The term “Latin American Music” is used as a blanket term to refer to the music of Latin America. However, I suspect that it is out of peoples obliviousness to the diversity of Latin American music, that they use this term. In Dr. Munarriz’s lecture, he gave perspective into how many different countries there are in Latin America, and how unique and different each countries music is. Dr. Munarriz’s view that the label “Latin American Music” is problematic is due to this blanket term which fails to acknowledge the uniqueness of each cultures music. I grew up believing that the label “Latin American Music” was accurate, as I have never learned about different Latin American Music. However, I now understand Dr. Munarriz’s view on this problematic label. While I agree with him, I also disagree with him at the same time, as it seems that most music from different regions of Latin America uses the same Habanera and Ostinato, just in slightly different ways, due to the way it is performed.

Latin American music is not the same as Latin music. The difference is that Latin American music is from any region in Latin America. I.e., Spanish, French and Portuguese, to name a few examples. Latin American music contains inspiration from African music and Indigenous music. Latinos are descendants from Latin America who live in the United States. Latin music is mainly Portuguese and Spanish music. Ostinatos are repeating bass lines; they are repetitions of music which become “scaffolding” in some music. They are usually structured by a single instrument. Their repeating pattern is heard in the Habanera and in all Latin American music.

The Habanera Pattern is iconic in Latin American Music. It was part of the process of developing “Blues” in New Orleans, and is heard in the Tango (Brazilian) and the  Payada. The Habanera takes different shapes, forms and textures depending on how it is performed.  For example, the way the Habanera is played in the Payada is different than the way it’s played in “Blues” music.