Ads · Latin music instruments
Extensive range of music instruments for all skill-levels. Try us out today! Huge selection - low prices. More than 55,000 products in stock. Fast delivery times
Join our wholesale network. Streamline your music business
Search results
- The genres of Latin American and Caribbean urban popular music that developed in the 20th century incorporated musical instruments of all three traditions, most often European string, woodwind, brass, and keyboard melodic instruments supported by Indian or African-derived harmonic and rhythmic instruments.
www.britannica.com/art/Latin-American-music/Characteristic-instrumentsLatin American music - Marimba, Charango, Quena | Britannica
People also ask
What are some traditional Latin musical instruments?
What is Latin percussion?
What percussion instruments are used in Latin America?
Where did Latin American music come from?
What is Latin music?
What instruments are used in Mexican music?
- Bongo Drums. The bongo drums shortly called bongos are a percussion instrument with a pair of unequal drums. The larger drum and the smaller drum were named hembra and macho in order.
- Marímbula. The marímbula is a lamellophone and is also known as the marimba in regions such as the Dominican Republic but it should not be confused with the percussion instrument marimba (about which, you’ll know soon in this article).
- Berimbau. The berimbau is a percussion instrument with its origin in Africa and has become popular with the Brazilians. Capoeira is a martial art from Brazil with a blend of acrobatics, dance, and music.
- Agogo. The agogo is an idiophone and the instrument is a bell or a pair of bells. It was first used in West Africa and later brought to Brazil in Latin America.
- Overview
- Characteristic instruments
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
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.
Learn about the diverse and rich musical instruments of Latin America, from indigenous flutes and drums to European guitars and accordions. Explore how different cultures and traditions have blended and adapted these instruments in folk and popular genres.
- Gerard Béhague
Learn about the musical traditions of Latin America, from pre-Columbian cultures to colonial and modern times. Explore the diverse instruments, styles, and influences of Latin American music, such as drums, flutes, guitars, and more.
- Gerard Béhague
Latin music (Portuguese and Spanish: música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, [1] which encompasses Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the Latino population in Canada and the United States, [2] [3] [4] [5] as well as music that is sung in either Spanish and/or ...
- Digital Piano. Invented by Harold Rhodes in the recent era, digital piano is an alternative to the acoustic counterpart with almost the same construction and working method.
- Pandeiro. This instrument resembles a tambourine. It is held by the hand and comes with small cymbals around its side. It’s widely popular in Brazilian music especially capoeira and samba.
- Conga. With its origins from Cuba, this single-headed drum commonly comes in a set of two. Each of the drums is tuned to a specific pitch, giving the drums its rhythmic beat.
- Güiro. This handheld musical instrument is also believed to originate from Cuba. It is made with a piece of metal or wood. It is hollowed out and comes with grooves that run horizontally along its side.
Oct 10, 2023 · During its colorful history, Mexican music developed various styles, including Mexican Son (with many regional variations), Ranchera, Norteño, Banda, and one of the most popular, Mariachi. All of these styles showcase some of the traditional instruments that are associated with Mexican music.
Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music.
Choose from 40,000+ tracks & 90,000+ sound effects in 170+ genres in our audio library. As a subscriber you can download music and share your content on all social platforms.
New stock every week. Shop our range of Fender, Gibson, PRS, Taylor Guitars & more. All the latest effects & accessories.
