UR on Music Theory Print

Urban champeta

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

Evolution of the genre#

The origin of champeta began in the 1970s when commercial boats brought African music to the coast of Cartagena. African rhythms such as the soukous, highlife, mbguanga and other Caribbean rhythms such as the zouk and soca came to the coasts of Colombia. Champeta was created by adapting these rhythms to the urban life of Cartagena, who created an authentic sound of their own based on their life experiences and urban living. Groups have revolutionized champeta during its 30 years of evolution, such as Son Palenque and Anne Zwin, whose contributions made champeta a triumphant rhythm of the Carnaval de Barranquilla in the ’80s. At the beginning of the year 2000, champeta rhythms became widely popular in Colombia, and a new style of champeta named “urban champeta” gave birth to a new wave of artists. The adaptation of urban champeta grew in popularity with hits such as “La Voladora” by El Sayayin, “Busco alguien que me quiera” by El Afinato, “La descontinuada” by Hernan Hernandez and other songs that made a new movement throughout the Colombian Pacific, with artists such as Bomba Estereo, Monsieur Bugalú, Elio Boom, Álvaro El Bárbaro, Mister Black, Dogardisc, Melchor Torres, El Pupy, Charles King, Louis Towers, Kassiba, Oscar William and Rafael Chávez.

Urban contemporary gospel

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

Origins and development#

Protestant hymns and African-American spirituals make up the basic source material for traditional black gospel music, which in turn is the most significant source of urban/contemporary gospel. Urban/contemporary gospel has kept the spiritual focus of the traditional black gospel music, but uses modern musical forms. Urban/contemporary gospel derives primarily from traditional black gospel music, with strong influence from, and strong influence on, many forms of secular pop music. Due to strong racial divisions in 20th century American culture, urban/contemporary gospel developed specifically out of the African-American musical traditions. The equivalent music from white American culture is contemporary Christian music. The color line divides artists with extremely similar musical styles on the basis of their race, and unites artists with divergent styles (such as rap and pop) on the same basis in industry reporting, marketing choices, and awards like the Grammy and Dove awards.

Urban contemporary music

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

Summary#

The term urban contemporary music is heavily associated with African-American music, particularly with R&B in African-American contexts. For Latin Americans, reggaeton and Latin hip hop are considered “Latin urban” due to influence of above mentioned genres. Urban contemporary playlists are dominated by singles by top-selling hip hop and R&B performers. On occasion, an urban contemporary station will play classic soul songs from the 1970s and early 1980s to satisfy the earlier end of the genre. Many urban-formatted radio stations, such as KJLH, KPRS, KMEL, KDAY, KRNB, and WVEE, play gospel music or urban contemporary gospel music on Sundays. Mainstream urban is a branch of urban contemporary, and rhythmic contemporary is also a branch.

Urban Pasifika

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

History#

Māori music, and Māori cultural in general, went through a renaissance in the early 1980s, both in terms of revival of traditional styles and political self identity. Many Māori came to identify with the politics and rhythms of the reggae music of the Caribbean, leading to the development of a distinctly New Zealand reggae style, led by groups such as Herbs and Dread Beat & Blood. In 1983, Māori singer Dalvanius Prime recorded a song, “Poi E”, with kapa haka group Pātea Māori Club combining breakdancing rhythms with traditional Māori music, which became a surprise hit - the biggest hit in Te Reo Māori for 25 years. In the late 1980s, Upper Hutt Posse became the first New Zealand band to record a bilingual rap song, “E Tu”, which combined western pop-rock styles with more obvious Māori influences. A track from the album, “In the Neighbourhood” by Sisters Underground became the first top ten single in the style, gaining it a wide audience in both the New Zealand Pacific and Pākehā communities. Other breakout acts to appear on the album included OMC and Semi MC’s.

Urbano music

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

Origins#

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, most Latin hip-hop came from the United States West Coast. Cuban-American artist Mellow Man Ace was the first Latino artist to have a major bilingual single attached to his 1989 debut. Mellow Man, referred to as the “Godfather of Latin rap” and a Hip Hop Hall of Fame inductee, brought mainstream attention to Spanglish rhyming with his 1989 platinum single “Mentirosa”. In 1990, fellow West Coast artist Kid Frost further brought Latinos to the rap forefront with his single “La Raza”. In 1991, Kid Frost, Mellow Man, A.L.T. and several other Latin rappers formed the rap supergroup Latin Alliance and released a self-titled album which featured the hit “Lowrider (On the Boulevard)”. A.L.T. also scored a hit later that year with his remake of the song “Tequila”. Cypress Hill, of which Mellow Man Ace was a member before going solo, would become the first Latino rap group to reach platinum status in 1991. The group has since continued to release other Gold and Platinum albums. Ecuadorian-born rapper Gerardo received heavy rotation on video and radio for his single “Rico, Suave”. While commercially watered-down, his album enjoyed the 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. Reggae as a musical genre has its origins in Jamaica, and it became popular throughout the 1970s in the black-immigrant communities of the other British West Indies, North America, and Great Britain. Jamaican reggae was embraced in the Spanish-speaking world first in Panama by the descendants of black workers who immigrated to the Isthmus during the construction of the Panama Railroad (mid-19th century), the railways for the banana companies (late 19th century), and the Panama Canal (early 20th century). Prior to the period of construction of the Panama Canal (1904–1915), most of the Afro-Caribbean communities in Panama were of Jamaican descent, but with the construction of the canal these communities grew in diversity with immigrants from other parts of the Caribbean such as Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Trinidad, Dominica, French and British Guyana and other Caribbean Islands. In 1977, a Guyanese immigrant who went by the nickname “Guyana”, along with a local DJ known as “Wassabanga,” introduced for the first time the reggae rhythms in Panama with lyrics in Spanish. Wassabanga’s music, along with later interpreters such as Rastanini and Calito Soul, were perhaps the first remarkable cases of Reggae en Español, and came at a time when many Panamanians were already developing a musical and spiritual bond with the Mecca of reggae music (Kingston, Jamaica) and the music of Bob Marley.

Uruguayan rock

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

1960s: The Beatles and the Uruguayan Invasion#

The Beatles were wildly popular across the world, and many Uruguayan youths began to form their own rock bands. In the mid-1960s, as the British Invasion was peaking in the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, a group of Uruguayan bands broke into the mainstream in Argentina. This cultural phenomenon was called the Uruguayan Invasion, and it continued for several years, as record labels began signing Uruguayan bands to promote them in Argentina. Los Shakers were a group formed in the mid-1960s, as a response to The Beatles, after a group of youngsters had seen A Hard Day’s Night. Although in essence they started as a carbon copy of the Fab Four, Los Shakers became very popular across Latin America and were a big influence on many musicians that followed them. Their second album, Shakers for You (1966) followed the same trend as the Beatles, moving towards psychedelia, but also with original touches, including nods to Bossa Nova, especially with the song Never, Never, a big hit in Brazil, and “probably an inspiration for the Tropicalia movement that arose in Brazilian music at the time.”. File: Los Shakers - Rompan todo (1965).jpg Los Shakers (Break it All)1965. File:Los Mockers by Olga Masa, 1965.jpg Los Mockers 1965 File: LosIracundos.jpg Los Iracundos 1965 File:4052800.jpg Kano y Los Bulldogs Like Los Shakers, the other bands that emerged in Uruguay at this time, did not want to just sound like their British counterparts, but to create a more original sound. Examples include Los Iracundos, Kano y Los Bulldogs, and Los Malditos. Los Mockers are not an example of this, however. Deeply influenced by The Rolling Stones, there “was no trace of any local or regional personality” in their work, although its members where considered talented performers and arrangers.