In Peter Wade’s book, “Music, Race and Nation,” he makes the observation that many of the Caribbean and Latin-American countries have very similar types of “national music.”
I never realized how similar they actually were until I read this, and with the intervention of that great illustrator, YouTube, I was able to see this as well in living html video.
Here they are:
First up is this lesser known Big Drum style from Cariacou.
Also bearing some similarity to this is the Tambú tradition from Curacao.
Not to be left out, here is Bomba from Puerto Rico with none other than Big Bird in attendance.
From the South American continent, here is festejo from Peru.
This list can go on and on, not indefinitely of course as the region is limited, but we can also add merengue tipico from Dominican Republic,gwo ka from Guadeloupe and Rhumba from Cuba. All of them are:
- Acoustic based
- Clearly polyrhythmic
- Have women in flowing skirts and men in straw hats
- Have call-and-response songs
In short, it is ironic how these expressions which are so closely linked to parochial nationalism are less unique than the states which promote them like to say. In fact, there is a strong argument for a Latin American and Caribbean culture over a nationalist one, but alas, difference is far too appealing, but don’t they look similar?
stefanwalcott.com 
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