A Latin American Music History Timeline

A Latin American Music History Timeline – This is a blog post about the history of Latin American music. It starts with the early colonial period and ends in the present day.

Pre-Columbian period

Before the Europeans arrived in the Americas, the native people had their own music and musical traditions. The first people in the Americas were the Indigenous people, who came from Siberia. They migrated to the Americas through the Bering Strait. The music of the Indigenous people was mostly vocal and used drums, flutes, and rattles.

Mesoamerican ballgame

The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played since 1400 BC by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a newer more modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the indigenous people in Mexico.

The rules of the game are not known, but it seems to have been similar to racquetball or volleyball, with teams hitting a ball back and forth over a net. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lb), and the game could be played with one or two players on each team.

There is evidence that some games were played to settle disputes between villages or clans. The loser would sometimes be sacrificed to the gods.

The game was believed to have mystical and religious significance, and some scholars have suggested that it was used as a form of divination or prophecy.

Conquest and colonization

The history of Latin American music can be divided into three major periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, and post-colonial. The first period, pre-Columbian, refers to the music of the indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to the arrival of Europeans. The second period, colonial, encompasses the music of the colonial era, when Europeans began to settle in the Americas. The third period, post-colonial, encompasses the music of the post-colonial era, from the independence of Latin American nations to the present day.

European music in the New World

The first European music in the New World was brought to Mexico by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1519. Hernando Cortez and his men brought their own instruments and music with them when they invaded the country, and they also introduced new instruments to the native population. The guitars, violins, and other stringed instruments quickly became popular among the Mexicans, and they began to play a significant role in Mexican music.

The next wave of European music came with the colonization of Latin America in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The Spanish and Portuguese colonists brought their own music with them, and it quickly began to mix with the existing Mexican styles. This led to the development of new genres like canciones (songs) and villancicos (folk songs).

During this time, African slaves were also brought to Latin America, and their music began to mixing with that of the Europeans and Native Americans. This created even more new genres of music, including Afro-Brazilian styles like samba and bossa nova.

Today, Latin American music is a huge melting pot of styles from all over the world. You can hear elements of European, African, Indigenous, and even Asian music in many modern Latin American songs.

Independence movements

In the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte of France conquered Spain and placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. This placed all of Spain’s colonies under French control. The Napoleonic Wars eventually ended in 1815, but Spain’s colonies remained under French rule.

Republican period

The Republican period in Latin America began in the early 1800s and ended around 1930.

It was characterized by independence movements, civil wars, and constitutions. Large parts of Spanish America and Brazil became republics during this time period.

During the Republican period, two new genres of Latin American music emerged: the tango and the Mexican ranchera.

Twentieth century

The twentieth century saw the rise of new genres of Latin American music, including salsa, merengue, and ranchero. Latin American music became more popular in the United States during the 1920s, when Latin American immigrants began to move to cities like New York and Los Angeles. Latin American music continued to gain popularity in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, when artists like Celia Cruz and Tito Puente became household names.

Latin American music in the United States

In the early 20th century, Latin American music began to have a significant impact on music in the United States. This was in part due to the large number of Latin American immigrants who came to the United States during this period. The most important genres of Latin American music that became popular in the United States were tango, mambo, and bolero.

The first Latin American music star in the United States was Cuba’s Xavier Cugat. Cugat popularized a style of music known as rhumba, which became very popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Cugat’s band was featured on several Hollywood movie soundtracks, and he himself appeared in several films.

The Bolero dancer Carmen Miranda was another Latin American star who achieved great popularity in the United States in the 1940s. Miranda appeared in a number of Hollywood films, including ‘The Gang’s All Here’ (1943) and ‘Greenwich Village’ (1944). She is perhaps best remembered for her performance of ‘The Lady in Red’ in ‘The Gang’s All Here’.

Tango also became popular in the United States during this period. The most famous tango dance team of all time was probably Argentina’s Carlos Gardel and Antonio Todaro. Gardel and Todaro toured the United States extensively during the 1920s and 1930s, and their performances were very popular with American audiences.

Mambo became popular in the United States in the 1950s. The most famous mambo bandleader of all time was probably Perez Prado from Cuba. Prado’s band played a style of mambo known as cha-cha-cha, which became extremely popular with American dancers. Prado himself appeared on several television shows, including ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’, during the 1950s.