Essential question
What Latin American genres inspired Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit song “Despacito”?
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OVERVIEW
In 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s music video “Despacito” was neck-to-neck with Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” in a race to receive a record 3 billion views on Youtube. At the beginning of the year, it seemed almost certain “See You Again” would be the new record holder. Since its release in 2015, the song’s viewership continued to steadily grow, no doubt thanks to its two star performers, a Hollywood film tie-in, and the moving story behind its creation.
But then in early January 2017, “Despacito” was posted on youtube, and took off like a rocket. In less than six months, it received 2 billion views, a milestone that took “See You Again” two entire years to reach. A remix featuring Justin Bieber helped propel “Despacito” in the #1 position in charts in close to 50 countries, including the United States. By September, the song surpassed “See You Again” to be the most watched video on Youtube, later setting a record of over 4 billion viewers.
It may seem astonishing that a song sung entirely in Spanish and based in a Puerto Rican urban genre so quickly achieved such a level of popularity. Yet, for those familiar with Latin music, it hardly seems surprising. For decades, Música Tropical, or pop music from the Caribbean islands, has had immense popularity in Latin American countries.
Reggaeton, the genre “Despacito” most easily fits into, is only the most recent in a long string of Caribbean music styles, from Bachata to Merengue to Salsa, whose infectious melodies and danceable rhythms attract millions. With the globalizing capability of Youtube and other streaming services, it was only a matter of time before this music achieved equal popularity in the English-speaking world.
Perhaps a key to the success of “Despacito” particularly was also due to it’s embrace of a variety of Latin American genres. While the song’s performers, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi and rapper Daddy Yankee, most clearly position the song in the category of Latin Pop and Reggaeton, producers of the song, Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres, made an effort to incorporate a wide variety of Latin American musical styles, from traditional Puerto Rican rural music to Colombian Cumbia.
In this lesson, we will learn four Latin American music styles: Reggaeton, Música Jibara, Cumbia, and Salsa. We will learn how producers Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres drew upon each of these genres in creating “Despacito.” At the end, we will closely listen to the song to pinpoint where these various Latin American genres are first introduced. Finally, students consider where “Despacito” fits with a longer history of American popular music that adopts Latin American elements.
But then in early January 2017, “Despacito” was posted on youtube, and took off like a rocket. In less than six months, it received 2 billion views, a milestone that took “See You Again” two entire years to reach. A remix featuring Justin Bieber helped propel “Despacito” in the #1 position in charts in close to 50 countries, including the United States. By September, the song surpassed “See You Again” to be the most watched video on Youtube, later setting a record of over 4 billion viewers.
It may seem astonishing that a song sung entirely in Spanish and based in a Puerto Rican urban genre so quickly achieved such a level of popularity. Yet, for those familiar with Latin music, it hardly seems surprising. For decades, Música Tropical, or pop music from the Caribbean islands, has had immense popularity in Latin American countries.
Reggaeton, the genre “Despacito” most easily fits into, is only the most recent in a long string of Caribbean music styles, from Bachata to Merengue to Salsa, whose infectious melodies and danceable rhythms attract millions. With the globalizing capability of Youtube and other streaming services, it was only a matter of time before this music achieved equal popularity in the English-speaking world.
Perhaps a key to the success of “Despacito” particularly was also due to it’s embrace of a variety of Latin American genres. While the song’s performers, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi and rapper Daddy Yankee, most clearly position the song in the category of Latin Pop and Reggaeton, producers of the song, Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres, made an effort to incorporate a wide variety of Latin American musical styles, from traditional Puerto Rican rural music to Colombian Cumbia.
In this lesson, we will learn four Latin American music styles: Reggaeton, Música Jibara, Cumbia, and Salsa. We will learn how producers Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres drew upon each of these genres in creating “Despacito.” At the end, we will closely listen to the song to pinpoint where these various Latin American genres are first introduced. Finally, students consider where “Despacito” fits with a longer history of American popular music that adopts Latin American elements.
Questions
- Do you know where Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee are from?
- What might make this song different than other hit songs in the United States?
- What signals this song as “Latin”?
Reggaeton
Region of Origin: Jamaica/Panama/Puerto Rico Background: Reggaeton is a hybrid genre which mixes reggae, rap, and Latin American music styles. Though it emerged in the 1990s, Reggaeton has a long developmental history that spans both decades and countries.
In the early 1900s, the United States began construction on the Panama Canal—one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken. As a result, thousands of Jamaicans moved to Panama to work on the canal. These immigrants and their children maintained a close connection with their homeland, and were aware of cultural developments occurring in Jamaica, including the rise of Reggae in the 1960s. It was only a matter of time before Panamanians also began embracing Reggae, and soon singers started covering Reggae songs in Spanish. A new style was born: Reggae en Español. Reggae en Español then spread to New York City, with the help of Panamanian immigrants. There the genre was soon embraced by the Puerto Rican community and sent back to Puerto Rico, where producers and rappers such as Don Omar and Daddy Yankee began adding their own influence to Reggae en Español, mixing it with Hip Hop and the Latin styles of Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata. They named this new genre Reggaeton. Musical Characteristics: Like Hip Hop, Reggaeton is created largely through sampling and other studio production techniques, although it is not unusual for producers to incorporate acoustic instruments as well. More than anything else, the defining musical feature of Reggaeton is the underlying beat, which can be traced back to the 1991 song “Dem Bow,” by Jamaican DJ/Vocalist Shabba Ranks. The sampled instrumental track in the song (known as a “Riddim” in Jamaica) has become the foundation of the Reggaeton sound. Musical Activity: The “Dem Bow” rhythm is built between a snare drum and bass drum sound. When rehearsing the rhythm, try to use foot stomps and hand claps to approximate the bass drum/snare drum sound. Vocalization: Boom-ch-boom-chick |
CUMBIARegion of Origin: Northern Colombia
Background: Cumbia can be traced back to the 1800s, when it was performed by African communities along the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. By the 1930s, Cumbia’s popularity as a dance music spread throughout South America and the Caribbean, with traveling bands and recording artists regularly incorporating Cumbias into their song repertoire. Today, Cumbia remains one of the most popular music styles in Latin America. In countries like Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile, it is considered a popular “tropical music,” a category that also includes Salsa and Reggae. Countries such as Chile and Peru have mixed Cumbia with their own folkloric music to make hybrid styles. In Colombia, Cumbia has split into three major styles: the traditional version as it was played in the early 20th century; an electrified version that developed in the 1960s; and a version that is often performed by Salsa groups. Cumbia traditionally served to accompany courtship dances, though as it spread throughout South America and the Caribbean, it adapted other kinds of dance styles. While instruments associated with Cumbia vary by region, percussion instruments remain essential. Common percussion instruments include various sized drums, shakers called guache, and the scraped metal güira. Today, it is just as common for these instruments to be digitally programmed on keyboards or computers as it is to have musicians play them. Musical Characteristics: Like many Latin American music styles, Cumbia is defined by a collection of unique interlocking rhythms, often played by percussion instruments. These rhythms were thought to be quite complex early in the history of the music, but, as the style spread, some of the rhythms became more simplified. Musical Activity: One of the simplest Cumbia rhythms to learn is the one typically performed on the güira. Vocalization: Cha-ch-ch cha-ch-ch Check this artist out! https://musicalexplorers.carnegiehall.org/?artist=gregorio |
Música JíbaraRegion of Origin: Rural Puerto Rico
Background: Música Jíbara refers not to a single genre, but a variety of musical practices performed by the Jíbaros, traditional farmers who often live in rural mountainous areas in Puerto Rico. The instruments most associated with Música Jíbara are a collection of hourglass-shaped lutes of various sizes. Of these instruments, the cuatro, a small 10-string lute, has arguably become most representative of Puerto Rico in general. Non-stringed instruments commonly associated with Música Jíbara include the güiro, a scraped percussion instrument, and bongos, a pair of two small drums. Today, the guitar is also a commonly used instrument in Música Jíbara. Musical Characteristics: One of the most well-known styles associated with Música Jíbara is the décima. The décima is a style of sung poetry, and is one of the oldest musical traditions in Puerto Rico. The poetic form to a décima are usually based on the espinela, named after famous Spanish poet Vicente Gómez Martínez-Espinel. The espinela features ten eight-syllable lines split into rhyming couplets, with a pause between the first four and second four lines. In performance, the singer/poet sings the lines, which are either composed beforehand or improvised, to an instrumental accompaniment provided by instruments such as the cuatro. |
SALSA
Region of Origin: Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The United States
Background: Like it’s namesake, Salsa (literally, “sauce”), is a mixture of musical styles from the United States and the Caribbean. The genre was first created in New York City in the 1960s, when Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians living in the city began mixing jazz, blues and classical music with the folkloric musics of their own Caribbean homelands. The result was a new style that incorporated Cuban rhythms and percussion instruments with Puerto Rican song forms and jazz melodies and harmonies. Salsa became an international phenomenon, and grew to influence other popular musicians such as Carlos Santana, who mixed Salsa with Rock and Roll, and Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, who mixed Salsa music with American Pop. Musical Characteristics: A large influence of Salsa music was the Cuban Son, a dance music that first developed among peasants in Eastern Cuba as far back as the 1700s. Many characteristics of Son, such as the rhythms and the call-and-response montuno section, are foundational to Salsa music. One of the most important instruments of Salsa music that comes from Cuba is the timbales, a set of two drums with metal shells. Because the drums are naturally loud, they often serve as a way to give signals to the rest of the band. For instance, when a certain rhythm on the timbales is performed, the band moves on to another section of the song. When not signaling the band, the timbales player often plays Cuban Son rhythms on the sides of the drum, or on a woodblock, cowbell, or cymbal placed next to the drums. Musical Activity: One of the simplest rhythms the timbale player might perform is on the cowbell, and is built by steady quarter notes. |
Garage Band
Let's make a beat in Garage Band on your iPad. Using the drums and beat sequencer create and layer the Latin rhythms discussed (Reggaeton, Cubia, Salsa).
Producers Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres
Producers Mauricio Rengífo and Andres Torres discuss how they incorporated these genres into “Despacito.”
- Why did the producers feel the need to mix both digital and acoustic tracks for the song?
- What instruments do the producers use to signify Salsa music?
- What instruments do the producers use to signify Cumbia music?
- What instruments do the producers use to signify traditional Puerto Rican music?
- How do Rengífo and Torres use the Timbales in the song? Do they use it as it is traditionally used in Salsa?
FOr your padlet
We are going to listen to Despacito one more time. Let's review how each of these Latin styles are represented. Tell me when they appear in the song.
- How is Reggaeton represented? When is Reggaeton first represented?
- How is Cumbia represented? When is Cumbia first represented?
- How is Musica Jibara represented? When is Musica Jibara first represented?
- How is Salsa represented? When is Salsa first represented?