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Latin-Rock Music and New Music in the US and Europe
Latin-Rock Music and New Music in the US and Europe
For many years now, new music has been defined as music that hasn’t been produced in the last century or so. As a music lover, one is always keen to know the latest happenings in this genre and how this new music will shape the future of music. New music does not necessarily mean ‘immediate recent music’. Often, new music tends to be longer in conception than the immediate past (i.e. new music tends to last for decades rather than months).
New music is truly an expression of the current cutting-edge classical music tradition, and as such represents the creative and cutting edge of classical music worldwide. That being said, new music isn’t just about fresh compositions by living composers; it’s about new music being conceived out of the blue by artists working independently in genres they have become highly skilled in. The most famous composers of our time all started out with composing new music independently. When one talks about rock and roll, many people often forget that some of the composers who shaped the genre started out composing and working in obscurity – even performing at small shows without an audience. New music composers such as Yo-Yo Ma have achieved worldwide recognition by creating and scoring hits for well-known rock bands such as Pink Floyd, The Who, King Kong, etc.
As discussed above, new music composers have increasingly become skilled in the creation and performance of new songs and melodies. There are many examples of this. Ramon Arbitra, one of the most influential contemporary music composers, was a flautist before he became interested in composition. Some other contemporary music composers such as Paul Cage, John Coltrane and Henry Mancini are all former classical musicians who developed a love for improvised improvisation and eventually ended up developing their own unique style of improvised music. A more recent example is Swedish pop band Axo Amore and their funky and pulsating songs.
The future of new music in the twenty-first century looks very bright indeed. There are many talented new voices that have made a profound impact on the contemporary music scene. composers such asiar Sufjan Stevens, Aaronizen, Peter Van Eyck, Mathieu Agnusz, Justin Van Gogh, Yusef Islam, Anne Kauffmann, Nahumurally, Dan Gibson, Mark Langan, John Butler and John Cazalelli are but a few of the numerous contemporary artists from New York City who have established a name for themselves in the world of music and contemporary art. It seems that many of these new voices have begun to come together in a common effort to present a more global perspective to both music appreciation and new musical trends.
Some of these new voices and composers are coming from genres such as post-punk, drone, noise rock, alternative styles, post-rock and classical. One prominent voice that has emerged is that of Jose Macedo. Jose Macedo is a musician from Cuba whose musical interests began when he was a teenager listening to underground Cuban music videos. Since then he has developed an interest in hearing and composing new music from diverse musical backgrounds, and has written over fifty songs of varying lengths and genre.
Other composers working in the contemporary music scene include: Jose Mesa, Erykah Badu, Carlos Santana, and numerous others. It is these newer voices which are influencing an increasing number of listeners to discover new music that has been created by contemporary musicians in places other than the traditional music hot spots of North America and Europe. The growing popularity of new music from Latin America is particularly noteworthy. Latin American music and its influences, such as those of Erio Fresco’s “Euriolano” andpieces like that of Jose Mesa and Carlos Santana are finding their way into the mainstream with surprising regularity. In fact, the Latin American music scene is rapidly developing in the face of increasing competition from the United States and Europe, and this is creating a situation where the once-dominant voice of ” Latino music ” is finding itself increasingly marginalized and pushed out to the mainstream.