Latin American music

Latin American music, sometimes simply called Latin music, includes the music of many countries and comes in many varieties, from the simple, rural conjunto music of northern Mexico to the sophisticated habanera of Cuba, from the symphonies of Heitor Villa-Lobos to the simple and moving Andean flute. Music has played an important part in Latin America's turbulent recent history, for example the nueva cancion movement. Latin music is very diverse, with the only truly unifying thread being the use of the Spanish language or, in Brazil, its close cousin the Portuguese language {{ref|language}}.

Related Topics:
Conjunto - Mexico - Habanera - Cuba - Heitor Villa-Lobos - Nueva cancion - Spanish language - Portuguese language

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Latin America can be divided into several musical areas. Andean music, for example, includes the countries of western south America, typically Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile; Central American music includes Belize, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador. Caribbean music includes many Spanish and French-speaking islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Martinique and Guadeloupe, though the Francophone islands are not necessarily considered Latin. Brazil perhaps constitutes its own musical area, both because of its large size and incredible diversity as well as its unique history as a Portuguese colony. Although Spain isn't a part of Latin America, Spanish music (and Portuguese music) and Latin American music strongly cross-fertilized each other, but Latin music also absorbed influences from English and American music, and particularly, African music.

Related Topics:
Musical areas - Andean music - Central American music - Caribbean music - Caribbean Sea - Spain - Latin America - Spanish music - Portuguese music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~