According to a report by the Instituto Cervantes, the United States is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. With over 42 million Spanish speakers, this population in the United States continues to grow yearly. While a common language unites them, this is a highly diverse population with many internal differences based on country of origin, upbringing, and a number of other factors. In working with Spanish speakers, music choice needs to reflect and respect the diversity this population has, as well as have inclusive repertoire for a number of nationalities, age groups, and preferred genres of music. Music in Latin America is deeply rooted in Spanish European tradition intertwining with African slave music and the indigenous
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There are a few songs that are labeled as traditional that are notable as Christmas carols, but beyond this they are arranged by decade. The songs from the 1920s are widely known as folk songs, with “Guantanamera” having many covers by artists from The Sandpipers (1966) to Celia Cruz (1967), and even a kid’s version by Jose-Luis Orozco (1994). “Lamento Borincano” is a particularly nostalgic song for Puerto Ricans, with artists from Rafael Hernández Marín himself to Marc Anthony covering the song. Agustin Lara, Carlos Gardel, and Luis Alberti were composers that all had hits in the 1930s and remained popular for many decades afterwards. “Babalú” was written in 1939, but became a huge hit when Desi Arnaz used it as his signature song as Ricky Ricardo in “I Love Lucy” in the 1950s. The Xavier Cugat recording of “Besame Mucho” was a great success with American audiences, as were the other listed songs from the 1940s, with most of them becoming Latin jazz standards and some even being translated, such as “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” in the form of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Desi Arnaz in 1948. The 1950s continued to see English versions of successful Spanish songs, such as “Quien Sera” becoming “Sway” by Dean Martin. By this point, there was also a crossover musical influence over the language barrier, as exemplified by the …show more content…
“Amigo” also has a version in Portuguese, given that Roberto Carlos is a Brazilian singer and is still considered to be one of the most influential artists in Brazil. Latin pop also began coming into its own genre with the music of José José and Joan Manuel Serrat. The music of the 1980s saw crossover Latin American music in full swing with hits like “Conga” from Gloria Estefan’s Miami Sound Machine. Juan Gabriel, Marco Antonio Solís, and Vicente Fernández also each made their mark as renowned Mexican artists singing in notably Mexican styles, such as ranchera and mariachi. In the 1990s, more breakout stars entered the spotlight and began doing English crossover songs and albums, following Gloria Estefan’s lead. Selena, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Shakira all would eventually cross over into the English speaking market by recording English and Spanish albums. “La Vida es un Carnaval” proved to be one of the final signature songs of the “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz before her death in 2003. Selena was a Mexican-American singer that broke many barriers as a Tejano music female performer and then again when her English crossover album became the second-highest in first-week sales for a female musician after her tragic death in 1995. In the 2000s and beyond, even more diversification of genres created a widening market for Latin American music, with the
There are a few songs that are labeled as traditional that are notable as Christmas carols, but beyond this they are arranged by decade. The songs from the 1920s are widely known as folk songs, with “Guantanamera” having many covers by artists from The Sandpipers (1966) to Celia Cruz (1967), and even a kid’s version by Jose-Luis Orozco (1994). “Lamento Borincano” is a particularly nostalgic song for Puerto Ricans, with artists from Rafael Hernández Marín himself to Marc Anthony covering the song. Agustin Lara, Carlos Gardel, and Luis Alberti were composers that all had hits in the 1930s and remained popular for many decades afterwards. “Babalú” was written in 1939, but became a huge hit when Desi Arnaz used it as his signature song as Ricky Ricardo in “I Love Lucy” in the 1950s. The Xavier Cugat recording of “Besame Mucho” was a great success with American audiences, as were the other listed songs from the 1940s, with most of them becoming Latin jazz standards and some even being translated, such as “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” in the form of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Desi Arnaz in 1948. The 1950s continued to see English versions of successful Spanish songs, such as “Quien Sera” becoming “Sway” by Dean Martin. By this point, there was also a crossover musical influence over the language barrier, as exemplified by the …show more content…
“Amigo” also has a version in Portuguese, given that Roberto Carlos is a Brazilian singer and is still considered to be one of the most influential artists in Brazil. Latin pop also began coming into its own genre with the music of José José and Joan Manuel Serrat. The music of the 1980s saw crossover Latin American music in full swing with hits like “Conga” from Gloria Estefan’s Miami Sound Machine. Juan Gabriel, Marco Antonio Solís, and Vicente Fernández also each made their mark as renowned Mexican artists singing in notably Mexican styles, such as ranchera and mariachi. In the 1990s, more breakout stars entered the spotlight and began doing English crossover songs and albums, following Gloria Estefan’s lead. Selena, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Shakira all would eventually cross over into the English speaking market by recording English and Spanish albums. “La Vida es un Carnaval” proved to be one of the final signature songs of the “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz before her death in 2003. Selena was a Mexican-American singer that broke many barriers as a Tejano music female performer and then again when her English crossover album became the second-highest in first-week sales for a female musician after her tragic death in 1995. In the 2000s and beyond, even more diversification of genres created a widening market for Latin American music, with the