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Nicaraguan Music
Nicaragua, A
Musical Country
Nicaragua is a musical country with a lot to offer. Make sure that
you get to enjoy at least a little of the local music talent while
you make your way around the country. Modern Nicaraguan music is a
mixture of indigenous and European, especially Spanish, influences.
Musical instruments include the marimba and others common across
Central America.
The marimba is an idiophone that is sounded by
striking wooden bars with a mallet. Its name is derived from Bantú a
language in which rimba suggests a "flattish object sticking out"
such as a note or key, and ma is a cumulative prefix; thus, marimba
is equivalent to many keys. The keys of the modern marimba are
usually constructed of rosewood, and the resonators of brass or
aluminum.
The resonators (pipes) are graduated in length
(as are the keys) and closed on one end (the end facing the floor).
Pop music includes Cuban, Brazilian, Mexican and Panamanian
performers, as well as stars from Europe and the United States. The
Garifuna community exists in Nicaragua and is known for its own
popular music. Their social and cultural characteristics are
manifested in their archaic family and social structures, which have
suffered very little changes. Many tourists seek them out to enjoy
their rich, distinctive tunes.
The main difference between the music of Nicaragua and that of other
Central American countries is the way that the marimba is used. It
is played by a sitting performer who holds the instrument on his
knees instead of resting it on a stand. Most of the marimbas in
Nicaragua are made with hardwood plates which are placed over either
bamboo or metal tubes which vary in length to produce different
tones. They can be played with either two or four hammers. The
marimba player is usually accompanied by a bass fiddle, a guitar and
a guitarrilla.
Garifuna music is similarly different from the rest of Central
America; the most famous form is punta. An evolved form of
traditional music, still usually played using traditional
instruments, punta has seen some modernization and electrification
in the 1970s; this is called punta rock. Traditional Punta dancing
is consciously sexy and competitive. Artists like Pen Cayetano
helped innovating modern punta rock by adding guitars to the
traditional music, and paved the way for later artists like Andy
Palacio, Children of the Most High and Black Coral. Punta was
popular across the region, especially in Belize, by the mid-1980s,
culminating in the release of Punta Rockers in 1987, a compilation
featuring many of the genre's biggest stars.
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