THE INFLUENCE OF PUERTO RICAN MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES Guest Speaker: Dr. Raymond Torres-Santos

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN LA DANZA AND RAGTIME

The commercial encounter between the Caribbean and the southern part of the United States, particularly the state of Lousiana, during the 19th Century brought a two-way flux of influences between both regions. It is, then, not surprising to encounter characteristics of both Cuban Ignacio Cervantes, Puerto Rican Juan Morel Campos and that of the Ragtime, which we all know and relates to American music. There is even evidence that Scott Joplin knew about the music of Juan Morel Campos. And when you compare both styles and both compositions or compositions by these two composers, it´s very difficult to distinguish if it´s Ragtime or truly a Danza from Juan Morel Campos. So you see the fluxes that are not really known. Nowadays, we see the fluxes between New York and Puerto Rico, but then in the 19th Century that was a very important direction.

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