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Here are a few traditional Latin musical instruments that enjoyed popularity back in the day. Table of Contents. 1. Bongo Drums. 2. Marímbula. 3. Berimbau. 4. Agogo. 5. Marimba. 6. Güira. 7. Pandeiro. 8. Pan Flute. 9. Requinto Guitar. 10. Conga. 1. Bongo Drums. Check Price.
- 10 Most Common Musical Instruments Used In Salsa
The instruments used by Salsa bands are similar to those in...
- 10 Most Common Musical Instruments Used In Salsa
- Bongos. Bongos are arguably the most popular Afro-Cuban drums in the world. Experts believe that African slaves introduced them in the eastern regions of Cuba in the 19th century.
- Claves. Claves are a type of idiophone that is one of the most crucial instruments in Salsa and many other Latin American music. They are basically a pair of hollow wooden sticks that produce a bright clicking sound when struck together.
- Conga. Congas are a kind of drums that has its roots in Africa. They are also known as tumbadora and one of the most widely used instruments in any Cuban music, including Salsa.
- Timbales. Timbales or pailas are a pair of drums that are played by sticks rather than hands. They are a type of shallow single-headed drums with metal casings.
- Overview
- Characteristic instruments
Although the indigenous cultures used numerous percussion and wind instruments, stringed instruments arrived with the colonists. The rich Iberian tradition of stringed instruments—guitar and guitarlike instruments, lute, mandolin, harp, and violin—spread rapidly through all of Latin America. Yet in practice these instruments respond to different aesthetic outlooks. In the Andean area, for example, the common charango is a lutelike or guitarlike instrument of five courses of multiple strings, frequently with a body made of an armadillo shell; it sounds quite differently among Indians, who use thin metal strings, and mestizos, who use nylon strings. The Spanish classical guitar and the Portuguese viola (a guitarlike instrument with five courses of double strings, as a rule) have become the characteristic folk instruments of Hispanic America and Brazil, respectively. The berimbau, a type of musical bow, probably of African origin, became the foundation of music for the Brazilian capoeira. Combinations of instruments in ensemble performance frequently integrate the tri-ethnic heritage, as, for example, in the Guatemalan ensemble of chirimía, marimba (of African origin), and Mayan drum (tun or tunkul).
As mentioned above, Indian cultures throughout Latin America created numerous wind instruments, many of them flutes. Most of the flutes are single-pipe vertical flutes with either whistle-type (e.g., the pincollos of the Inca) or end-notched (e.g., the Andean quena) mouthpieces. Whistles and ocarinas are also found throughout Latin America. Folk and popular music traditions continue to use numerous types of panpipes (for example, the sicuris of the Aymara people, the antaras of the Quechua, and the zampoña of mestizo Andean musicians), with varying numbers of pipes in single or double rows. (See flute for more-detailed descriptions of vertical flutes, ocarinas, whistles, and panpipes.) Natural trumpets (such as the clarín of indigenous Peruvians and the trutruka of the Mapuche of Argentina and Chile) also represent another native contribution to contemporary instrumentation.
Throughout the colonial period, European influences continued to be felt as more instruments and ensembles were introduced to Latin America. Single- and double-reed woodwinds—for example, the chirimía (a Spanish folk oboe)—appear in many countries and in various ensemble combinations. Military-style brass bands became popular in the 19th century and developed into the common town band (banda del pueblo) used for civic occasions. Brass instruments and woodwinds are incorporated into various band arrangements among mestizo and Indian communities (as, for example, in the fiestas of the Purépecha of Michoacán, Mexico), as well as in a wide array of urban popular dance music. The European accordion, introduced in the second half of the 19th century, became an authentic folk and popular instrument in many Latin American and Caribbean genres, among them the Texan-Mexican conjunto, the Mexican norteño polka, the Colombian vallenato, the Brazilian baião and forró, and the Argentine cuarteto. The button accordion known as the bandoneón is one of the primary instruments of the tango of Argentina and Uruguay.
Latin American music is particularly characterized by its prominent use of percussion instruments. Each of the major traditions contributed percussion instruments that remained in common use. The indigenous cultures had slit drums, single-headed small drums, cup-shaped ceramic drums, double-headed drums (e.g., bombos), and a great variety of shaken rattles (maracas), scrapers, and stamping tubes.
Instruments of African derivation constitute the largest group of percussion instruments in Latin American use. Afro-Cuban religious music retains the batá drums of the Yoruba of Nigeria, as well as several types and sizes of conga drums (including the quinto drum of the rumba) and the larger tumbadora. In most Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American traditional religions, drums are considered sacred instruments and undergo a rite of passage (“baptism”) to sacralize them. Conga-type drums (cone-shaped) and barrel-shaped drums are found with regional names in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. Other typical drums include certain friction drums used in various folk and popular dance genres (e.g., Brazilian cuíca, Venezuelan furruco) and the bongos (two joined small drums of different sizes) of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Many other percussion instruments are also of African origin. A large number of scrapers were adapted to regional use, including the Cuban güiro, Colombian carrasca, Brazilian reco-reco, and many others. These join with bells, stamping tubes, wood blocks, claves (hardwood sticks struck together), and various types of rattles to form part of numerous ensembles. A large and deep-sounding version of the African mbira or sansa (“thumb piano”) is found in the Caribbean, where it is known as the marímbula. The marimba of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and other Central American countries, as well as the Pacific coastal region of Colombia, is of African origin and fulfills a solo or accompaniment function in specific local genres.
Although the indigenous cultures used numerous percussion and wind instruments, stringed instruments arrived with the colonists. The rich Iberian tradition of stringed instruments—guitar and guitarlike instruments, lute, mandolin, harp, and violin—spread rapidly through all of Latin America. Yet in practice these instruments respond to different aesthetic outlooks. In the Andean area, for example, the common charango is a lutelike or guitarlike instrument of five courses of multiple strings, frequently with a body made of an armadillo shell; it sounds quite differently among Indians, who use thin metal strings, and mestizos, who use nylon strings. The Spanish classical guitar and the Portuguese viola (a guitarlike instrument with five courses of double strings, as a rule) have become the characteristic folk instruments of Hispanic America and Brazil, respectively. The berimbau, a type of musical bow, probably of African origin, became the foundation of music for the Brazilian capoeira. Combinations of instruments in ensemble performance frequently integrate the tri-ethnic heritage, as, for example, in the Guatemalan ensemble of chirimía, marimba (of African origin), and Mayan drum (tun or tunkul).
As mentioned above, Indian cultures throughout Latin America created numerous wind instruments, many of them flutes. Most of the flutes are single-pipe vertical flutes with either whistle-type (e.g., the pincollos of the Inca) or end-notched (e.g., the Andean quena) mouthpieces. Whistles and ocarinas are also found throughout Latin America. Folk and popular music traditions continue to use numerous types of panpipes (for example, the sicuris of the Aymara people, the antaras of the Quechua, and the zampoña of mestizo Andean musicians), with varying numbers of pipes in single or double rows. (See flute for more-detailed descriptions of vertical flutes, ocarinas, whistles, and panpipes.) Natural trumpets (such as the clarín of indigenous Peruvians and the trutruka of the Mapuche of Argentina and Chile) also represent another native contribution to contemporary instrumentation.
Throughout the colonial period, European influences continued to be felt as more instruments and ensembles were introduced to Latin America. Single- and double-reed woodwinds—for example, the chirimía (a Spanish folk oboe)—appear in many countries and in various ensemble combinations. Military-style brass bands became popular in the 19th century and developed into the common town band (banda del pueblo) used for civic occasions. Brass instruments and woodwinds are incorporated into various band arrangements among mestizo and Indian communities (as, for example, in the fiestas of the Purépecha of Michoacán, Mexico), as well as in a wide array of urban popular dance music. The European accordion, introduced in the second half of the 19th century, became an authentic folk and popular instrument in many Latin American and Caribbean genres, among them the Texan-Mexican conjunto, the Mexican norteño polka, the Colombian vallenato, the Brazilian baião and forró, and the Argentine cuarteto. The button accordion known as the bandoneón is one of the primary instruments of the tango of Argentina and Uruguay.
Latin American music is particularly characterized by its prominent use of percussion instruments. Each of the major traditions contributed percussion instruments that remained in common use. The indigenous cultures had slit drums, single-headed small drums, cup-shaped ceramic drums, double-headed drums (e.g., bombos), and a great variety of shaken rattles (maracas), scrapers, and stamping tubes.
Instruments of African derivation constitute the largest group of percussion instruments in Latin American use. Afro-Cuban religious music retains the batá drums of the Yoruba of Nigeria, as well as several types and sizes of conga drums (including the quinto drum of the rumba) and the larger tumbadora. In most Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American traditional religions, drums are considered sacred instruments and undergo a rite of passage (“baptism”) to sacralize them. Conga-type drums (cone-shaped) and barrel-shaped drums are found with regional names in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. Other typical drums include certain friction drums used in various folk and popular dance genres (e.g., Brazilian cuíca, Venezuelan furruco) and the bongos (two joined small drums of different sizes) of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Many other percussion instruments are also of African origin. A large number of scrapers were adapted to regional use, including the Cuban güiro, Colombian carrasca, Brazilian reco-reco, and many others. These join with bells, stamping tubes, wood blocks, claves (hardwood sticks struck together), and various types of rattles to form part of numerous ensembles. A large and deep-sounding version of the African mbira or sansa (“thumb piano”) is found in the Caribbean, where it is known as the marímbula. The marimba of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and other Central American countries, as well as the Pacific coastal region of Colombia, is of African origin and fulfills a solo or accompaniment function in specific local genres.
- Gerard Béhague
Music performance (often allied with dance) is depicted as a large-ensemble activity, in which numerous participants variously play instruments, sing, or dance. The 8th-century murals of the Bonampak temple, for example, show a procession with trumpets, drums, and rattles.
- Gerard Béhague
- 4 min
- Accordion. A familiar instrument to most, the accordion comprises hand bellows, a treble casing, and a bass casing. The two casings sit on opposite sides of the bellows and feature piano keys (for the treble) and buttons (for the bass).
- Arpa Jarocha. The Arpa Jarocha or Mexican Harp is a large, wooden-framed harp, which has 32 to 36 strings made initially from animal guts, but nylon is now used, a resonator, a flat soundboard (occasionally arch outwards), and without any pedals.
- Ayoyotes. The Ayoyotes are part of the legacy left behind by the Aztecs. They are considered percussion instruments, which are made of the hard shells of seeds from the Ayoyote tree.
- Bajo Sexto. The Bajo Sexto is part of the guitar family, belonging to the strings section. These are larger than standard-sized guitars with twelve strings divided into six sets of two strings.
Explore 12 of the most popular Latin music and dance styles, including their origins and key characteristics. Each section includes a video clip that captures the essence of the music and dance.
May 28, 2020 · There are a huge number of types of Latin percussion instruments and Latin music styles – ranging from dance favourites such as Latin American drums, rhumba, merenge and salsa to chart-topping reggaeton and through to the intensity of tango.
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