music of South America, Central America, and Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin-American communities in North America. It is represented by a number of musical forms from sacred to secular music and from folk and dance to classical music. Latin American music is derived from Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian traditions, and is indebted to American Indian (largely Aztec, Inca, and Maya) and African influences (see African Music and Dance). In recent decades, Latin popular music has exerted significant influence over the development of jazz, rock, and various styles of dance music. Latin American music followed European styles and trends during the colonial period (15th–18th cent.). Inspiration from local themes, including indigenous sources, has characterized Latin American music since independence in the 19th century. Modern music techniques, such as atonalism (see Twelve-Tone System), were explored and applied by various 20th-composers.

Indigenous Music.

The few surviving references to pre-Columbian music come from the study of archaeological remains (depictions of musical instruments and musical scenes) and accounts written in the 16th century by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores (conquerors) and by missionary priests. These writers were either indifferent to music or opposed to the indigenous arts on the grounds that they were manifestations of paganism.

The chroniclers described dance celebrations performed after the sowing and harvesting of crops. They also mentioned liturgical and ceremonial songs, love songs, dances, and epics celebrating wars. Studies of Indian tribes indicate that the most highly developed forms of pre-Columbian music were among the Aztec, Inca, and Maya. The music was based on a pentatonic, or five-tone, scale. The musical instruments included flutes, ocarinas, panpipes, whistles, rattles, rasps, and drums. Conch-shell trumpets were also used occasionally. See also American Indians: Music and Dance; Mexico and the Andes; Other South American Areas.

Colonial influences.

During the colonial period the culture of Spain and Portugal dominated Latin American music. Churches maintained orchestras in the great colonial cities of Peru, Mexico, and Brazil. The oldest surviving music book printed in the western hemisphere is a volume of Gregorian chant printed in Mexico City in 1556. Many government officials, mine owners, and wealthy plantation owners encouraged the playing of chamber music.

Some 16th-century missionaries encouraged indigenous music. In 1523 a music school for Indians was opened in Texcoco, Mexico. The Portuguese Jesuit José de Anchieta (1533–97) founded a college for Brazilian Indians in the state of São Paulo, and musical instruction was available at the college. Anchieta also wrote hymns in Indian languages.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, as Spanish and Portuguese naval power and commerce weakened, those elements of musical life that had been brought to Latin America from Europe also declined. Indigenous music flourished, however, and during the late colonial period a vibrant African element was added to Latin American music through the importation of African slaves to the Caribbean and South America.

Distinctive styles.

Today, Indian music in former Inca territories is characterized by the use of panpipes and the pentatonic scale. The European harp has been assimilated into Mexican and Peruvian folk music, the African marimba into Central American music. The complex rhythms and call-and-response patterns of African music occur in northeast Brazil, along the Gulf Coast of South America, and in the Caribbean islands. The Spanish romance (ballad) and villancico (carol) are sung throughout the region.

Development of Latin American Art Music.

With achievement of political independence, Latin American countries made the development of art music a national goal. State-supported conservatories, opera companies, and symphony orchestras were established in several countries.

National period.

Some of the early Latin American composers followed European models. Italian music inspired the Brazilian Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836–96), composer of the operas II Guarany and Lo Schiavo, and a French influence marks the songs and symphonic works of the Argentine Alberto Williams (1862–1952). Both these composers also used national subjects in their works, as did the impressionist Eduardo Fabini (1883–1950) of Uruguay and the Brazilian Alberto Nepomucemo (1864–1920).

One great composer of the national period was the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos. The first internationally acclaimed Latin American composer, he wrote nationalistic music and pieces in the international neoclassical style of the time. In Mexico, Carlos Chávez began by writing nationalistic music and later turned to atonal and other international styles. His contemporaries include Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940), a nationalistic composer, and Julián Carrillo (1875–1965), an experimenter with microtones.

Modern trends.

Many Latin American composers, born at the turn of the 20th century and later, abandoned nationalism in favor of the techniques and styles of the international musical community. The leading Latin American composer of the mid-20th century was the Argentine Alberto Ginastera, whose operas Don Rodrigo (1964) and Bomarzo (1967) were produced in the U.S; another well-known Argentine, Astor Piazzolla (1921–92), derived his distinctive and sophisticated “new tango” style from the popular Argentine dance form. Juan Carlos Paz (1901–72) was the first Argentine composer to use the twelve-tone system. More recently, the Argentine-born Osvaldo Golijov (1960–    ), of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, has won a wide following with an eclectic, expressive approach that draws on classical forms, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, “new tango,” and other Latin styles. Composers who have experimented with electronic music include Julián Orbón (1925–91), who was born in Spain of Cuban parents and spent much of his adult life in Cuba, and the Cuban-born Aurelio de la Vega (1925–    ); both eventually settled in the U.S.

Beginning in the 1950s annual music festivals and competitions became prominent features of Latin American musical life. Outstanding among such events is the Pablo Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Among Latin American performing artists who have achieved international fame are the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903–91), the Brazilian soprano Bidú Sayão (1902–99), the Cuban-born American pianist Jorge Bolet (1914–90), the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich (1941–    ), and the Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire (1944–    ).

Jazz and Popular Music.

Latin America has also contributed much to popular music, as exemplified in the songs and dances of the Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona (1896–1963). The Brazilian maxixe and the Argentine tango were introduced into American and European ballroom dancing during the second decade of the 20th century. In the 1930s the Cuban rumba and conga and the Brazilian samba and, more recently, the bossa nova, gained in popularity. Other popular dances include the Cuban mambo and cha cha and the merengue from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The Latin influence in jazz is almost as old as jazz itself; a distinctive Afro-Cuban (or Latin) jazz style gained broad popularity through the music of the American trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and, later, the Cuban-born percussionist Mongo Santamaría (1917–2003). An early milestone of Latin-flavored rock music is “La Bamba” (1958), recorded by Ritchie Valens (1941–59) and based on a traditional Mexican song; Valens, whose original surname was Valenzuela, died in the same plan crash that killed Buddy Holly. The Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana and the Los Angeles-based rock band Los Lobos have also explored a fusion of Latin and rock influences, while the folk-rock singer Linda Ronstadt (1946–    ) has released a series of albums exploring her Mexican roots.

Salsa.

The most popular and influential Latin style in recent decades has been salsa. At the heart of salsa is the clave, a term that refers both to a syncopated five-beat pattern and to the wooden sticks that define the music's underlying rhythm. Like Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa has its roots in the fusion of Cuban musical forms with African rhythms. Salsa emerged as a musical force in the 1960s in New York City, especially in the Puerto Rican (or nuyorican) community; the term was popularized by the Fania recording firm, with which many of New York's Afro-Caribbean musicians were associated. Outstanding figures in the development of salsa have included the Cuban-born composer and bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez (1911–72), the Cuban-born vocalist Celia Cruz (1924–2003), the pianist Eddie Palmieri (1936–    ), and the American bandleaders Tito Puente (1923–2000), Ray Barretto (1929–2006), and Willie Colón (1950–    ).

Bossa nova and beyond.

Just as Latin music has influenced jazz, so jazz has influenced Latin music, notably through the bossa nova of Brazil. The “cool jazz” of Miles Davis had a profound effect on the Brazilian singer-guitarist João Gilberto (1931–    ) and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927–94); their highly refined style of bossa nova was incorporated into the jazz mainstream by such American performers as tenor saxophonist Stan Getz (1927–91) and guitarist Charlie Byrd (1925–99). Two younger Brazilian singer-composers, Gilberto Gil (1942–    ) and Caetano Veloso (1942–    ), who came of age during the bossa nova era, pioneered the energetic, eclectic, and experimental tropicália style of the late 1960s, which was influenced both by Anglo-American rock music and by the European avant-garde. Both men were jailed and then exiled by Brazil's repressive military government; since returning home in the early '70s, each has had a successful and prolific recording career, and in 2003 Gil became Brazil's minister of culture. Another important figure on the world music scene is Milton Nascimento (1942–    ), a composer, singer, and performer who has explored numerous musical styles. Paul Simon and the Scottish-born David Byrne (1952–    ) are two American singer-songwriters who have collaborated with Brazilian musicians.

Other contemporary styles.

The large Latino communities in New York, Florida, Texas, and southern California have produced a wide variety of hybrid styles. Based in Miami, the Cuban-born singer Gloria Estefan (1957–    ) was a top-selling international recording artist in the 1980s and early '90s. Although her career was cut short when she was murdered by the leader of her fan club, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (1971–95), known simply as Selena, had emerged by her early twenties as the most important figure in the history of Tejano, a fusion of Texan and Mexican (“Tex-Mex”) styles. Rubén Blades (1948–    ), a Panamanian, made his mark as a salsa singer with Willie Colón in the 1970s; subsequently, he has led his own band, pursued a film and television career, and taken an active role in politics, finishing third in Panama's 1994 presidential election.

One of the most acclaimed Latin albums in recent years was Buena Vista Social Club (1997), produced in Cuba by the American guitarist Ry Cooder (1947–    ); the Grammy-winning project, featuring an all-star group of elderly Cuban musicians performing with Cooder in styles that were popular from the 1930s through the '50s, was also the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary (1999) by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders (1945–    ). Juan Esteban Aristizabal (1972–    ), a Colombian singer-songwriter performing under the names Juanes, achieved extraordinary commercial success with Un Día Normal (A Normal Day; 2002); the album won five Latin Grammy awards (see National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) in 2003.         A.L., ALCIDES LANZA

See also Folk Music; Popular Music; Popular and Social Dance.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 726. Latin American music.