Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music

by George Torres

guitar plays lead while the other plays rhythm. The lead guitar originally played

  arpeggiated accompaniment patterns by plucking in classic bolero style, but later

  switched to playing the strings downward, with a thumb pick. The bongó and ma-

  raca (or güira) players mark a standard four-four time. The vocal style is highly

  emotional, sometimes almost sobbing, and it can incorporate spoken text or short

  exclamations such as “Mami!” Bachata can also be danced. Like the music, its

  dance bears some resemblance to that of the Cuban bolero and son (Cuba), but

  it is quite distinct from both of them. Bachata dancing consists of an alternating

  one-two-three-kick pattern, in which the kick is a toe step or a small hop. The

  body movement is smooth and sinuous, but relatively reserved. In recent years, as

  bachata has gained acceptance and popularity, both the music and the dance have

  become more elaborate.

  According to Deborah Pacini-Hernández, bachata’s essential characteristics are

  not only musical but extra-musical as well. When bachata crystallized as a style,

  it increased in tempo, became more danceable, and its lyrics became bawdy and

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  Bachata

  raunchy as opposed to the quintessentially romantic and poetic bolero. The word

  bachata originally meant a rural or low-class party, or a get-together that includes

  music, drink, and food. The term then came to be applied to the music itself, since

  guitar music was the preferred music of choice for these kinds of gatherings. The

  music was named not by bachata musicians, fans, or industry entrepreneurs, but

  by the country’s urban middle and upper classes, who intended to stigmatize and

  trivialize these kinds of low-class gatherings as backward and vulgar. Thus, the

  music’s social context, the language and context of the lyrics, and the social status

  of the musicians were determinant factors in the very definition of bachata . Other

  names that bachata has received include música de amargue , música de guardia ,

  and cachivache .

  The first recorded example of bachata is “Borracho de Amor” by José Manuel

  Calderón in 1961. Bachata was born in the 1960s during a period of rural to urban

  migration; rural migrants lived in the poorest and most marginalized neighbor-

  hoods of the capital city, often without water, electricity, or any kind of public ame-

  nities. Between the years 1960 and 1970 the population of the capital city of the

  Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, nearly doubled, and early bachata , whose

  roots were quintessentially romantic, began to reflect the hardships of the urban

  life especially as experienced by rural migrants. Bachata also reflected and helped

  articulate the shifting experiences of male-female relationships in this new envi-

  ronment. While many lyrics were romantic, many during this period consisted of

  macho bawdy lyrics, a male singer bitterly denouncing women as treacherous and

  faithless, reflecting the strains and tensions that urbanization imposed on family

  life and male-female relationships. Pacini-Hernández states, “Men found it increas-

  ingly difficult to fulfill their traditional roles as primary breadwinners, and women

  were forced to move into the workplace to supplement family income, and so ba-

  chata was transformed from a musical genre defined by its concern with romantic

  love into one concerned primarily with sexuality, specifically casual sex with no

  pretense to longevity or legitimacy, often mediated by money, and whose principal

  social context was the bar/brothel” (153).

  The lyrics also conveyed a barrio (working-class neighborhood) humor as they

  manipulated words for a humorous or double entendre effect. Whereas the ear-

  lier bolero campesino might have been marginalized in urban contexts because

  of its rural nature, now bachata was further discriminated against because it was

  considered vulgar and immoral and was simultaneously disparaged as generally

  cheap, poorly produced, and associated with the lower classes. Nevertheless, dur-

  ing the 1970s and 1980s, bachata steadily grew in popularity among the majority

  of the population even though it only circulated through an informal promotion

  and distribution system such as inexpensive cassettes sold by sidewalk vendors,

  and was only heard publicly in neighborhood grocery stores ( colmados) and bars

  Bachata

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  (many of which were also brothels). Recordings of this period reflect the eco-

  nomic status of the music, and the bachata of the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s

  was primitively recorded, usually in one take and through one microphone. It was

  not until 1988 that bachata records appeared on a published hit parade, received

  airplay on FM radio station, were shown on TV, or were sold in commercial rec-

  ord stores.

  While it is hard to trace exactly how bachata went from the margins to the

  mainstream, many experts agree that there were several structural changes that

  contributed to this shift. The sound of bachata bands was modernized, as they

  switched from acoustic to electric guitars, incorporated electric bass and synthesiz-

  ers, and improved the recorded quality of the music by using multitrack recording

  and sound mixers. Also, bachata began to exhibit a more danceable nature as it

  adopted many features from merengue. Other factors that contributed to the current

  popularity of bachata included the fact that a group of liberal-minded high-profile

  musicians began to take an interest in bachata , and one of them, Juan Luis Guerra,

  achieved incredible international success with his album Bachata Rosa (1991).

  Guerra’s bachatas have more polished melodies, rock harmonies, and more urbane

  lyrics; they are also better recorded and more elaborately arranged than traditional

  bachata . Guerra kept the basic instrumentation and double entendre-laced lyrics

  of the genre, and his international fame helped present the genre internationally

  with sweeping success.

  Bachata has lost some of its significance as an urban folk genre while at the same

  time it now appeals to a wider and more diverse audience. In the 1990s, bachata ’s

  musical and textual characteristics had become less predictable as new features

  were added to the previously existing forms. By the middle of the 1990s, ba-

  chata turned back towards romanticism as bachateros relied less on sexual double

  entendre and bitter lyrics in order to improve their chances of getting their records

  played on the radio. In the new wave of bachata , there has emerged a New York

  school, led by the South Bronx group Aventura. These groups have created a ba-

  chata with a transnational flavor using Spanglish lyrics and combining influences

  from rhythm and blues, rock, hip-hop and reggaetón. With performances in large

  venues such as Madison Square Garden and featuring collaborations with urban

  performers, Aventura’s image is not typical of bachateros. Bachata has moved into

  multiple directions, while many bachateros still keep their connection to the poor by

  performing almost exclusively in working-class venues; others, such as Aventura,

  tour around the world and enjoy luxury cars and wear large gold chains. The rise

  from
an exclusively rural tradition to an international phenomenon explains why

  bachata has been named the Dominican blues. Bachata today enjoys even more

  popularity than merengue , which has been celebrated as the national music of the

  Dominican Republic.

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  Baião

  Further Reading

  Martinez, Samuel. “Not a Cockfight: Rethinking Haitian-Dominican Relations.” Latin

  American Perspectives 30, no. 3, Popular Participation against Neoliberalism (2003):

  80–101.

  Pacini-Hernández, Deborah. Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music.

  Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995.

  Angelina Tallaj

  Baião

  The baião is a syncopated dance music associated with northeastern Brazil. It is

  related to several musical traditions and a cluster of rhythmic patterns commonly

  found in the northeast. The baião was crafted into a commercial popular music

  of national importance in the 1940s and 1950s by singer-accordionist Luiz Gon-

  zaga (1912–1989); it became his signature genre as well as a cultural emblem of

  northeastern regional identity in Brazil. The emergence of the baião as a regional

  popular music challenged the supremacy of samba as Brazil’s national music and

  highlighted regional contradictions embedded in the idea of Brazil’s national con-

  sensus culture. The success of Gonzaga (king of the Baião) stimulated the na-

  tional commercial success of northeastern musical styles and the creation of urban

  working-class casas de forró —dance-clubs where the baião and a cluster of other

  northeastern dance music genres are performed.

  Regional musical traditions from the backlands and coastal areas of the northeast

  were first presented nationally when popular singers and instrumentalists adapted

  and presented northeastern musical genres such as the toada, embolada, and coco

  for national audiences via the broadcast and recording industries centered in Rio

  de Janeiro. Such regional activity was marginalized in relation to Rio-based samba

  (itself a complex set of performance styles in the process of being defined) as ex-

  emplifying fundamental qualities of Brazilian identity. Nevertheless, northeastern

  music became nationally popular with the rise of Luiz Gonzaga.

  For the baião, Gonzaga used essential elements common to several musical

  traditions of the Northeast: a syncopated rhythmic pattern with a strong accent be-

  fore beat two of a two-beat measure and modal scales with flatted sevenths, and

  rather static harmonic structures with ambiguous tonic/dominant/subdominant re-

  lationships. In the Northeast, a number of closely related dance rhythms ( baiano,

  abaianada, coco ) are performed on instruments such as rabecas (folk violin), pi-

  fanos (cane flutes), oito baixo (eight-bass accordion ), pandeiro (tambourine) and

  zabumba (bass drum). Pre-dating Gonzaga’s popularization of the term as a spe-

  cific genre of popular music, baião was used to refer to a specific rhythmic pat-

  tern played on the viola (10-string guitar ) during desafio song duels performed by

  Baião | 23

  paired singer poets in the Northeast. Gonzaga claims that he was inspired by the

  rhythmic patterns of the viola players as well as by cognate patterns played on the

  zabumba drum.

  On recordings and in live and radio broadcast performances between 1946 and

  1949, Gonzaga refined the rhythmic accompaniment and instrumental arrange-

  ments for the baião. He standardized a core instrumental trio of the acordeón , zabumba bass drum, and triangle to play the baião and other northeastern genres.

  These instruments and the musical details of the baião were distinct from the

  foreign-influenced sound of mainstream Brazilian popular music of the time and

  served to link the music to the cultural values of northeastern migrant worker pop-

  ulations flooding into Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Gonzaga also emphasized a

  distinctly northeastern pronunciation and singing style, and sang lyrics evoking

  nostalgia for the natural and cultural beauty of the northeast. In hit songs like “Asa

  Branca” (1947), “Juazeiro” (1949), and his signature song “Baião” (1949) (co-

  written with lyricist Humberto Texeira), Gonzaga ushered in the baião craze that

  rivaled the samba in popularity. During the 1950s, Gonzaga teamed with several

  other lyricists (notably Ze Dantas) to produce a string of hit songs. On nationally

  syndicated radio programs such as No Mundo do Baião (In the World of the Baião),

  Gonzaga presented the baião, and other northeastern genres ( coco, xote, forró ,

  toada, xaxado, xamengo ) were presented as sprouting from the soul of the back-

  land man to enchant the heart of Brazil. From 1946 to 1956, Gonzaga was Brazil’s

  most frequently recorded musical star and his baião established regional music as

  a commercially viable segment of the Brazilian music industry.

  By about 1960, Gonzaga and northeastern music had fallen out of national favor

  but remained a vibrant tradition among northeastern migrant populations in the

  South and among working-class audiences throughout the Northeast. Gonzaga and

  the baião would be rediscovered in the late 1960s and early 1970s by musicians

  Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and other stars of Brazilian mainstream popular

  music (see MPB or música popular brasileira ).

  Further Reading

  Crook, Larry. Brazilian Music: Northeastern Traditions and the Heartbeat of a Modern

  Nation. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.

  McCann, Bryan. Hello, Hello Brazil: Popular Music in the Making of Modern Brazil .

  Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004.

  McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova,

  and the Popular Music of Brazil. Revised and expanded edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple

  University Press, 2009.

  Murphy, John P. Music in Brazil: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York:

  Oxford University Press, 2006.

  Larry Crook

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  Bajo

  Sexto

  Bajo Sexto

  The bajo sexto is a large, 12-string, rhythm-bass instrument that is a member of the

  guitar family and is primarily played in tejano and conjunto music. The origins of the bajo sexto are not clear, but some believe it originated in Spain in the 13th century. Known there as the bandolón, it was brought to Mexico by Spanish settlers.

  Other scholars claim that it evolved from the 12-string guitar and emerged in the

  Bajio region of Jalisco, Mexico in the 19th century. Regardless of its origins, the

  bajo sexto did not become prominent until the late 19th century.

  The bajo sexto looks much like the 12-string guitar, but it differs in many impor-

  tant ways. It has a deeper sound box, a shorter neck, and thicker strings, which are

  grouped in six pairs or courses. The lowest three pairs (E-e, A-a, d-d’) are tuned in

  octaves and the highest three pairs (g-g, b-b, e’-e’) are tuned in unison.

  During the late 19th century, the bajo sexto was played at weddings and bailes

  de regalos (dances of gifts). When conjunto came onto the scene in the 1930s, the

  bajo sexto was used mainly as a bass instrument to complement the bass line played

  by the accordion. In the late 193
0s, bajo sexto player Santiago Almeida estab-

  lished it as an important lead instrument in the conjunto ensemble. Bass guitar and

  drums were added to the conjunto ensemble in the late 1940s, allowing the bajo

  sexto player to move from strictly rhythmic accompaniment to more melodically

  driven musical lines and solos. A newer version of the bajo sexto called the bajo

  quinto appeared in recent years. It has five pairs of strings instead of the standard

  six, which allows the musician to project a clearer sound.

  Further Reading

  Tejeda, Juan and Avelardo Valdez. Puro Conjunto: An Album in Words & Pictures. San

  Antonio, TX: Center for Mexican and American Studies, 2001.

  Erin Stapleton-Corcoran

  Miguel, Luis

  Multi-award-winning pop singer and heartthrob Luis Miguel (b. 1970) was born

  in Puerto Rico, but considers Mexico his home. At 15, he earned his fi rst

  Grammy, for the duet “Me Gustas Tal Como Eres.” Since then, he has re-

  corded more than 30 albums. Miguel sings exclusively in Spanish, which has

  not hindered his professional career or international popularity. With his 2009

  release, No Culpes a La Noche, he earned his 16th top 10 Top Latin Album.

  In the 1990s, Miguel moved from main stream pop to embrace traditional

  Latin American song forms when he recorded a series of four bolero albums

  Balada

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  Romance (1991), which went gold in the United States; Segundo Romance (1994),

  which earned a Grammy; Romances (1997); and Mis Romances (2001). Miguel sang

  newly composed boleros along with traditional ballads from Mexico, Argen-

  tina, and Brazil, infl uencing a regional revival of bolero. In 2004, Miguel worked

  with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan to record the mariachi-focused México el la

  Piel album through which he celebrated the traditional Mexican mariachi and

  ranchera repertoire.

  Further Reading

  “Luis Miguel,” Contemporary Musicians. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1989. Vol.

  34 (2002): 147–49.

  Rebecca Stuhr

  Balada

  Balada, or the Latin American ro-

  mantic ballad, began in the 1960s as

  a pan-Latin American musical genre

  with its origins in the bolero . Balada