Latin House Party 2 in collaboration with producers Rafael Torres, Ray Abraxas and Davidson Ospina. Today many other Latin house artists have emerged to create many successful songs of this genre, and also remixes.

Latin jazz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Spanish tinge”—The Cuban influence in early jazz and proto-Latin jazz#

African American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban musical motifs in the 19th century, when the habanera (Cuban contradanza) gained international popularity. The habanera was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif. The habanera rhythm (also known as congo, tango-congo, or tango ) can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat. Wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans “clave,” although technically, the pattern is only half a clave. “St. Louis Blues” (1914) by W. C. Handy has a habanera-tresillo bass line. Handy noted a reaction to the habanera rhythm included in Will H. Tyler’s “Maori”: “I observed that there was a sudden, proud and graceful reaction to the rhythm…White dancers, as I had observed them, took the number in stride. I began to suspect that there was something Negroid in that beat.” After noting a similar reaction to the same rhythm in “La Paloma”, Handy included this rhythm in his “St. Louis Blues”, the instrumental copy of “Memphis Blues”, the chorus of “Beale Street Blues”, and other compositions. Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo-habanera (which he called the Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz. The habanera rhythm can be heard in his left hand on songs like “The Crave” (1910, recorded 1938). Now in one of my earliest tunes, “New Orleans Blues,” you can notice the Spanish tinge. In fact, if you can’t manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz—Morton (1938: Library of Congress Recording). Although the exact origins of jazz syncopation may never be known, there is evidence that the habanera-tresillo was there at its conception. Buddy Bolden, the first known jazz musician, is credited with creating the big four, a habanera-based pattern. The big four (below) was the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march. As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm. It is probably safe to say that by and large the simpler African rhythmic patterns survived in jazz … because they could be adapted more readily to European rhythmic conceptions. Some survived, others were discarded as the Europeanization progressed. It may also account for the fact that patterns such as tresillo have . . . remained one of the most useful and common syncopated patterns in jazz—Schuller (1968). The Cuban influence is evident in many pre-1940s jazz tunes, but rhythmically, they are all based on single-celled motifs such as tresillo, and not do not contain an overt two-celled, clave-based structure. “Caravan”, written by Juan Tizol and first performed in 1936, is an early proto-Latin jazz composition. Mongo Santamaría recorded ever green “Watermelon Man” in 1962. Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham, and Willie Bobo released latin jazz albums. Willie Bobo fused jazz, latin, and R&B music.

Latin metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

An early mention of the term comes from critic Robert Christgau, who referred to Carlos Santana’s music from the 1970s as “Latin-metal pop,” making it a possible forerunner in the genre. Latin metal started in the 1970s and 1980s, originating in many countries of Latin America, thanks to the increasing worldwide popularity of heavy metal and heavy rock from Europe (obviously including Spain, with bands such as Baron Rojo and Angeles del Infierno singing in Spanish and reaching international success in the 1980s) and United States, with Argentina having an important scene as well (Rata Blanca, V8). It may also have profited from the “Latin explosion” in the United States of the 1990s, though some critics contend that the gap between Ricky Martin-style pop and metal is too great for Latin metal to have profited greatly. Still, record companies in the 1990s sought to profit from the rise of Latin pop, as evidenced from the Metalo compilation of Latin metal bands by the Grita! Records label, which included songs by Ill Niño and Puya, and bands from the 1990s such as Sepultura and Soulfly are cited as predecessors in the genre. In the United States, Ill Niño is probably the best-known exponent of the genre; their first two albums (with “philosophical and bilingual lyrics” about such topics as growing up fatherless) were commercially successful and got them strong radio play in for instance the San Antonio area.

Latin music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terminology and categorization#

Because the majority of Latino immigrants living in New York City in the 1950s were of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent, “Latin music” had been stereotyped as music simply originating from the Spanish Caribbean. The popularization of bossa nova and Herb Alpert’s Mexican-influenced sounds in the 1960s did little to change the perceived image of Latin music. In 1969, the first international organization which attempted to define Latin music was the Festival Mundial de la Canción Latina which included Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian-speaking countries across Latin America and Europe. However, the event only lasted for two years. Since then, the music industry classifies all music sung in Spanish or Portuguese as Latin music, including musics from Spain and Portugal. Enrique Fernandez wrote in Billboard that the lone category for Latin music meant that all Latin music genres had to compete with each other despite the distinct sounds of the genre. He also noted that the accolade was usually given to performers of tropical music. Eight years later, the organization debuted three new categories for Latin music: Best Latin Pop Performance, Best Mexican/Mexican-American Performance, and Best Tropical Latin Performance. Latin pop is a catch-all for any pop music sung in Spanish, while Mexican/Mexican-American (also to referred to as Regional Mexican) is defined as any musical style originating from Mexico or influences by its immigrants in the United States including Tejano, and tropical music is any music from the Spanish Caribbean. In 1997, NARAS established the Latin Recording Academy (LARAS) in an effort to expand its operations in both Latin America and Spain. In September 2000, LARAS launched the Latin Grammy Awards, a separate award ceremony from the Grammy Awards. Its organizers stated that the Latin music universe was too large to fit within the Grammys. Michael Greene, former head of NARAS, said that the process of creating the Latin Grammy Awards was complicated due to the diverse Latin musical styles, noting that the only thing they had in common was language. As a result, the Latin Grammy Awards are presented to records performed in Spanish or Portuguese, while the organization focuses on music from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. Since the late 1990s, the United States has seen increasing growth in its population of “Latinos”, a term popularized since the 1960s due to confusing the wrong term “Spanish” with the more proper but less popular term “Hispanic”. The music industry in the United States began to refer to any kind of music featuring Spanish vocals as “Latin music”. Under this definition, Spanish sung in any genre is categorized as “Latin”. In turn, this has led to artists from Spain being labelled as “Latin” because they sing in the same language. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Billboard magazine use this definition of Latin music to track sales of Spanish-language records in the United States. Billboard however considers an artist to be “Latin” if they perform in Spanish or Portuguese. The RIAA initiated the “Los Premios de Oro y Platino” (“The Gold and Platinum Awards” in Spanish) in 2000 to certify sales of Latin music albums and singles under a different threshold than its standard certifications. Billboard divides its Latin music charts into three subcategories: Latin pop, Regional Mexican, and tropical. A fourth subcategory was added in the mid 2000s to address the rise of Latin urban music genres such as Latin hip hop and reggaeton.

Latin music in Canada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Canadian Latin music#

The Latin music scene in Canada began with the immigration of Hispanic people in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Vancouver. Because of the large immigration move to these cities, Billboard magazine called this a “huge potential” for the popularity of Latin music in Canada. Since at least 1999, Hispanic artists have gained popularity at nightclubs, radio airplay, festivals, and TV appearances. The quintet band took part in the Rhythms of the World Festival and the International Merengue Festival held in Montreal. The band’s debut album in 2006 earned them a Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year. Randy Lennox of Universal Music Canada informed Billboard that they would be treating the release of Mi Plan as a “major release” similar to the marketing strategy used with Furtado’s English-language albums.

Latin pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Latin pop first reached a global audience through the work of bandleader Sergio Mendes in the mid-1960s, although artists like Carmen Miranda popularized Latin samba music in Hollywood decades before this. In later decades, it was defined by the romantic ballads that legendary artists such as Julio Iglesias or Roberto Carlos produced in the 1970s. Latin pop is one of the most popular Latin music genres today. Popular artists include Los del Río, Jennifer Lopez, Alejandro Sanz, Thalía, Luis Miguel, Selena, Paulina Rubio, Shakira, Carlos Vives, Ricky Martin, Gloria Trevi and Enrique Iglesias. Ricky Martin is considered to be the King of Latin Pop.

Latin R&B

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Vocals include a majority of singing and occasionally rapping, in Spanish. The lyrics in Latin R&B are often about sadness, heartbreak, and sex.

History#

Latin R&B can trace its roots to Latin pop songs with an American R&B and new jack swing influence, such as the Selena and Barrio Boyzz song “Donde Quiera Que Estés” released in 1994. According to Rolling Stone, Spanish-language singles by Álex Rose, Rauw Alejandro and Paloma Mami, which borrow from R&B, reached a global audience. and most notably Sech’s “Otro Trago”, which peaked in number one in Spain, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. In the United States, “Otro Trago” reached the top of the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and peaked at No. 34 in the Hot 100.

Latin rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins (1950s–1960s)#

Rock and roll music of the 1950s originated from a variety of sources including rhythm and blues, blues, gospel, country, bluegrass, western swing, and Tin Pan Alley pop music. Also, there was some influence of the traditional Latin music. Caribbean rhythms like calypso were used in surf music; and there were some rock and roll songs based on cha-cha-chá or mambo. Latin rock was born in the United States during the late 1950s, though the term was not yet created. In 1958 an adaptation of a Mexican folk song called “La Bamba” was recorded by the Chicano rock artist Ritchie Valens. That same year, instrumental rock band the Champs released “Tequila”, a song that incorporates clear Latin sounds and was composed by the band’s chicano saxophonist Danny Flores). During the 1960s, there were more examples of rock artists like Thee Midniters, Question Mark & the Mysterians, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs or Sir Douglas Quintet that included Latin rhythms on their compositions. Also Chicano rock became popular in California; although not all of these can be considered early Latin rock artists since many of them lacked the Latin folk influences. In some Latin American countries, Latin rock started to develop as well. In Peru, Colombia, Argentina, but specially Brazil where Tropicália appeared in the mid-1960s with the first releases of Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso from 1967 to 1970, a music movement that merged rock music with bossa nova, psychedelia and other Latin elements, and this can be regarded as the main root of the genre.

Latin trap

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Latin trap is a subgenre of Latin hip hop, generally taking influence from Southern hip hop, Hip-Hop in general, and possibly influenced by Sound Cloud rap as well as already established Puerto Rican genres like reggaeton and Urbano music. Vocals include a bend of rapping and singing using synthesizers and autotune in Spanish or in Spanglish, while still maintaining the trap style sonic circuitry. The lyrics in Latin trap are often about street life, violence, sex, drugs, and people who pride themselves in living on the other side of the law.

Lauda (song)

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Origin and spread of the lauda#

Originally, the lauda was a monophonic (single-voice) form, but a polyphonic type developed in the early fifteenth century. The early lauda was probably influenced by the music of the troubadours, since it shows similarities in rhythm, melodic style, and especially notation. Many troubadours had fled their original homelands, such as Provence, during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century, and settled in northern Italy, where their music was influential in the development of the Italian secular style. A monophonic form of the lauda spread widely throughout Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries as the music of the flagellants; this form was known as the Geisslerlied, and picked up the vernacular language in each country it affected, including Germany, Poland, England and Scandinavia. After 1480, the singing of laude was extremely popular in Florence, since the monk Savonarola (and others) had prohibited the dissemination of any other style of sacred vernacular music. Many of Josquin’s motets and masses are based on melodies he heard in laude during his sojourns in Italy around this time. Laude had a resurgence of popularity again at the time of the Counter-Reformation, since one of the musical goals of the Council of Trent was to increase the intelligibility of text, and the simple, easily understood laude provided an ideal example. The significance of the lauda diminished as the oratorio evolved. However, tunes and lyrics continued to influence later music.

Lăutărească music

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Lăutărească and traditional pastoral music#

Romanian traditional music consists of two major branches: professional lăutărească music and traditional pastoral music. Traditional pastoral music is characterized by instrumental pieces in a tempo rubato, primarily performed on wind instruments such as the tilincă, fluier, caval, bucium, and others. The vocal repertoire includes the doinas, bocets (funeral songs), and colinde. This tradition is primarily preserved by shepherds, but also by other peasants, for whom music is an integral part of their daily life and domestic culture. It is typically performed in a domestic setting or at small gatherings, rather than at festive events. The repertoire is usually limited to a few melodies. Instruments are typically handmade and may vary in design, while ensemble performances are very rare. Lăutărească music is performed by professional musicians, known as lăutari, who are predominantly of Romani origin, although musicians from other ethnic groups are also present. Moldovan prince and scholar Dimitri Cantemir described wedding traditions in 18th-century Moldova, noting: “they invite musicians, who are scarcely ever not Gypsies”. Similar patterns were observed in Wallachia, though in Bukovina, Banat, Maramureș, and Transylvania, Romanian musicians played a more prominent role. According to Romanian ethnomusicologist Speranța Rădulescu, approximately 80% of Romanian lăutari are of Romani origin. Lăutari earn a living by playing at weddings, christenings, and funerals in both Romanian and Romani communities, playing a crucial role as intermediaries in ritual processes. They typically perform as part of musical ensembles known as tarafs and use more complex instruments compared to traditional pastoral musicians. Tarafs predominantly feature string instruments, including the violin, cobza, cimbalom, and double bass, along with wind instruments such as the nai and cimpoi. In the 20th century, the accordion also became a key instrument. In Moldova, brass bands () are also popular among lăutari, with notable examples such as . There is no strict stylistic boundary between the two branches of Romanian traditional music. Lăutari, for example, often incorporate shepherd melodies into their repertoire. The officially promoted folk music, broadcast on television and radio, represents a formalized and adapted version of both traditions.

Lavani

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History Vocabulary#

According to a tradition, the word Lavani is derived from the word ’ Lavanya which means ‘beauty’.

Origin#

Lavani dance originated from Maharashtra in the 18th and 19th century. Lavani dancers were patronised by Maratha Lords and Kings. Lavani dance was generally performed by Dhangars or Shepherd living in Solapur, Maharashtra.

History and genres#

Traditionally, this genre of folk dance deals with different and varied subject matters such as society, religion and politics. The songs in ‘Lavani’ are mostly emotional in sentiment and the dialogues tend to be pungent in socio-political satire. Originally, it was used as a form of entertainment and morale booster to the tired soldiers. Lavani Songs, which are sung along with dance, are usually naughty and erotic in nature. It is believed their origin is in the Prakrit Gathas collected by Hala. The Nirguni Lavani (philosophical) and the Shringari Lavani (sensual) are the two types. The devotional music of the Nirguni sect is popular all over Malwa. Lavani developed into two distinct performances, namely Phadachi Lavani and Baithakichi Lavani. The Lavani sung and enacted in a public performance before a large audience in a theatrical atmosphere is called Phadachi Lavani and all the Tamasha Troupe (phad) in Maharashtra present it as one of its main sections. Lavani poet Bashir Momin Kavathekar had written Lavani’s extensively for Tamasha Troups of Maharashtra during the late twentieth century. When the Lavani is sung in a closed chamber for a private and select audience by a girl sitting before the audience, it came to be known as Baithakichi Lavani. It is a kind of Mujra strictly performed for men and away from the village with no access for ladies or families to watch. The songs were written in sexually explicit double meaning.

Lazgi

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International recognition#

Lazgi was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the name “Khorezm dance – lazgi” on December 13, 2019. The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a decree on September 28, 2020, on organizing and holding the “Lazgi” International Dance Festival. According to the decree, the “Lazgi” International Dance Festival will be held every two years from 2022 in Khiva city on April 25–30. The documentary film “Lazgi” by Ixtiyor Baxtiyorov, which depicts the beauty and history of the dance, has been awarded as the “Best Documentary Film on Dance” at several international festivals, such as “Art Stream”, “Fifflondon”, “Blackboards”, “Lift-Off Season Awards”, and “IFFT”.