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tango  A graceful, sensuous Argentinian dance, the first of the Latin rhythms to become popular in the United States.
habanera  A Cuban dance, whose rhythm is the basis of the tango.
bomba  A Puerto Rican couple dance derived from Africa.
rumba  A group of Afro-Cuban musical and dance forms, with many variants.
conga  A Cuban carnival dance-march: the dancers, having formed a chain, mark every fourth beat with a heavy kick.
cu-bop  Dizzy Gillespie’s fusion of Latin rhythms with bebop.
mambo  An Afro-Cuban form of big band dance music.
chachacha  A slower version of the mambo, with a double beat added between the last and first beats of each measure.
salsa  Popular Cuban dance band music with rhythms derived from African-American dances.
reggae  A blend of rock and African-Jamaican styles.
toasting or dubbing  A technique developed by Jamaican disc jockeys of rapid patter talking over the sound of spinning records.
calypso  Caribbean song style with humorously satirical topical texts.
steel drum or pan  Percussion instrument made by pounding the bottom of an oil drum into a concave shape and hammering grooves for the notes.
samba  The most famous Brazilian song-dance; duple meter.
bossa nova  Brazilian rhythm, slower and more subtle than Cuban dances, reflecting the influence of cool and progressive jazz.
norteÒo  A distinctive, European-influenced music of northern Mexico.
tejano  The Texas version of norteÒo music.
corrido  Storytelling song, with roots in Mexico and the southwestern and western United States.
conjunto  An ensemble accompanying dance and song in norteÒo music, north and south of the Mexico-Texas border.
mariachis  Mexican groups of strolling musicians playing string instruments and often led by one or more trumpets.







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