1971_in_Latin_music

1970s in Latin music

1970s in Latin music

Major events and trends in Latin music in the 1970s

This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in Latin music in the 1970s, namely in Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal). This includes recordings, festivals, award ceremonies, births and deaths of Latin music artists, and the rise and fall of various subgenres in Latin music from 1970 to 1979.

Quick Facts

Overview

By 1975, music market analysts predicted an 8 to 10% growth of Latin music internationally.[1] This growth also expanded into the United States which led to record labels of promoting Latin artists in the country. According to Billboard's Marv Fisher, " international labels are increasingly involved throughout Latin America".[2]

Latin pop

Spanish singer Julio Iglesias was among the pioneers of the balada craze of the 1970s.
Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel was one of most prolific singers of the balada genre during the 1970s.

Latin America went through the balada craze with balladeers from both the region and Spain having a huge Latin audience. Artists include José José, Roberto Carlos, Juan Gabriel, and Julio Iglesias. The latter artist would later become the best-selling male Latin artist of all time.[3]

Regional Mexican

Vicente Fernández was the most popular ranchera singer during the 1970s.
Norteño group Los Tigres del Norte became well-known for their social commentary tracks.

Mariachi music in 1970s, while still popular in the Regional Mexican music field, was named "the last great decade for mariachi music" according to the Los Angeles Times critic Augustin Gurza.[4] The Mexican farmworkers movement since the 1960s led to the popularity corridos which dealt with their impoverished lives.[5] Most notably, norteño group Los Tigres del Norte emerged having performed songs that deal with social commentary.[6] Another emerging genre in the Regional Mexican field was Tejano.[7] Rigo Tovar modernized the Mexican style of cumbia by combining it with rock including utilizing an electric guitar and a synthesizer.[8]

Tropical/salsa

Rubén Blades (left) and Celia Cruz (right) were instrumental in popularizing the salsa music genre.

Salsa music was the dominant genre in the tropical field in the 1970s. Fania Records was the prime record label for popularizing and defining salsa music with artists such as Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Héctor Lavoe, and Willie Colón.[9] The Colombian vallenato remains popular in the country with artists such as Diomedes Diaz.[10] Likewise, the country's cumbia expanded its popularity outside of country into other Latin American nations including Mexico. Like its Mexican counterpart, the Colombia cumbia saw changes in the genre with the use of a bass guitar, organ, and less emphasis on brass instruments.[11]

Nueva canción

During the 1970s in Latin America, the 1960s music influence remained strong and two styles developed from it one that followed the European and North American trends and Nueva Canción that focused on the renewal of folklore including Andean music and cueca. Some bands such as Los Jaivas from Chile mixed both streams and created a syncretism between folklore and progressive rock. The Nueva Canción movement got an even more marked protest association after all countries in the Southern Cone became (or were already) military dictatorships in the 1970s. In Chile, the Nueva canción styles developed through the 1970s would remain popular until the return to democracy in 1990.

Rock en español

El Tri Band founder Alex Lora, on stage with the band in 2006

In the 1970s, rock en Español began to emerge (especially in Argentina), and as imitation bands became fewer, rock music started to develop more independently from the outside, although many rock bands still preferred to sing in English. The Argentine defeat in the Falklands War in 1982 followed by the fall of the mhilitary junta that year diminished need of Nueva Canción as protest music there in favour of other styles.

Brazilian/Portuguese

Jorge Ben was a fundamental figure in establishing the samba rock genre.
Chico Buarque was one of the key musicians of the Música popular brasileira genre

Jorge Ben's Fôrça Bruta's fusion of Trio Mocotó's groove and Ben's more rockish guitar proved to be a distinctive feature of what critics and musicians later called samba rock.[12] The 1970s also saw the rise of Música popular brasileira, a form of protest songs against the Brazilian military dictatorship. Among the key musicians in the genre was Chico Buarque who was exiled from the country.[13]

1970

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1971

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1972

Events

  • November 11 – Billboard magazine announces a new section on its printed magazines titled "Latin Music Spotlight" (later known as "Latin Notas"), which covers three pages of Latin music-related news[15]
  • November 24 – Claudia Regina [es] and Tobias, representing Brazil win the inaugural OTI Festival with their song "Diálogo".[16]
  • December 9 – The first Latin albums chart are compiled by Billboard,under the title the Hot Latin LP's, which surveys sales of Latin LP's in selected regions in the United States including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Texas.[17]

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1973

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1974

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

José Mangual* & Carlos "Patato" Valdez*: Understanding Latin Rhythms Vol. 1

Deaths

Births

1975

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1976

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Deaths

Births

1977

Events

Notable singles

Album releases

Best-selling albums

The following is a list of the top 5 best-selling Latin albums of 1977 in the United States divided into the categories of Latin pop and salsa, according to Billboard.[22]

More information Category, Rank ...

Deaths

Births

1978

Events

Album releases

Best-selling albums

The following is a list of the top 5 best-selling Latin albums of 1978 in the United States divided into the categories of Latin pop and salsa, according to Billboard.[23]

More information Category, Rank ...

Deaths

Births

1979

Events

Album releases

Best-selling albums

The following is a list of the top 5 best-selling Latin albums of 1979 in the United States divided into the categories of Latin pop and salsa, according to Billboard.[24]

More information Category, Rank ...

Deaths

Births

See also

References

General
  • Billboard Latin LP's charts - Issues dated December 9, 1972 – May 31, 1980
  • Print editions of the Notitas Musicales magazine for the #1 songs in Mexico.
  • Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. (#1 songs in Spain)
  1. [1]
    Fisher, Marv (August 23, 1975). "Latin Market Will Rise Consistently" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. Billboard. p. 31. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  2. [2]
    Gurza, Agustin (August 6, 1977). "United States: Endless Horizon for Latin Music" (PDF). Billboard. p. LA-54. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  3. [3]
    Stavans, llan (2014). Latin music: musicians, genres, and themes. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 342, 547. ISBN 978-0-313-34396-4. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  4. [4]
    Gurz, Augustin (June 21, 2001). "Mariachi on the Downbeat". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  5. [5]
    Koskoff, Ellen (August 17, 2005). Music Cultures in the United States: An Introduction. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-88881-7. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  6. [6]
    Simonett, Helena (January 30, 2001). Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across Borders. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-6430-6. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  7. [7]
    Hartman, Gary (March 8, 2008). The History of Texas Music. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-60344-002-8. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  8. [8]
    Brill, Mark (December 22, 2017). Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-68230-5. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  9. [9]
    Sturman, Janet (February 26, 2019). The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-5063-5337-1. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  10. [10]
    Shaw, Lisa; Dennison, Stephanie (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-504-9. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  11. [11]
    Wade, Peter (August 2000). Music, Race, and Nation: Musica Tropical in Colombia. University of Chicago Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-226-86844-8. Archived from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  12. [12]
    Parahyba, Jõao (21 September 2005). "Uma Noite Ben Jor". Trip (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  13. [13]
    Brill, Mark (22 December 2017). Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-68230-5. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  14. [14]
    Ortiz, Enrique (April 11, 1970). "'Love and Peace' Takes Latin Fest; 8,000 See Five Concerts" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 82. p. 74. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  15. [15]
    "The Latin Explosion Is Here!". Billboard. Vol. 84, no. 46. Prometheus Global Media. November 11, 1972. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  16. [16]
    "Festival de la OTI". www.infolaso.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  17. [17]
    "Hot Latin LP's in Los Angeles". Billboard. Vol. 84, no. 50. Prometheus Global Media. December 9, 1972. p. 10. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  18. [18]
    "NARAS Says Si to Latin Grammy, Wind Loud Olé" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 87, no. 20. May 17, 1975. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-10-11 – via World Radio History.
  19. [19]
    Lannert, John (5 February 2000). "Palmieri, Jiménez Lead All-Time Latin Grammy Winners With Five Apiece". Billboard. Vol. 112, no. 6. Nielsen Business Media. p. 82. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  20. [20]
    "Hot Latin LP's". Billboard. April 17, 1976. p. 72.
  21. [21]
    "Hot Latin LPs" (PDF). Billboard. July 31, 1976. p. 58. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  22. [22]
    "1977 year-end charts" (PDF). Billboard. December 24, 1977. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  23. [23]
    "1978 year end charts" (PDF). Billboard. December 23, 1978. p. TIA-74. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  24. [24]
    "1979 year end charts" (PDF). Billboard. December 22, 1979. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.

Further reading

Fisher, Marv (August 6, 1977). "Latin America: A Billboard Spotlight" (PDF). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. p. LA-3. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
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