People express themselves through music
Music is one of the mediums used to demonstrate diversity. In their heart, musical works serve as a conduit for humans to communicate with themselves and others. It is a platform where people can find a sense of belonging. The fact can be observed and linked to the proliferation of thousands of musical communities in Latin America. The slave invoking her ancestor spirits on a distant continent, the local Aztec warrior who saw his ancient empire fall to ashes, and the modern youth working hard to make a living in modern urban ghettos are examples of these. All these people were able to express themselves freely through their music.
History of Latin America dancing
Long before people came to know about rumba or salsa dance, the ancient people of both South and Central America were developing what is currently known as the Latin dance. These styles of dances were profoundly influenced by the European and the African modes of dancing in both the movements and the music used. The dances had the following characteristics/beginnings in the olden days;
Ritualistic beginning
As early as the 16th century, the explorers and sea-goers like Vespucci who had traveled the globe came back home with stories of the natives who he had seen (Aztec and Inca). He was dazed with the way they were performing intricate dances.
The Aztec had precise dances that were structured and performed. The young people in the society were trained in the dance movement by the priest of the community. The dances comprised of many dancers who moved to a specific movement and rhythm. Their dances had several themes and one of them was the wars where the dancers would hold a weapon in their hand while dancing. This sort of dancing fascinated the visitors who in turn wrote books about them so that the outside world would read about the dances too. It is unknown for how long these dances have been in existence and the European explorers virtualized them suggesting a very significant base. These dances were conceptualized in their day to day activities of the communities such as hunting, farming, and space science.
Also back in the same century, the Europeans and other explorers such as Cortez started to acquire colonies in the south of America. They absorbed the local people's dances into their own cultures by a process known as assimilation. The Catholics who settled in the Latin America merged their culture with that of the locals. They kept those movements but added stories and Catholic saints to those dances from the locals. The dance from Aztec greatly impressed the settlers due to its structure and creativeness. Another source of amazement is the large numbers of people involved in the dancing process (Hansen, Pp. 554-563). Over the past years, European folk dances and the African tribal dances mixed freely to produce what is currently known as the contemporary Latin dancing style.
Influence from the Europeans
The folk dances from Europe that were conducted by settlers to new land did not allow a male and a female to dance together while touching each other and this was a strange practice to them. The European dances combined a mixture of social opportunity as well as appreciation of music and the two were unified to develop the Latin dance Category.
African influences.
The movement style and the musical rhythm made a permanent mark on the Latin America dances and these marks can be seen to date. Elements that Latin America dance borrowed from their African counterparts include rhythm, polycentric movements, improvisation, complete footstep, and the body isolation which involves making desolate moves using the hips (Hansen, Pp.554-563).
Development of Latin dance.
Some folk dances developed in the rural areas for example the Mexican Hat Dance while the genre dance developed in different cities and social spheres that were civilized and organized. This style developed in various cities of South America which include Cuba, Spain, Brazil, and Puerto Rico. They were improved in the United States and Europe by skilled musicians who provided the beat for them. This category of dance did not develop at the same time, but instead, each dance came up at its own time. The dances include Salsa, Merengue, Mambo, Rumba, Cha cha, Bachata, and Samba. It was in 1850 when these dances developed into full-fledged dance categories. They were sculpted from waltz and polka that had roots in Europe.
The bolero originated from Spain and Cuba and spread to the rest of Latin America. The cha cha, rumba, and mambo are dances that emerged from a Cuban origin while the merengue originated from the island Hispaniola that included Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Samba originated from Brazil.
Salsa
It originated from the blending and unity of the Cuban music to that of Puerto Rico and the combination of the jazz culture of New York City. Salsa means 'sauce,' meaning that the name was derived from a strongly flavored sauce. The name was appropriate since salsa music is a 'sauce' because of the mixture of other styles of Cuban music with a Puerto Rican influence
Salsa dance was born after the slaves were given freedom to dance to their rhythms on the streets. Those people who performed these dances were known as 'sonterios.' The music had a complex rhythm well-known as 'Toques' from the drums. Salsa is not old. It is reasonably new but its musical roots date back to centuries. It was not known to people until 40 years ago when it was invented. Also, the popularity of salsa dancing, as a form of exercise, is justified since it is fun and has a low impact. This makes it suitable for all levels of physical fitness. The dance was being performed by the natives in their community gatherings even before the contemporary dances came into existence, in the society.
Influence of dance on the Latin American culture
Diversity
Diversity has always been an essential component of the social setting since the beginning of the post-colonial period. Music has tried to help the countries which have recently gained independence to have a sense of sovereignty in culture rather than depending on their master's ethos (Knupfer, 84-91). These countries have tried to express themselves through music and art successfully. In Latin American, music and dance spread the message of national pride and personality in the current generation. National identity is not only celebrated through dance and music but it is also expressed by art. The artists in Latin American have tried to assert their contributions to the society for many centuries.
Synergetic process
Racial Syncretism and the Problem of Racial Categories
The Spanish conquerors, unlike their counterparts, the English colonialists, were not allowed to carry their families with them to the new land. This led to a free mixing of the Europeans, Africans, and the Americans races. The mixture leads to a widespread racial syncretism that in turn leads to a racial discrimination among people. Several terms were used for discriminatory purposes for example 'mullato' meaning a small mull, 'creole' which meant that a person was raised by the master of the house, and 'morisco' which meant a person whose ancestry is one-quarter black. Many of these terms can be offensive to the modern sensibilities. The terms have derogatory implications that offer allude to cultural or even biological inferiority. The enlightened modern society acknowledges the socio-historical constructions of races and no longer embrace these distinctions but rather consider ethnicity regarding historical, social, economic, political, and the cultural characteristics.
The calypso music that comes from a Trinidad musician is exciting, not on the ground of the blood that he carries in his veins but rather the historical, cultural, and religious favors that are brought together to ensure its production.
The Emergence of African Culture
The world wars had hit the Europeans so hard that they seriously and urgently needed a source of labor that would help in the rebuilding of their cities and mine their minerals such as coal, gold, and silver among others. They decide to turn to Africa for this labor and therefore, slave trade was born in the middle of the 15th century on the continent. The first batch of slaves was imported to Cuba.
The slaves were obtained from the coasts of Africa in exchange for the European products such as sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton. In the year 1888, slavery was outlawed on the continent. Approximately 20 million slaves had been imported into the continent in very traumatizing journeys across the Atlantic which affected these people both psychologically and physically. Additionally about 2 million slaves did not make it across the Atlantic. The slaves decided to move to the Caribbean, Brazil, among other cities. As a result of this forced migration, most of the American lands form part of the African Diaspora. These slaves came from different ethnic societies back at home while some of them came from ethnic communities that were sworn enemies. The slaves spoke distinct languages. This class of people brought much of their cultures, religions, and music. The diversity brought great influence to various degree of cultural development in the Latin America (Waterman, Pp. 17-27).
Religious Syncretism
Syncretism is also evident in the religious devotion that was a key aspect of colonial life. The missionaries realized that from the beginning, they could not destroy the native's culture and practices. Trying this would only bring more harm than good to the spread of Christianity among the residents. Christians decided to merge their culture and that of the natives to form a new reform. They lured the natives to convert to Christianity by making celebrations, processions, and festivals a source of joy. They also included lavish ceremonies, meaningful rituals, appealing icons and statues, paintings among other objects of worship to lure them into Christianity.
The churches and cathedrals were built on the foundation of destroyed natives temples to make a statement that the new religion replaced the old. The Spaniards also introduced dance, drama, and pantomime to bring out an attractive view of the heavy and solemn Catholic rites. Furthermore, the plays were performed in the natives' language hence giving them a sense of belonging to the religion (Schirmer, Pp. 141). The Christians melded with the natives and Africans religion all over America to form a new synergetic religion that is still in existence to date.
Finally, it is important to note that the synergetic process was not only limited to the culture, race, or religion but also extended to all aspects of life including agricultural practices and food preparation (Greenfield, Pp.41-351). For instance, the Africans introduced culinary customs that revolved around bananas and cassava while Europeans introduced grains such as oats, wheat, and rice as well as livestock such as horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, and pigs. Also, the Europeans introduced their technology that revolutionized agriculture in the America for example, wagons pulled by beasts of burden, plowshares, and textile techniques that helped to make work easier.
Latin America today
Despite having a large population of Indians in various nations, and a wide spread of non-Indian culture, the contemporary Hispanic American culture is not able to be described as simply Indian anymore. It is described as Spanish. The two cultures have merged to form a new culture that is independent though its roots are entrenched in the two separate chronological traditions. Surprisingly, this culture has a unique and valid belief of its own that is not dependant on the two parent cultures (Knupfer, 84 -91).
Conclusion
Latin America boasts of a rich culture from very many tribes and sub-tribe groups. This diversity is used as strength among those people. The dances have brought so much influence to the culture of the Latin America, the changes range from religion, social classes, and many other aspects. Music and dance have united people together and this has enabled peace and cooperation to prevail in the American society.
Works cited
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PM Greenfield, "cross cultural roots of minority child development" (2014) Pp.41-351, google.books.com
JS Schirmer, "Roberts Black music of two worlds: African, Caribbean, Latin, and African-American traditions" (1998) Pp. 141-150 G Books
Hanson, Rachel. "History of Latin Dance." Love To Know, Love To Know Corp, dance.lovetoknow.com/History of Latin Dance
RA Waterman, African Influence on the Music of the Americas, - Write me a few of Your Lines: A Blues Reader, (1999) Pp.17-27
Knupfer, Anne Meis. "3African-American Designers: The Chicago Experience Then and Now." Design Issues 16 (autumn 2000): 84-91.
Chadwick Hansen, jenny's toe; Negro shaking dances in America, (Autumn 1967) Pp.554-56
