I will first examine the commonalities between Latin American music and dance with popular Hindi film music and dance.
Example #1: The couple in this music video are engaging in a controversia. The woman and man in the film are insulting each other back and forth in a humorous manner. The stanzas have rhyming lines and in-between stanzas there is a guitar interlude, as if to have a pause to allow the singer to think of the next stanza, just as in a traditional controversia. According to our text, this is a connection to the poetic duals in Arabic before the birth of Islam, which may be the link between this music video with the controversia. I would also like to note the constant drum beat in the background, which is also apparent in Latin music (a tumbao).
Example #2: In this Hindi music video, the dance is also a call and response like in a lot of African worker songs. The hand movements are similar to the hand gestures in flamenco, which probably stems from a similar Arabic influence.
Example 3: The beginning of this next song is a cante jondo. The cante jondo is the song of flamenco music in which the words of the song are elongated. It is complemented by the guitar in the background.
An example of the similarities between this song and flamenco music is shown below. Cante jondo has Arabic roots, which may explain the connection of this Hindi song to Flamenco music.
Example 4: In this music video, it is again a dance between a man and woman, however there is a short part at 2:50 where the couple dances a formal dance, much like the western version of the contradanza. This means that the contradanza left the Americas, entered the noble ballrooms of Europe, and then entered India, possibly through British imperialism.
Example 5: This song has a constant rhythm in the background with a circle of people and 1 to 3 dancers in the middle at a time. Often the dancers are a heterosexual couple and the ring of people around them support them with clapping, while the drums in the background make a constant rhythm. Women and men go in and out of the circle, each one showing their dance moves before they exit, and the dances between women and men are playful and sexual. This has remarkable similarities with rumba, in which people take turns at dancing in the middle of a circle of people. There is also a noticeable similarity to guaguanco, because of the couples dances.
Here is also an example of traditional Afro-Cuban street rumba:
Example 6: This video a perfect example of is salsa music and dance accompanied by Hindi lyrics and performed by Indians. This shows how immigrants may come to the Americas and bring back Latin American music and dance.
Another great example of this is this website: http://tangoclub.in/. This website offers Tango dance lessons in India. Tango is Argentinian, and somehow, through migration, media, and spread of cultures, must have gotten to the East.
Now I will explain the effect of Latin American music on my own life as a first generation American.
Example 1: Since I was a child, I loved the hit television show, I Love Lucy. I even bought the Barbie doll. Lucy's husband Ricky was a famous performer who was known especially for his song Babalu Aye, which he sang while he beat his conga drum. What I as a viewer did not catch until this class was that Babalu Aye was an orisha, a diety in the Santeria religion. In the Santeria religion, there are drum songs dedicated to each orisha. Although Ricky's song was not the actual orisha's song, it was a reference to it and its use of the conga drums in its songs.
Ricky's Babalu:
Traditional song to Babalu Aye the orisha in Santeria:
Example 2: Dancing With the Stars became a popular television show when I was in High School. My participation as a viewer exposed me to all kinds of Latin dance and music. Also, in this particular example, the female dancer is an Asian American, which shows Latin music and dance’s influence on later generations of immigrants.
Example 3: Dance classes are offered at the Anteater Recreation Center on our campus (http://www.campusrec.uci.edu/dance/index.asp), such as the Argentinian tango, salsa, and Latin ballroom dancing. Like in this picture, the people who take these classes may be very diverse and include members representing immigrants from Asia and Europe.
Example 4: Popular music on the radio includes a lot of Latin music. When I am in the car and I listen to the radio, often songs like this one come up and I listen to them. They may be in Spanish and heavily influenced by Latin culture and music, and it is a part of my everyday life. This particular song has a high pitched sound used as the clave, the instrument called the chekere, and a constant rythm in the background, or a tumbao, on the drums. It also makes a specific reference to rumba. This video in particular makes references to Latin American countries, like the obvious reference to Brazil. However, it also does a great job of completely sexualizing "rumba," or whatever this song considers to be rumba. (I'm also very disturbed by how horribly this song sexualizes women.. but that is going a little too much off topic). The sexualization of rumba contributes to the United States' sexualization of Latin music and dance.
