This year for Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 – October 15, we’re going to be releasing some blog posts and playlists that explore the music of Latin culture.
Spanning over two continents, Latin America is composed of dozens of different countries, each with their own rich history and cultures. Calling all Latin American music simply “Spanish music” is as incomprehensive as lumping all English language music into the same category.
Latin American music is a melting pot of European, African, and Indigenous influences. That being said, this list barely scratches the surface of what Latin American music has to offer. Here’s a list of some of the most well known and influential songs in Spanish and Portuguese to come out of Latin America. Even if you don’t speak a word or Spanish or Portuguese, you’re sure to find something on this list you’ll enjoy!
The tracks have been compiled into a YouTube playlist as well!
Oye Cómo Va
Oye Cómo Va is a cha-cha-chá track recorded in 1962 by Tito Puente. Though Puente himself is of Puerto Rican descent, cha-cha-chá is a Cuban dance genre that developed in the early 1950s.
The song rose in mainstream popularity when it was covered by rock band Santana in 1970. Due to its multinational origins—Cuban, Puerto Rican, and American—and its many versions by artists from all over the world, Oye Cómo Va has come to represent “the interconnectedness, hybridity and transnationality” of Latin music in the United States.
Fun fact: When interviewed, Puente explained how he was initially outraged by his song being covered by a rock band, until he received his first royalty check.
El dÃa que me quieras
Tango, both the music and the dance, originated in the 1880s along the RÃo de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. It’s another genre greater than the sum of its parts, those parts being of traditional Rioplatense and Spanish-Cuban origin.
El dÃa que me quieras (English: The day that you love me) is a tango with music by French Argentine singer Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera. It became a heavily recorded tango standard, even by artists outside the genre. It has subsequently been covered by various artists such as Luis Miguel, Michael Bolton, and an English-language version by Gloria Estefan.
El dÃa que me quieras
Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho is a song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. It is one of the most famous boleros, and pribably one of the most famous songs in Spanish on this list. I remember my grandmother would sing this song around the house when I was a kid. The version recorded by Trio Los Panchos helped to greater popularize the bolero genre in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1999, Bésame Mucho was recognized as the most sung and recorded Mexican song in the world. It’s been translated into 20 different languages, and even covered by The Beatles.
El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)
El manisero, known in English as “The Peanut Vendor”, is a son-pregón written by Cuban composer Moisés Simons. The lyrics were in a style based on street vendors’ cries, a pregón; and the rhythm was a son, is a genre of music and dance that originated in Cuba during the late 19th century, ergo, technically this was a son-pregón.
Rita Montaner‘s version was the first recording of the song. Antonio MachÃn’s 1930 recording of the song was the first million record seller for a Cuban artist. An impressive feat for recording artists back in the day. Cuban music and Cuban musicians have had some powerful influence. Recordings of this song helped introduce U.S. listeners to Cuban percussion instruments and Cuban rhythms.
Mambo No. 5
Mambo No. 5 is a mambo and jazz dance song originally composed and recorded by Cuban musician Dámaso Pérez Prado in 1950. Arguably one of the top 5 mambos of all time. While it’s a strong instrumental on its own, most people have probably heard the riffs sampled in Lou Bega’s remix of the song, which became the song of the summer in 1999. It goes to show that good music never goes out of style.
Mambo Influenciado
Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. A genre whose influence is greater than the sum of its parts. The influences of this genre carried into New York City in the 1980s, and continued to thrive and flourish there for years. Music with the ability to transform and carry across borders is truly amazing. Mambo Influenciado is a track recorded by Cuban musician Chucho Valdés, founder of one of Cuba’s best-known Latin jazz bands. As a solo artist, he has won four Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Mas Que Nada
Mas Que Nada is a song written and originally performed in 1963 by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben, later covered and brought into greater popularity by Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes in 1966. Bossa nova is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by the syncopation of traditional samba. The genre was popular among the surfer scene in California in the 1980s. Mendes said in 2014: “It was the first time that a song in Portuguese was a hit in America and all over the world”.
The Girl from Ipanema
Garota de Ipanema (aka The Girl from Ipanema) is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, who we’ve featured before. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s. The Stan Getz recording featuring Astrud Gilberto became an international hit. In the US, the single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s believed to be the second most recorded pop song in history, after Yesterday by The Beatles. You have undoubtedly heard this song on an elevator at least once.
Vals Venezolano No. 2
The guitar is a keystone of Latin American music and culture. Venezuelan musician Antonio Lauro was considered to be one of the foremost South American composers for the guitar in the 20th century. He was determined to rescue and celebrate his nation’s musical heritage. He toured nearby countries with his music group to introduce them to Venezuelan music.
After seeing the popularity of valses venezolanos (Venezuelan waltzes) created in the previous century, he composed his own waltzes, adding guitar to them. The works of Antonio Lauro have long been very popular with guitarists worldwide. Linked here is one of the waltzes he wrote in a program of 4 waltzes, Vals Venezolano No. 2. Easily one of the top 2 Venezuelan waltzes ever written.
La Bamba
La Bamba is a Mexican folk song. It’s a classic example of the son jarocho musical style, which originated in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It’s best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll’s best-known songs. “La Bamba” has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Chicano (Mexican-American) rock band Los Lobos, whose 1987 version reached No. 1 in the U.S. and UK singles charts in the same year.
Though Valens was only a teenager at the time of the song’s success, he was a pioneer of Chicano rock and Latin rock and inspired many musicians of Mexican heritage. He had become nationally successful at a time when very few Latinos were in American rock and pop music. He is considered the first Latino to successfully cross over into mainstream rock. Valens also inspired Jimi Hendrix, Chan Romero, Carlos Santana, Chris Montez, and Keith O’Conner Murphy, among others.
Feliz Navidad
Wrapping up this list with a song no one can get away from all the month of December. José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican musician, singer, and composer, best known for the best-selling Christmas single, Feliz Navidad. Written in 1970, it quickly became a classic Christmas pop song. It’s a prime example of how easily Latin American music and songs in Spanish can cross into the mainstream. The world can’t get enough of those Latin influences.
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