Cumbia serves as a unifier of Mexican people, especially families, and serves as a sociocultural outlet for celebration and supports cultural traditions. One of the main themes of Mexican culture is family unity, and many celebrations create a community and place for family involvement. Celebrating together creates and maintains bonds and is an outlet for expression by sharing commonalities such as cultural thoughts and ideas. Solidifying a connection in the community with people who listen to cumbia strengthens culture and forms unity. Mexican cumbia is a significant aspect of Mexican identity and produces an access environment to embrace heritage and reflects a highly family- and community-oriented culture. Cumbia originated in the coastal region of Colombia in the early 1800s. At that time, three cultures predominated in Colombia: indigenous peoples, Spaniards, and African slaves. Cumbia began with the essential instrumentation of gaita drums and flutes, which derive from both indigenous African and Congo roots. The genre was entertainment for slaves, which began as a courtship dance. It later became an outlet for national resistance and protest as Colombia was contesting its independence. The music managed to spread throughout the nation, spreading from the coasts, mainly due to the fact that many African populations were scattered across various regions. Barranquilla, a port city in Colombia, was the nucleus where the music established itself and was played for the masses, and where instruments such as horns and bass began to be incorporated into cumbia, giving it a more Latin feel. When cumbia evolved and spread to Mexico around the 1930s, it changed from the influence of… middle of paper… in the twentieth century. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Univ., 2002. Print.Morales, Ed. The Latin Rhythm: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo, 2003. Print.Peña, Manuel H. “Ritual Structure in a Chicano Dance.” University of Texas Press: Latin American Music Review Spring-Summer 1980 1.1 (1980): 47-73. Print.Ragland, Cathy. "Mexican Deejays and the Transnational Space of Youth Dance in New York and New Jersey." University of Illinois Press: Ethnomusicology. Fall 2003 47.3 (2003): 338-53. Print.Ragland, Cathy. Música Norteña: Mexican migrants creating a nation among nations. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2009. Print.Wisner, Heather. “With a leap, a kick and a twist, Cumbia enters the global scene.” Dance Journal 80.9 (2006): 64-68. Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson). Network. 7 December. 2011
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