Latin ballad

The genre "ballad", of cultural origin in European immigrants in the America of the 1920s contrasted with the development of American music. Blues and jazz in the United States underwent transformations that were brewing since the 1930s and 1940s and that led to the origin of new rhythms. Rock and rollin the mid-1950s transforms contemporary types of music in terms of how to sing them and instrumentation, which includes reverberation for the first time and electric instruments in addition to the traditional symphonic balladism. Ballads spread in the acetates and in American cinema all over the world also influencing.

One of the main diffusers was Elvis Presley , when he diversified his music, in addition to rock and roll, cultivating the new ballad, influencing the romantic Sentimental ballad (slow rock) of the late decade (led by Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka ). The 1950s were the postwar years, Europe and Asia came out of the ruins produced by the Second World War; Latin America, Europe and the other continents received American musical influence and produced reissues of American ballads with new lyrics in native languages for more than a decade. Prior to this, the native music of the countries of the world was relegated to American singers (such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra) who filled the billboards since the 1930s.

The Latin or romantic ballad has its origin in the Latin American bolero in the 1950s (Lucho Gatica, Leo Marini), but also in the romantic song in Italian (Nicola Di Bari) and French (Charles Aznavour) in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Mexico, the first ballad recorded as such is "Sonata de Amor" (Sonata of Love) of Mario Álvarez in 1961. In 1965 the famous bolero singer-songwriter Armando Manzanero, sang his first ballad, "Pobres besos míos" (My Poor Kisses).

The heyday of the ballad was reached in the mid-1970s, where artists such as José José, Camilo Sesto, Raphael, Roberto Carlos, Rocío Dúrcal and others released a big number of hits. The main hits of José José were "El triste" (The Sad One), "La nave del olvido" (The Ship of Forgetfullness), "Te extraño" (I Miss You, also written by Manzanero), "Amar y querer" (To love and To want), or "Gavilán o paloma" (Hawk or Dove), "El pasado" (The Past), "Volcán" (Volcano) or "Lo que no fue no será" (What Never Was Will Never Be). By Roberto Carlos the songs "Amigos" (Friends) or "Detalles" (Details). By Camilo Sesto the hits "Fresa Salvaje" (Wild Strawberry), "Perdóname" (Forgive Me) or "Vivir Así es Morir de Amor" (To Live Like This is to Die of Love). Rocío Dúrcal enjoyed worldwide success and was known as "La Dama de la canción" (The Lady of Song). Her successful ballads include "Costumbres" (Customs), "Amor Eterno" (Eternal Love), "Diferentes" (Different), among many others that were released in Latin America.[2] These songs are widely known today in Latin America.

The heyday of the ballad was romantic in the 1980s, where artists such as Amanda Miguel, Diego Verdaguer and others released a big number of hits. The main hits of Amanda Miguel were "Así no te amará jamás" (This Way He Will Never Love You), "Quiero un amor total" (I want a total Love), by 1980 or "Él me mintió" (He Lied to Me), "Amanda al piano" (Amanda at the Piano), by 1981 or "Mi buen corazón" (My Good Heart), "Hagamos un trato" (Let's Make a Deal), by 1982 or "¿Quien será?" (Who Will it Be?) "Siempre te amare" (Always Love You) "Castillos" (Castles), "Un día de estos" (One of These Days), "Poquito a poco" (Little by Little), "Cosquillas en el pecho " (Tickle Chest), "Igual que un avión" (Just Like an Airplane), by 1983 or "El gato y yo" (The Cat and Me), "¿A donde va?" (Where are you Going?), by 1984 among many others that were released in Los Angeles. These songs are widely known today in Southern California.

In the course of their existence the genre merged with diverse rhythms to form several variants, such as romantic salsa and cumbia aside others.

From the 1990s, globalization and media internationalization processes that integrated contributed to the ballad's spread international spread and further homogenize around a common Latin identity. As part of the Latin Americanization of the United States and the dominant presence in the genre of multinational record labels, Miami has become the main producer of ballads[2] which in turn has fed back trends of migration of Latino and Hispanic performers, producers and musicians to that city. By the turn of the 2010s however, Latin ballads have begun to lose popularity as uptempo Latin genres such as bachata, reggaeton, and Spanish-language electropop music have gained popularity with the Hispanic audience in the radio.[3]

The ethnomusicologist Daniel Party defines the romantic ballad as "a love song of slow tempo, played by a solo singer accompanied by an orchestra usually" .[4]

The ballad and bolero are often confused and songs can fall in one or the other category without too much precision. The distinction between them is referring primarily to a more sophisticated and more metaphorical language and subtle bolero, compared with a more direct expression of the ballad.

Party stressed that the romantic ballad derive from "Latin common sensibility"[4] He draws on the research of Jesus Martin-Barbero to highlight that the romantic ballad is an expression of a broader cultural process, called by Martin-Barbero as "emotional integration in Latin America", a phenomenon that would explain a generalization of the ways of feeling and express the emotions of the Latinos, through gestures, sounds, rhythms and cadences common literary devices, linked in turn to the telenovela.[5]

• Ballad
• Latin pop
• Latin music (genre)