Music of Puerto Rico

febrero 06, 2019

Music of Puerto Rico

Traditional musicJíbara music

It emerged from the peasants of the island, who descended from the Spanish colonizers and who mixed with some Taínos and Africans, forming a mestizo phenotype with a large racial component of Andalusian, Canarian, Extremaduran, Sephardic, Moorish and Castilian origin. The musical instruments reproduced their ancestors of the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands, developing the construction of their own instruments such as cuatros, tiples, bordonúas, guitars and the native güiro, idiophone scraper built with a fruit of the island. The jíbara music is made up of several musical styles, denominated six and aguinaldos. The versadores in rhyme, mainly in tenths and fixed or improvised decimillas, are a characteristic in the type of vocal expression

Bomb

Historical references indicate that by the 19th century the black slaves in the fields were creating and cultivating a genre of music and dance called "bomba". By the middle of the twentieth century, it began recording both audio and video. The pump was presented in different variants depending on the region, but where it was strongest in Loíza, Ponce, San Juan, and Mayagüez.

It is impossible to reconstruct the history of the bomb, but it is known that it is derived from other black cultures like the Congo. Analyzing names of subgenres such as the "Dutch", we can assume that it also has influences from the European section of the Caribbean. There are many similarities in the dance as in the Mayagüez music bomb with that of Martinique.

The bomb has a singing shape known as "call and response", based on rhythms played by two or three percussions called "barrels". The bomb looks like some neo-African Caribbean genres. As a clear proof of his African inspiration is the act of a person going to the center of the circle formed by everyone to carry the main line of percussion or to compete with the one that already carries it. After dancing for a while, that person is replaced by another.

Full

The plena is an original rhythm of Puerto Rico. Its birth is located between 1915 and 1920, in the La Joya del Castillo sector and the San Antón neighborhood in Ponce. It is very popular at parties and events.

Dance

The Puerto Rican dance clearly evolves from the English and French European counterparts. The origin of the term contradance, is English and is used in the eighteenth century to identify the rural dances or peasant dances that are popularized as a result of the new social, European order where the French Revolution is created. In the term of the contradanza, it turns out to be of the Anglicism "country dances" which at present can be defined as series of folkloric dances or English peasant dances that became fashionable when the English intellectuals discovered the culture of the peasant societies and the assimilate bringing them to urban areas.

Popular music

sauce

Salsa

Salsa is a musical genre with roots in Cuban music and developed by Puerto Ricans in the state of New York. Puerto Rican artists of this style have been Héctor Lavoe, El Gran Combo, Sonora Ponceña, Roberto Roena. It is popular at parties and events in various Latin American countries.

Reggaeton is a musical genre derived from reggae with hip hop influences. It evolved from reggae in Spanish from Puerto Rico in the mid-1970s and its first appearances began in the early 1990s, it was born and arises as a result of the urban community of the island, whose local rappers played with instrumentals that came from Panama, mixing them with hip hop influences.

Reggaetón

originated in discotheques and called "partys de marquesina" that performed in cacerios or housing complexes in Puerto Rico, along with other areas of what is San Juan, Carolina and adjacent areas. After this event, the genre continued to evolve from numerous artists or rappers who began to expand their music through cassettes or clandestine recordings at such parties. Reggaetón in its early years was known as "underground" because it was banned by the government of Puerto Rico for its explicit lyrics and its interpreters met in a hidden way to avoid illegal problems. But in the 2000s reggaeton began to expand to the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America thanks to exponents such as Daddy Yankee, Don Omar or the duo Wisin y Yandel, who gained popularity especially among youth and the media.

The roots of reggaeton can be traced back to the appearance of reggae in Spanish in Puerto Rico in the mid-1970s and the 1980s. At the beginning of the 1990s, this new genre received its current name. Reggaetón in other words, begins as an adaptation of reggae Puerto Rico.

TYPICAL SUIT OF PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico is a country that is known thanks to the friendly characteristic that links the entire population and each of the inhabitants in particular, achieving pride and recognition around the world. The typical dress of Puerto Rico tries to explicitly express this in a very affective and pleasant way as its citizens very well know how to personify it.

To start talking about the basic aspects of this typical Puerto Rican costume, we must emphasize how it is characterized by the strong presence of colors in men and women, making them shine in a very broad way.

The principles to create the Puerto Rican costume are based on the raw material used by the aborigines, faithful representatives of the culture of today. Cotton was and will continue to be the material used to create the costumes of Puerto Rico.

The woman wears a wide skirt where diverse figures are seen without specific shapes and of all colors. It is located at the waist and does not finish reaching the ankles. In the upper part, a camisole with an open and unbridled collar is placed, which has a large ruffle on the upper part, enjoying originality and creativity on the part of the people of Puerto Rico. On the head an object of wool or some other similar material is placed causing the woman to have her hair pulled back. As for accessories, the limitation is put on a large hoop rings.

The typical female dress of Puerto Rico is characterized by seeking comfort in the female culminating with the use of soft espadrilles at the foot.

Man is also governed by the relaxation that comes from the use of his suit. A pair of trousers plus dress shoes are what make the man look a little more elegant but without leaving aside his true traditions. The same texture that the woman in the skirt has applied to the man's shirt but varying colors. The man finishes his suit with the use of a hat with some striking color and a ribbon that surrounds it in a dark tone.

The truth is that the Puerto Rican costume makes possible a combination of comfort and culture for the citizens who wear it, what makes the country look like a nation with everything under control that can enjoy fun, friendship and many other values of Puerto Rico