The Pasadoble

• This ballroom style of music was originally performed at Spanish bullfights during the entrance of a bullfighter and just before the killing of the bull. 
• It is common to several Latin American areas such as Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, and Columbia.

The Bolero 

* A Spanish dance performed to a moderately slow, lyrical ballad

* Uses 3/4 meter and triplet rhythms accompanied by castanets and guitars

* Popular in Mexico, Central American and the Caribbean

* The Cuban version is a simple 2/4 or 4/4 meter based on the traveling storytelling traditions of the trova (socio-political lyrics)

Salsa 

* A Spanish Caribbean style of music developed by Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants during the 1960s and 1070s

* Combines Latin styles with pop, jazz, rock and R&B

* The most popular dance in Puerto Rican and Cuban communities

Ranchera 

* Traditional music of Mexico

* Originated on Mexican ranches (haciendas) and the rural countryside

* Songs are drawn from traditional folklore stories about love, patriotism or nature

* Closely related to the Mariachi groups

* Ensembles are made up of guitars, strings, trumpets and accordions

Reggae 

* Developed in Jamaica in the 1060s

* Formed from a pre-existing style known as ska and combines the elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and R&B

* Drummers accent the third beat (called the one drop) of each measure

* Guitar plays the chords on beats 2 and 4 (called the shank)

* Bass plays simple two-measure melodic patterns

Tango 

* Originated and Spain with European influence

* Tells a story as the listener is given a sense of sentences, paragraphs and punctuation through its use of major and minor musical phrases

* Connected to a dance with roots in Argentina and Uruguay

Calypso 

* A style of Afro-Caribbean music from Trinidad and Tobago combining French, Spanish and British music styles

* Slaves used calypso as a means of communication and to mock slave owners when not allowed to speak

* Eventually the music grew into a style that was performed at Carnaval, a French celebration

* Later became a way of communicating news to the public about island life, political corruption or insults to each other