(More) Music From Around The World

So I decided to talk about a couple more music styles from around the world, which you should be familiar with, but I'm going to just explain a bit more about them and how and where they started. I hope you enjoy!


Reggae:
When you hear 'reggae', you probably immediately think of Jamaica, but in fact this style of music has its roots in the USA and Africa, not in Jamaica at all. However, in the 1960's it was mainly only being played in Jamaica, and this is where it made its debut in popularity, which is why it is now associated with Jamaica. The man who was mainly responsible for popularising the music genre was Bob Marley, who was originally the lead singer of The Wailers, the band that produced the first ever album of reggae music. Since his death on May 11th 1981, Marley's legacy is larger than ever. In December 1999, his 1977 album 'Exodus' was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine, and the BBC recognised his song 'One Love' as the song of the millennium. Nowadays, reggae isn't even in the top ten most popular music genres in the US. 

Latino Music:
Latino (or Latin American) music is a very broad genre as it encompasses everything from contemporary Latin music to salsa and flamenco styles. Latin music generally refers to music originating in the Latin American countries that speak Spanish and Portuguese, namely in South America and the Caribbean. After Columbus arrived in America, something positive came out of that traumatic experience: Latin American Music. First of all, the Europeans brought over the Spanish and Portuguese languages, which is one of the defining characteristics of Latino music. However along with their language, the Europeans also brought their music and more importantly, their instruments. The music was of course vital, but without the instruments, the new inhabitants of South America wouldn't have been able to change it and adapt it to make what we know today as Latino Music, now one of the fastest growing genres of music. 

Soul Music
When I say 'soul music', you probably think of great names like Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King and Otis Redding, or at least I hope you would as it is people like them that are the greats of soul music. Soul music is defined as a mix of R&B (rhythm and blues) and Gospel music, and it began in the 1950's in the United States. Soul music really took off in the 1960's and it dominated the black music charts for the majority of the  next two decades and inspired many other music styles of the time. Although its popularity has dwindled over the years, it was so influential that its traces and impact can still be heard in much of the popular music of today, in a number of different styles including  Rock, Funk, Neo-Soul and Contemporary Pop. 

SOURCES:
http://www.scaruffi.com/history/reggae.html
http://www.bobmarley.com/history/
http://latinmusic.about.com/od/basics101/a/Latin-Music-History.htm
http://randb.about.com/od/rb12/p/SoulMusic.htm