Afro-Latin and Popular Music

Listen to the song titled “ I Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down.”

What is the song all about?

What did you feel while listening and singing the song?
What can you say about African-American music?
• From the early 16th century to the late 19th century, slaves from
the continent of Africa were brought to the Americas.
• The enslaved people came from different African indigenous
groups, and they brought with them their music and instruments.
• Music became their expression amidst the hardships of work.
• It was one way by which they could lighten the pain of being
slaves, work with each other effectively, and communicate with
each other creatively and secretly.
• Eventually, the music of African-American helped shape America’s culture and identity.
• Today, African-American music has influenced the genres of American music and has become what is
uniquely American.
• The African slaves brought with them the banshaw in the 17th century. This is what is known today
as the banjo.
• While in America, the slaves created drums and percussion instruments, which they used to
accompany their singing.
• Their American masters eventually discovered that the slaves used these instruments to secretly
communicate with one another. Thus, these instruments were then prohibited in their workplaces.
• The music that developed while working on plantations in the southern region was called holler
songs or work songs.
• These songs followed a “a call and response” sequence, which is similar to antiphonal singing used
in sacred music.
• These work songs were secular in nature and expressed the hardships of the slaves and their hope
for a better future.

Negro Spiritual
• These songs expressed the hardships of the slaves and their longing for freedom (both spiritual and
physical), for their safety, and for relief as they perform difficult tasks.
• Negro spirituals as we call them today, use biblical, metaphors to express enslavement.
• These songs also serve to give them hope and eventually life may improve for them.
• It was in the 1900s that spirituals became part of the American music repertoire.
Listen to this example of a Negro Spiritual entitled “Hold On.”
• Composers set these spirituals to choral versions and accompanied songs to preserve this genre of
black music.
Ragtime
• Black musicians during the 19th century would call
syncopated rhythms as a way of “ragging” a tune.
• Syncopations were done on instruments as they
were used; eventually, syncopation referred to
the piano music that we call today as ragtime.
• Ragtime’s basic character is its syncopated
rhythm. This became popular during the late 19th
century till the first decade of the 20th century
Scott Joplin composed the “Maple Leaf Rag” around
1899, which became one of the first ragtime hits.
Blues
• The blues are considered one of the
simplest musical genres that evolved
from the music of black or African-
Americans.
• Blues require flexibility and a high
level of improvisation in their
performance.
• Basically, blues music is structured on
three main chords (1) tonic, (2)
subdominant, and (3) dominant triads
with its minor seventh included to
form the chord.

• As mentioned, blues require a high level of improvisation. Thus, singers would create their own
trademark by making vocal scoops and slurs.
Jazz

• Jazz began in New Orleans during the late

19th century
• Jazz has been acknowledged as the most
creative and complex genre of music
America has produced.
• It combines the traditional black sound of
New Orleans and the characteristics of
the blues.
• Jazz is very dynamic, as it constantly
evolves and develops into new subgenres.
• In jazz music, the performer becomes the composer as his or her musical spontaneity creates an
entirely unique musical experience, even if the piece has been played several times by different
musicians.
• Jazz music possesses the ability to be unique in its every performance.
• There are quite a number of jazz subgenres, but this lesson focuses on the popular early types,
which have become the foundation of the different types of modern jazz that we know today.
Dixieland

• One of the early forms of jazz, Dixieland

started in the early 1920s in New Orleans.

• Dixieland is a combination of the

traditions of blues, ragtime, and brass
band.

• Dixieland is often played on a band with

trumpet cornet, trombone, clarinet,
saxophone, banjo, piano, string bass, and
drums.

• Dixieland music is usually instrumental in nature, though it began to integrate vocals as it evolved
through the years.

• Two of the most prominent Dixieland performers are jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and pianist
Jelly Roll Morton.
Big Band

• Following the steps of Dixieland is the big band,

another jazz subgenre, which saw its rise in the
1920s.

• Big band is composed of 10 or more players with

basically the same instrumentation as that of
Dixieland.

• Big bands specialized in swing music, a highly

danceable music type that became famous until
the 1940s.

• The subgenre’s prominent musicians are Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Paul Whiteman
Bebop
• Big band was followed by bebop in the 1940s.
• A bebop group was relatively small, as compared to the
big bands of the 1920s, with just four to six musicians.
• Bebop is characterized by complex melodies and chord
progressions.
• Unlike big band music, bebop is not suitable for dancing.

• Bebop also give rise to “scatting” – a style of singing

that uses syllables sung to improvised melodies.

• From bebop, the following subgenres followed: boogie-woogie, rock and roll, rock, disco, rap, and
techno.
• The influence of African-American music in American culture is indeed extensive and has gone far
from where it has started and techno.

• The influence of African-American music in American culture is indeed extensive and has gone far
from where it has started.
Lesson 2: The Music of Latin America and Its Rhythm
What id your impression about the types
of music shown in the video?
How did you feel about the rhythm and
the beat?
In your own opinion, what is the skill level
needed to play Latin American music?

• Latin American music has its roots from

their forefathers .
• Music was used for ceremonies and
rituals.

• The areito, for example, is a music and dance ceremony done in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and
Puerto Rico.
• It includes chants in call and response accompanied by the idiophone scraper guiro and the
idiophone slit drum mayohuacan.
• The influences of Spain and Portugal manifested in the sacred and secular music of Latin American
countries that they colonized.
Cumbia

• It is known to have originated from

Colombia in the 1880s.

• Originally, cumbia music is made of flutes

(gaitas), maracas, claves, and drums. As it
evolved into band music, guitars, clave,
accordions, and other instruments were
integrated into the music.

• Cumbia dance has a “windup” motion as its

basic character and is performed in a
circular motion.

• The “sleepy leg,” a cumbia step, mimics the walking motion of enslaved people with a ball chain
attached to one leg. The “sleepy leg” step is often used as part of a Zumba dance fitness routines,
which originally was created by Alberto Perez, a Colombian himself.
Tango
• Tango, which originated from Argentina, is an
interpretative, sensitive, and improvisational social
dance that allows its dancers to connect themselves
to the music, their partners, and their surroundings.
• There are two basic types of tango – (1) Salon tango,
which is done in big places as its movements would
require, (2) Milonguero tango, which is an intimately
danced version usually performed in small places such
as cafes and crowded dance floors.

Cha-cha
• Is a ballroom style dance that originated from Cuba.
• Its music is said to have originated from composer
Enrique Jorrin, in the 1950s, while being a performer
of the Orquestra America.
• Cha-cha music is characterized by a strong downbeat
with lesser syncopation, which became popular with
dancers during that time.
 Rumba
• Rumba began in the second half of the 19th century, when Afro-
Cuban workers in Havana and Matanzas in Cuba began to develop a
new style that we now refer to as rumba.
• In the 1920s, the dance began to appear in the United States using
big band music.
• Rumba is said to have originated as a sex pantomime; exaggerated
and aggressive hip and body movements of the male dancer became
integrated into it.
• Accompanying music instruments include the idiophones, maracas,
claves, and drums.

Bossa Nova
• Bossa Nova, roughly translated, means “new beat.” It originated in
Brazil during the 1950s.
• Antonio Carlos Jobim together with lyricist Vinicius de Moraes and
singer Joao Gilberto recorded “Chega de saudade” in 1958. This is
said to be the first bossa nova music recording.
• Bossa nova is characterized by rhythm and melodies from
Brazil and improvisation that expresses a refreshingly light and
relaxing music with unique Latin American rhythmic feel.
Reggae
• Reggae originated from Jamaica in the 1960s and is one of today’s
popular music genres.
• Reggae is based on an earlier Jamaican music form, the ska, and is
performed by drums doing a heavy rhythm pattern, base guitar,
electric guitar, and scarper.
• It is widely known that reggae is the music of the gangster culture.
Note that reggae developed together with global hippie culture of
that decade.
• Jamaican composer and songwriter Bob Marley achieved
international fame with his reggae music.
Foxtrot
• Foxtrot is a dance that originated from New York in the U.S.,
was introduced by Harry Fox. He was doing trotting steps set
to ragtime music, and the audience from then on referred to
his performance as “Fox’s trot.”
• Foxtrot is a smooth dance with long walking movements.

• The foxtrot started in 1910 and reached full popularity in the

1930s.
Paso Doble

• Paso Doble is a Spanish term that

means “double step”

• It is a genre of light Spanish

music set to binary rhythm and is
believed to be set to 16th
century Spanish dances.

• This music was also used in

bullfights in the 19th century,
serving as entrance music for
bullfighters.

• Thus, the paso doble dance is

patterned after the movements
of a Spanish bullfight.
Lesson 3: Popular Music

What do you think makes a particular genre of music popular?

Do you agree that sound recording is a big factor as to why music became popular? Explain.
What is your personal choice of the most popular genre of music? Why?
v Popular music (or simply, pop music) - is defined as “any commercially oriented music principally
intended to be received and appreciated by a wide audience in literate technology advanced
societies dominated by urban culture.
• Popular music may be compared to folk music in the sense that it is widely accepted, but one
major difference is in the mode of transmission.
• Folk music is passed on from one group or generation to the next through oral tradition, whereas
popular music dissemination is through different modes of technology.
• The main platform of popular music is analog or digital recordings, and passed on the radio,
television, film, and today through online music stores and websites, where music could be
downloaded or played in real time.
• The audience of popular music expanded after the 1920s because of technological developments.
• When vinyl records appeared in the 1930s, phonograph machines became popular in many
households. Radio broadcasting brought popular music to an even wider audience, as anyone with a
transistor radio was able to listen tom a large repertoire of popular music.
• A popular song usually has a hook, a short musical idea that the listener easily remembers.
• The most common structure or form of a popular song would have sections called verse, refrain,
and/or chorus.
Here are the different general classifications of pop music as we have it today.
Ballad
• A ballad is a popular music takes different forms – as sentimental, rock, or pop
– and discuss topics of romance and relationships.
• A ballad may also talk of any aspect of popular culture and the day-to-day life
of a person.
• Usually, it is sung with a slow tempo, the treatment of which would differ,
depending on whether it is pop, rock, or alternative.

Standard
• Standard in popular music are those that were recorded before the
rock and roll years. But in general terms, any piece of pop music,
which has become part of the mainstream pop culture, may be
considered as a standard.
• In the U.S., this period pertains mainly to the 1940s and 1950s,
during the time of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Kole, Tony Bennett, and
Ella Fitsgerald. Likewise, the music of Barbara Streisand, Johnny
Mathis, and Liza Minnelli are considered standards today.
• In the Philippines, we have the OPM standard, with singers and groups such as Freddie Aguilar,
Sharon Cuneta, Celeste Legaspi and APO Hiking Society.
Rock and Roll
• Rock and roll is another American “born”
popular music style
• It was described as a combination of country
music and rhythm and blues (RNB).
• William Allen of WLAC radio station in
Nashville Tennessee created a program, rock
and roll radio,” where hard rhythm and blues
were played.
• The music was widely accepted by suburban
white and black teenagers for its exotic and
illicit character.
• In 1954, Elvis Presley entered the
entertainment scene, eventually epitomizing
American rock and roll.

• For the youth of the decade, rock and roll was a euphemism for sex, and Presley was its icon. Presley is also
credited for being instrumental in merging black and white culture through his music.
• As a form of popular music, rock and roll is characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation,
heavily accented beats, and simple phrase structure. It was the combination of the elements of music from
plantation songs, to ragtime, blues, and jazz that effected the rise of rock and roll.
Disco
• Disco is a dance genre of popular music. It
appeared in the mid-1970s and soared in
popularity until the 1980s.
• Initially, disco music was heard inside
clubs and dance houses, and then
eventually it was heard in mainstream
popular music, radio, television, and film.
• Disco music is characterized by syncopated
electric bass lines and use of synthesizers.
String sections, horns, electric pianos, and
guitars would add a smooth layer to the
overall timbre of disco music.
• Among its more popular stars are Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, KC and The Sunshine band, and the
Bee Gees.
• The music of the Bee Gees was featured in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, which focused on
the disco culture of the 1970s.
Alternative Music
• Alternative music is a genre of popular music that began
with the underground independent music scene of the
1980s, eventually hitting the mainstream in the 1990s.
• The word “alternative” makes it distinct from the rock
music genre in terms of sound, social context, and
historical roots.
• Bands such as R.E.M. and Nirvana represent the genre
of alternative music.
• Originally, alternative music bands go against the
principle of commercialism of mainstream culture.
• Ironically, when alternative music gained popularity and acceptance, alternative music bands also
fell into the same fray.
• This genre is characterized by the extensive use of guitars, power chords, riffs, and effects.
• Lyrics used in song would talk about social concerns such as depression, suicide, and drug use.

The End