“Habanera” from Carmen by Georges Bizet [1875] performed by Rita Noel with the Nuremburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hans Swarowsky.

Highlights of Latin Music in the U.S., Day 1

Latin music has taken many forms and many names. The United States has seen repeated waves of Latin styles infiltrate popular taste. For the next few weeks I will post some of the influential songs and crucial recordings in that history. I am in no way an expert on Latin music of any particular kind and I will undoubtedly overlook innumerable worthy recordings.

The inspiration for this came from a project I did in 2008 as an intern at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. With little background, I had three weeks to come up with a presentation on the history of Latin Jazz. I have learned a ton working on that project and have learned even more since. I don’t plan to write too much… just enough to give a little bit of context for each recording. They each speak for themselves in terms of quality. On with the music…

The first Latin music to be exported and become an international craze came from Cuba. The habanera, both a dance and the specific rhythmic pattern that defined it, inspired a number of Cuban visitors, including Basque composer Sebastian Yradier. Two of his compositions remain arguably the most famous habaneras ever composed. One of them, “El Arreglito,” at first not given significant recognition, gained second life when Georges Bizet mistook it for a folk song. The resulting song became known by its stylistic name “Habanera” when Bizet included it as an aria in the popular 1875 opera Carmen. Even if you think you’ve never heard opera, you all know this song and you recognize the bumm-da-dum-dum rhythm. 

Come back tomorrow for Yradier’s other important habanera.