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{{short description|Genre of Hispanic music with Cuban origins}}
{{about|Cuban genre of song|the older Spanish dance|Bolero (Spanish dance)|the composition by Ravel|Boléro|other uses|Bolero (disambiguation)}}
{{infobox music genre
| name = Bolero
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|{{lang|es|[[Canción]]}}|{{lang|es|[[trova]]}}}}
| cultural_origins = 1880s, [[Santiago de Cuba]], [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]]
| derivatives = [[Bachata (music)|Bachata]]
| fusiongenres = {{hlist|Bolero-[[son cubano|son]]|bolero-[[Cha-cha-chá (music)|cha]]|bolero-[[Mambo (music)|mambo]]}}
| regional_scenes = {{hlist|Cuba|Dominican Republic |Mexico|Puerto Rico|Spain|Vietnam}}
| other_topics = 
}}
{{Infobox intangible heritage
| Image       = 
| Caption     = 
| ICH         = Bolero: identity, emotion and poetry turned into song
| Countries   = [[Cuba]] and [[Mexico]]
| ID          = 01990
| Region      = LAC
| Year        = 2023
| Session     = 18th
| List        = Representative
}}

'''Bolero''' is a genre of [[song]] which originated in [[Oriente Province|eastern Cuba]] in the late 19th century as part of the [[trova]] tradition. Unrelated to the older [[Bolero (Spanish dance)|Spanish dance of the same name]], bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has been called the "quintessential Latin American romantic song of the twentieth century".<ref name="BEPM">{{cite book |last1=Party |first1=Daniel |editor1-last=Horn |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Shepherd |editor2-first=John |title=Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 9: Genres: Caribbean and Latin America |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-3225-3 |pages=62–67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liV8AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Unlike the simpler, thematically diverse ''[[canción]]'', bolero did not stem directly from the European lyrical tradition, which included Italian [[opera]] and [[canzone]], popular in urban centers like Havana at the time. Instead, it was born as a form of romantic folk poetry cultivated by a new breed of [[troubadour]] from [[Santiago de Cuba]], the ''trovadores''.<ref name="BEPM" /> [[Pepe Sánchez (trova)|Pepe Sánchez]] is considered the father of this movement and the author of the first bolero, "Tristezas", written in 1883.<ref name="LAB">{{cite book |last1=Bigott |first1=Luis Antonio |title=Historia del bolero cubano, 1883-1950 |date=1993 |publisher=Ediciones Los Heraldos Negros |isbn=978-980-6323-17-9 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REwUAQAAIAAJ |language=es}}</ref> Originally, boleros were sung by individual ''trovadores'' while playing [[guitar]]. Over time, it became common for trovadores to play in groups as ''dúos'', ''tríos'', ''cuartetos'', etc. Thanks to the [[Trío Matamoros]] and, later, [[Los Panchos|Trío Los Panchos]], bolero achieved widespread popularity in Latin America, the United States and Spain. At the same time, Havana had become a fertile ground where bolero composers met to create compositions and improvise new tunes; it was the so-called ''[[Filin (music)|filin]]'' movement, which derived its name from the English word "''feeling''". Many of the genre's most enduring pieces were written then and popularized in radio and cabaret performances by singers such as [[Olga Guillot]] and [[Elena Burke]], backed by orchestras and big bands.<ref>Bigott (1993) pp. 202, 213, 224.</ref>

Boleros are generally in [[Time signature|{{music|time|4|4}} time]] and, musically, compositions and arrangements might take a variety of forms. This flexibility has enabled boleros to feature in the repertoire of Cuban [[son cubano|son]] and [[Cuban rumba|rumba]] ensembles, as well as Spanish [[Copla (music)|copla]] and [[flamenco]] singers, since the early 20th century. Occasionally, boleros have been merged with other forms to yield new subgenres, such as the bolero-son, popular in the 1930s and 1940s, and the bolero-cha, popular in the 1950s. In the United States, the [[rhumba]] ballroom dance emerged as an adaptation of the bolero-son in the 1930s. Boleros can also be found in the [[African rumba]] repertoire of many artists from [[Kinshasa]] to [[Dakar]], due to the many bolero records that were distributed to radios there as part of the [[G.V. Series]].

The popularity of the genre has also been felt as far as Vietnam, where it became a fashionable song style in [[South Vietnam]] before the [[Fall of Saigon]] in 1975 and remains popular with the Vietnamese.

== History ==
===Origins===
[[Image:Sanchez+Blez.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Pepe Sánchez (guitar, left) and Emiliano Blez (tres) with three singers (standing)|left]]

[[File:Artistas para la habana - Restaurado.wav|thumb|242x242px|Bolero ''[[Artistas para la Habana]]'', sung by [[Emilio Cabello]]. Spain, 1910.]]

In [[Cuba]], the bolero was perhaps the first great Cuban musical and vocal synthesis to win universal recognition.<ref>Acosta, Leonardo 1987. ''From the drum to the synthesiser''. La Habana. p121</ref> In {{music|time|2|4}} time, this dance music spread to other countries, leaving behind what Ed Morales has called the "most popular lyric tradition in Latin America."<ref name="Morales, p120">Morales, p120</ref>

The Cuban bolero tradition originated in [[Santiago de Cuba]] in the last quarter of the 19th century;<ref>Cristobal Diaz offers 1885: "el bolero, creado aproximadamente para 1885". Diaz Ayala, Cristobal 1999. ''Cuando sali de la Habana 1898-1997: cien anos de musica cubana por el mundo''. 3rd ed, Cubanacan, San Juan P.R. p24-25</ref> it does not owe its origin to the Spanish music and song of the same name. In the 19th century there grew up in Santiago de Cuba a group of itinerant musicians who moved around earning their living by singing and playing the guitar.

[[Pepe Sánchez (trova)|Pepe Sanchez]] is known as the father of the ''[[trova]]'' style and the creator of the Cuban bolero. Untrained, but with remarkable natural talent, he composed numbers in his head and never wrote them down. As a result, most of these numbers are now lost, but two dozen or so survive because friends and students wrote them down. He was the model and teacher for the great trovadores who followed.<ref>Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z.'' p195.</ref><ref>Orovio, Helio 1995. ''El bolero latino''. La Habana.</ref>

===Spread in Latin America===
[[File:Julio jaramillo laurido2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|[[Julio Jaramillo]], a prolific Ecuadorian bolero singer and recording artist who performed throughout Latin America.]]

[[File:Bolero genérico.opus|thumb|242x242px|Generic instrumental bolero, with characteristic [[Cajón|Peruvian cajón]] percussion.]]

The bolero first spread from the east of Cuba to the Dominican Republic in the year 1895, thanks to ''[[Troubadour|trovador]]'' [[Sindo Garay]], who had previously brought the criolla "La Dorila" to Cuba, giving rise to a lasting interchange of lyrical styles between both islands.<ref name="MM46">{{cite book |last1=Maggiolo |first1=Marcio Veloz |last2=Castillo |first2=José del |title=El bolero: visiones y perfiles de una pasión dominicana |date=2009 |publisher=CODETEL |location=Santo Domingo |isbn=9789993486237 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zJEAQAAIAAJ |language=es}}</ref> In the early 20th century the bolero reached Puerto Rico and Mexico, where it was popularized by the first radio stations around 1915.<ref name="MM46" /> In Mexico, the genre became an essential component of the thriving [[trova yucateca]] movement in [[Yucatán]] alongside other Cuban forms such as the clave. It leading exponent was [[Guty Cárdenas]].<ref name="BEPM" />

By the 1930s, when [[Trio Matamoros|Trío Matamoros]] made famous their mix of bolero and [[son cubano]] known as '''bolero-son''', the genre was a staple of the musical repertoire of most Latin American countries.<ref>Bigott (1993) p. 125.</ref> In Spain, Cuban bolero was incorporated into the copla repertoire with added elements from [[Music of Andalusia|Andalusian music]], giving rise to the so-called '''bolero moruno''', made famous by composers such as [[Carmelo Larrea]] and Quintero, León y Quiroga.<ref>Maggiolo & Castillo (2009) p. 180.</ref>

Some of the bolero's leading composers have come from nearby countries, as in the case of the prolific [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rica]]n composer [[Rafael Hernández Marín|Rafael Hernández]] and the Mexican composers: [[Juan Gabriel]], [[Agustín Lara]] and [[María Grever]]. Some Cuban composers of the bolero are primarily considered trovadores.<ref>Loyola Fernandez, Jose 1996. ''En ritmo de bolero: el bolero en la música bailable cubana''. Huracán, Río Piedras P.R.</ref><ref>Orovio, Helio 1992. ''300 boleros de oro''. Mexico City.</ref><ref>Restrepo Duque, Hernán 1992. ''Lo que cantan los boleros''. Columbia.</ref><ref>Rico Salazar, Jaime 1999. ''Cien años de boleros: su historia, sus compositores, sus mejores interpretes y 700 boleros inolvidables''. 5th ed, Bogotá.</ref> Several lyric tenors also contributed to the popularization of the bolero throughout North and South America  during the 1930s and the 1940s through live concerts and performances on international radio networks such as [[La Cadena de las Americas]].<ref name="Vargas" >[https://books.google.com/books?id=Qx00pQIkclMC&q=William+S.+Paley&pg=PA166 ''Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda''] Deborah R. Vargas. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2012 pp. 152-153 {{ISBN|978-0-8166-7316-2}} OCIAA and William S. Paley's Cadena De Las Americas on google.books.com.</ref><ref name="Time">''Time'' - Radio: La Cadena, June 1, 1942 [https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,790530-1,00.html William S. Paley, La Cadena de las Americas on Content.time.com]</ref><ref name="Han">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ql_sDwAAQBAJ&dq=CBS+Pan+American+Orchestra+Alfredo+Antonini&pg=PT74 ''Beyond the Black and White TV: Asian and Latin American Spectacle in Cold War America''. Han, Benjamin M. Rutgers University Press, 2022 Pan-Americanism, La Cadena de las Americas, Edmund Chester, William S. Paley and the Carlos Manuel De Cespedes National Order of Merit on Google Books]</ref><ref name=haines>{{cite journal
|title=Under the Eagle's Wing: The Franklin Roosevelt Administration Forges An American Hemisphere
|author=Gerald K. Haines
|year=1977
|journal=Diplomatic History
|volume=1
|issue=4
|pages=379–383
|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1977.tb00248.x|jstor=24909904
}}</ref> Included in this group were the Mexican operatic tenors: [[Juan Arvizu]]<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199892457.003.0002 |chapter=From Bordello Pianist to Tropical Troubadour: 1897–1930 |title=Agustín Lara |year=2014 |last1=Wood |first1=Andrew G. |pages=20–48 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-989245-7 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.todotango.com/creadores/biografia/1585/Juan-Arvizu/ ''Juan Arvizu - Biography in Todo Tango'' - Juan Arvizu Biography and Bolero/Tango en tototango.com]{{in lang|es}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB03DwAAQBAJ&q=Juan+Arvizu&pg=PT656|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean|first1=Dale A.|last1=Olsen|first2=Daniel E.|last2=Sheehy|date=25 September 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351544238|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>''Media Sound & Culture in Latin America.'' Editors: Bronfman, Alejanda & Wood, Andrew Grant. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2012, Pg. 49 {{ISBN|978-0-8229-6187-1}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ehN4sM0Xy_UC&pg=PA49 ''Media Sound & Culture in Latin America''. Editors: Bronfman, Alejanda & Wood, Andrew Grant. Juan Arvizu - leading Mexican tenor and CBS radio in New York on books.google.com]</ref> and [[Nestor Mesta Chayres]].<ref>[https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/956791.nestor-mesta-chayres.html ''El Siglo de Torréon - Néstor Mesta Cháyres''  Nestor Mesta Chayres Biography and Bolero on elsiglodetorreon.com]{{in lang|es}}</ref><ref>''Media Sound & Culture in Latin America.'' Editors: Bronfman, Alejanda & Wood, Andrew Grant. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2012, Pg. 49 {{ISBN|978-0-8229-6187-1}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ehN4sM0Xy_UC&pg=PA49 ''Media Sound & Culture in Latin America''. Editors: Bronfman, Alejanda & Wood, Andrew Grant. Nestor Mesta Chayres - leading Mexican tenor and CBS radio in New York on books.google.com]</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=NÉSTOR MESTA CHAYRES- MÉJICO |url=https://eglycolinamarinprimera.blogspot.com/2014/09/nestor-mesta-chayres-mejico.html }}{{self-published inline|date=October 2022}}</ref>  Their collaborations in New York City with such musicians as [[Alfredo Antonini]], [[Terig Tucci]], [[Elsa Miranda]] and [[John Serry Sr.]] on the [[CBS]] radio show ''[[Viva América]]'' also introduced the bolero to millions of listeners throughout the United States.<ref>Media Sound & Culture in Latin America & The Caribbean. Editors: Bronfman, Alejandra & Wood, Andrew Grant.University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2012 Pg. 49 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ehN4sM0Xy_UC&pg=PA49 Books.google.com See  Pg. 49]</ref> Also noteworthy during the 1940s and 1950s were the performances of [[Los Panchos|Trio Los Panchos]], which featured the artistry of musicians from Mexico and Puerto Rico including: [[Chucho Navarro]], [[Alfredo Gil]] Hernando Avilés and Miguel Poventud.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music'', Torres, George - Editor. Greenwood, Oxford, England 2013, p. 44-45, 415 {{ISBN|978-0-313-34031-4}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=MX5BXxjwV9cC&pg=PA415 "Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music", Torres, George - Editor, "Trio Los Panchos" on books.google.com]</ref><ref>''Latin Music - Musicians, Genres and Themes'', Stavans, Ilan - Editor In Chief, Greenwood,  Oxford, England, 2014, p. 798-799 {{ISBN|978-0-313-34395-7}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=qE-LBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA798 ''Latin Music - Musicians, Genres and Themes'', Stavans, Ilan - Editor, "Trio Los Panchos" on books.google.com]</ref>  Boleros saw a resurgence in popularity during the 1990s when Mexican singer [[Luis Miguel]] was credited for reviving interest in the bolero genre following the release ''[[Romance (Luis Miguel album)|Romance]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Holston |first1=Mark |title=Ageless Romance with Bolero |journal=Américas |volume=47 |issue=5 |date=September 1995 |pages=48–53 |id={{ProQuest|1792715603}} |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ageless+romance+with+bolero.-a017482173 }}</ref>

== Bolero fusions ==
[[File:Bolero bass line.ogg|thumb|242x242px|Bass line of bolero.]]
[[File:Bolero Bass line.jpg|left|thumb|Typical rhythmic and harmonic pattern of bolero bass lines.]]



José Loyola comments that the frequent fusions of the bolero with other Cuban rhythms is one of the reasons it has been so fertile for such a long period of time:
:"La adaptación y fusión del bolero con otros géneros de la música popular bailable ha contribuido al desarrollo del mismo, y a su vigencia y contemporaneidad."<ref>Loyola Fernandez, José 1996. ''El ritmo en bolero: el bolero en la musica bailable cubana''. Huracan, Rio Piedras P.R. p249</ref>

:(The adaptation and fusion of the bolero with other types of popular dance music has contributed to their development, and to its endurance and timelessness.)

This adaptability was largely achieved by dispensing with limitations in format or instrumentation, and by an increase in syncopation (so producing a more afrocuban sound). Examples would be:
*Bolero in the ''danzón'': the advent of lyrics in the danzón to produce the ''danzonete''.
*The ''bolero-son'': long-time favourite dance music in Cuba, captured abroad under the misnomer 'rumba'.
*The ''bolero-mambo'' in which slow and beautiful lyrics were added to the sophisticated big-band arrangements of the mambo.
*The ''bolero-cha'', 1950s derivative with a chachachá rhythm.
*The [[Bachata (music)|bachata]], a Dominican derivative developed in the 1960s.

The lyrics of the bolero can be found throughout popular music, especially Latin dance music.

== Vietnam ==
Bolero music has also spread to [[Vietnam]]. In the 1930s, the nation grew fond of modern music, which combined Western elements with traditional music. Vietnamese bolero is generally slower tempo compared to Hispanic bolero, and is similar in style to [[Music of Japan|Japanese]] [[enka]] and [[Traditional music of Korea|Korean]] [[Trot (music)|trot]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Theo Tiền Phong|title=Trí thức cũng nghe nhạc vàng|url=http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/tri-thuc-cung-nghe-nhac-vang-181742.html|access-date=3 November 2017|language=vi|date=26 August 2010|quote=Bolero Việt Nam rất chậm.}}</ref> Such music was romantic, expressing concepts of feelings, love, and life in a poetic language;<ref name="vnn">{{cite web|last1=Chánh|first1=Minh|title=Bolero – một lịch sử tình ca|url=http://vietnamnet.vn/vn/giai-tri/bolero-mot-lich-su-tinh-ca-67870.html|website=VietnamNet|access-date=2 November 2017|language=vi|date=12 April 2012}}</ref> this predisposition was hated by [[Viet Minh]], who strived towards shaping the working class at the time.<ref name="diplomat">{{cite news|title=The Revival of Boléro in Vietnam|last=Duy|first=Dinh|url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/10/the-revival-of-bolero-in-vietnam/|access-date=30 October 2017|work=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]]|publisher=The Diplomat|date=12 October 2016}}</ref>

This genre became colloquially known as ''[[Yellow Music#Vietnam|yellow music]]'', in opposition to the {{Lang|vi|[[nhạc đỏ]]}} (''red music'') endorsed by the Communist government of [[Hanoi]] during the era of the [[Vietnam War]].  As a result of [[North Vietnam]] winning the war, the music was banned in 1975. Those caught listening to ''yellow music'' would be punished, and their music confiscated. After the [[Fall of Saigon]], many Vietnamese migrated to the United States, taking their music with them. The ban was lightened in 1986, when love songs could be written again, but by then the music industry was killed.<ref name="diplomat"/>

The government of Vietnam also prohibited the sale of [[Vietnamese diasporic music|overseas Vietnamese music]], including variety shows like ''Asia'' and ''[[Paris by Night]]''. In recent years however, bolero had grown popular again, as more overseas singers performed in Vietnam. Additionally, singing competition television series like ''Boléro Idol'' have grown popular, with singers performing songs, including songs formerly banned.<ref name="diplomat"/>

== Ballroom dance ==
{{Main|Rhumba}}

=== International ballroom ===
A version of the Cuban bolero is danced throughout the [[Latin dance]] world (supervised by the [[World Dance Council]]) under the misnomer "[[Rhumba|rumba]]", often spelled "rhumba". This came about in the early 1930s when a simple overall term was needed to market Cuban music to audiences unfamiliar with the various Cuban musical terms. The famous "[[Peanut Vendor]]", actually a son-pregón, was so labelled, and the label stuck for other types of Cuban music.<ref>Diaz Ayala, Cristobal 1981. ''Música cubana del Areyto a la Nueva Trova''. 2nd rev ed, Cubanacan, San Juan P.R.</ref><ref>Sublette, Ned 2004. ''Cuba and its music: from the first drums to the mambo''. Chicago. Chapter 27 The Peanut Vendor.</ref>

In Cuba, the bolero is usually written in {{music|time|2|4}} time, elsewhere often {{music|time|4|4}}. The tempo for dance is about 120 beats per minute. The music has a gentle Cuban rhythm related to a slow ''[[Son Cubano|son]]'', which is the reason it may be best described as a bolero-son. Like some other Cuban dances, there are three steps to four beats, with the first step of a figure on the second beat, not the first. The ''slow'' (over the two beats four and one) is executed with a hip movement over the standing foot, with no foot-flick.<ref>Lavelle, Doris 1983. ''Latin & American dances''. 3rd ed, Black, London.</ref>

=== American Rhythm ===
The dance known as bolero is  one of the [[Competitive dance|competition dances]] in [[Glossary of partner dance terms|American Rhythm]] ballroom dance category. The first step is typically taken on the first beat, held during the second beat with two more steps falling on beats three and four (cued as "slow-quick-quick").  In competitive dance the music is in {{music|time|4|4}} time and will range between 96 and 104 bpm. This dance is quite different from the other American Rhythm dances in that it not only requires [[cuban motion]] but [[rises and falls]] such as found in [[waltz]] and [[contra body movement]].<ref>W.D. Eng, Inc. dba Dance Vision 2003. ''American Style Rhythm Bronze Manual'', Las Vegas, Nevada.</ref> Popular music for this dance style need not be Latin in origin. Lists of music used in competitions for American Rhythm Bolero are available.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/americas-ballroom-challenge/music/ |publisher=PBS.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128195740/http://www.pbs.org/americas-ballroom-challenge/music/ |archive-date=28 January 2020 |title=Music From America's Ballroom Challenge |website=America's Ballroom Challenge |access-date=12 July 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Cuba|Latin music|Vietnam|Spain}}
* [[Canción sentimental mexicana]]
* [[Cuplé]]
* [[Latin ballad]]
* [[Latin pop]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite book|title=The Latin Beat|author=Morales, Ed|year=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0-306-81018-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/latinbeatrhythms00mora_0}}

{{Cuban musical forms}}
{{Music in Spanish}}

[[Category:Cuban styles of music]]
[[Category:Dance in Cuba]]
[[Category:Mexican styles of music]]
[[Category:Ballroom dance]]
[[Category:Latin dances]]
[[Category:19th-century music genres]]
[[Category:20th-century music genres]]
[[Category:Latin music genres]]
[[Category:Music of Vietnam]]
[[Category:1880s in music]]