Viva Espana And Mexico

Description

Viva Espana and MexicoThe current rebirth of interest in Latin-American dancemusic, rumba, samba, mambo salsa, and other neo-African variants, has its roots in the 1920s or evenearlier. During the first decades of the last century theArgentinian tango and its habanera hybrids had beenpopularised throughout Europe and by 1930 therecording and broadcasting industries were exploitingthe commercial possibilities of other dance rhythmsfrom other southern American countries, Brazil,Mexico and Cuba. In the United States parallelprocesses of evolution continued under the generalheading of 'commercial dance', first through the 'KingOf Kitsch' Xavier Cugat and Perez Prado and, later,with jazz and Afro, and, later even, reggae-overlap,successively, by Tito Puente, Machito, Charlie Parkerand, in the late 1980s, by 'Miami's Golden Girl' GloriaEstefan. From the early 1920s onwards Europe,however, and specifically Paris, saw a sophisticatinginflux of Latin musicians, in particular several Cubans,including Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1963) and DonMarino Barreto (1909-1997). In London, Lecuona set abenchmark by his first visit with his Cuban Boys (in1934), while Barreto subsequently established himselfin the British capital, to be followed by the part-Scots,part-black Venezuelan, Trinidad-born Edmundo Ros(born 1910), and the Scottish Roberto Inglez (aliasRobert Inglis, 1919-1978) and others.As in other musical genres deriving in smaller orgreater part from folk-dance sources, it can often bedifficult to differentiate the authentically Latin from thespurious, or the truly traditional from the commercialcounterfeiting of Tin Pan Alley, however catchy thetune. Into the latter category we can, however, withconfidence place Chiquita Banana, a 1938 creation byLen Mackenzie, Garth Montgomery and bandleader BillWirges, by Maxwell-Wirges Publications, New York.And while the ballad (cancion) Granada, published byPeer International Corporation, New York, in 1932, wasfeatured by vocalists as diverse as Mario Lanza andClaudio Villa, its indisputably mock-heroic semblanceconceals its genuinely Mexican origins. Its composerAgustin Lara (1900-1970), a native of Tlacotalpan,spent most of his working life in Mexico City.Musically self-taught, he earned his living playing inMexican brothels and speakeasies, where theexperience of having his face slashed in a brawl with awoman reputedly inspired his 'paean to womanhood,Morucha', His other successes included Rosa, Tuspupila, Gotas de amor and, even more famously Mujer.La raspa (literally either 'shrew' or 'scolding') maybe traceable to the early flamenco, El raspao, whereasunder its original title Jarabe tapatio, Mexican HatDance derives from a rhythm of Arabic origintraditionally performed by the inhabitants ofGuadalajara. This last was reportedly first danced in1790 at the Coliseo in Mexico City, but its earliestpublication copyright in Mexico dates from 1919 and itlater became even better known through a 1933 NewYork re-publication, in