Enjoy
Panama's Folklore
The African music style is everywhere in the Caribbean and Panama, including the infectious rhythms that power Calypso and Soca on the various islands, reggae in Jamaica, as well as folklore music in Panama. The mestizo Panamanians have long been subjected to widely-varied cultural influences through continued contact with both transient and immigrant foreigners. However, while they have accepted certain ideas, embraced other concepts, acquired various tastes, and functioned under U.S. economic orientation, the underlying cultural values remain basically traditional Hispanic ones.
Panamanian folklore music, which we all enjoy immensely, is among the most colorful of the Americas. The popular songs and dances have a contagious spontaneity. The lyrics are never sentimental or bound by musical cliches, and they seem to express a healthy optimism and contentment with life and the local environment. The most important forms are the Mejorana, the Punto, the Cumbia, and the Tamborito. The first two may be either vocal or instrumental. The accompanying dances are performed by groups of men and women, in the square dance pattern, combining shoe-tapping and promenading. The music of the Tamborito, Panama's national dance, is thought to be of African origin: drums and the clapping of hands accompany a solo singer, who answered the chorus. On the other hand, the sound of the female voice at the start of some recordings incorporates the unaffected warmth present in the singing style of the indigenous/native people.
The instruments most frequently heard in the popular orquestras are the mejorana and the bocona, two five-stringed guitars, the rabel, a three-stringed rustic violin, drums of various styles and sizes, and the guachara, a gourd rattle. Sometimes, violins, cellos, and guitars are used in playing the Tamborito.
Calypso/Socca
Whether it was singing old slave songs on the plantations, or entertaining themselves, or serving their God, the slaves of the Caribbean and Panama made music and made it well. African instruments such as shakers, marimbas, and various types of drums (including goat skin) remain unchanged over the many years of their existence and were used to accompany the lively singing that went on in the religious services. In the absence of musical instruments, foot stomping and hand clapping were utilized to add rhythm, keep the beat or tempo, and feeling to the music.
The art form of Calypso, which was developed and recorded in Trinidad around 1914, can be traced back to the African slaves on the plantations in Trinidad. The slaves, forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, used Calypso as a means of communicating with each other and to mock the slave masters. Calypso combines the skills of story telling, singing/lyrical fusions and instrument making; and have since been influenced by Europeans, North Americans and other Caribbean cultures.
There is a myth that Socca was derived from traditional Calypso and American soul music; hence the name "so-ca." However, Socca is a fusion of Calypso and Indian rhythms, the musical tradition of the two major ethnic groups of Trinidad. The music was originally introduced as "Solka" (the Soul of Calypso) in 1963 and was later changed to the widely-known Soca.
At this time, we have posted some Folklore/Salsa, as well as some Socca/Oldies but Goodies music for your listening pleasure. You need to install Windows Media Player (WMP) if you wish to hear the music. WMP will allow you to copy the music to your computer or to a disk. You may also use the "Media Library" in WMP for storing the songs. We will be replacing some of the tunes ever so often for those who are interested in making themselves a compilation of their favorite musical genre or recording artist.
