Latin America Music Analysis

Just as I thought music class couldn’t get any more interesting, it surprisingly did. The countries we have been exploring and learning about, prior to chapter 11, were very intriguing and their music are very different from what we would hear on the radio on a day to day basis. Although, I did find this specific chapter on Latin America extremely captivating. It consists of a lot of great information from Latin America’s history and how certain music became what it is. There are a variety of forms mentioned and explained; and to my beliefs, I was able to engage more with this chapter because I was familiar with a lot of the topics that were mentioned. Growing up in a city where I am surrounded by an entire community of minorities has exposed

Not only was this song enjoyable, because it has a very nice beat and rhythm, but I specifically remember this song from a performance I did with the rest of the All City Chorus members in the fifth grade. Of course, back then, I did not think much of the song’s form and such, but overall it was a very fun experience and a great childhood memory. I remember we practiced this song numerous times, as well as other songs that we would then perform in the same concert, and the music instructor was very articulate on this song because we were doing something very special for it. Generally, all of the song selections the music instructor chose was all in English, including popular holiday songs, Oye Como Va was the only exception. Just as in any concert, performers would invite their families to attend and enjoy our hard work. For this particular song, we were able to get out of the stands and walk around the entire auditorium while singing in harmony to entertain our families. To my recollection, there were a lot of laughs and even though my mom, a non-English speaker, could not understand what the song says, she enjoyed the performance and the song itself a lot too. I remember her trying her best to playfully sing the song to me after we got home because that’s how much she loved it and she said it was very catchy. Now that I know more about music and its

This song, to me, is considerably an original. The first time I have ever heard of this song was when I was about the age of five and my parents were playing it on the stereo; except, this version was in Vietnamese. I remember really loving the song and I still remember the Vietnamese version and lyrics today. This shows the evolution of this song since 1950. Enrique Jorrin wrote this song with the indication that it is made for accessibility. We discussed in class that this song is a lot more simplified and the melodies are small. The tempo is a medium to fast tempo, which makes it nice and easy to dance to for Americans. This is a great song that was written to spread the joy and appreciation of the song to those who are not fluent in this type of Latin American