LA HOMOGENEIDAD DE LA MUSICA CARIBENA: SOBRE LA MUSICA COMERCIAL Y POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO. (SPANISH TEXT) (BOMBA PLENA, FOLKLORE MUSICAL, SALSA, AFRICAN INFLUENCE, LATIN-AMERICAN MUSIC)

Ethnomusicological research has to date concentrated on disparities that give each Caribbean political division its distinctive individuality.;Data on Puerto Rico's oral music traditions are compared with information published on musical cultures of Mexico, Cuba, Domin- ican Republic, Haiti, Venezuela, Central America, and the Lesser Antilles. Documentation on the music of Brazil, United States, Peru, and West Africa broadens this comparative study. Historical data from Spain and Portugal are used to explore the extent of Iberian contributions to certain chordophones. Interviews with distinguished performers of commercial music buttress conclusions on the strength of tradition versus innovation within the area.;Included in this study are data on non-documented chordo- phones. These are: banyao, banye, two forms of tumbandero, and mandurria. Other chapters deal with the Puerto Rican cuatro, bordonua, and the Cuban tres. Information on their construction, tunings, and stringings is presented in chapters IV, V, VI, and VII.;Data on African-derived idiophones are included in this work. This new organological information sheds light on African influence on Puerto Rican music and is relation to other Caribbean musical cultures.;This dissertation emphasizes heretofore neglected parallels. Obviously, different languages have influenced local developments within the zone. But meanwhile, similarities such as organology, performance practices, terminology, and popularity of commercial genres have been unjustly ignored. Apart from obvious European input, the musics of all Caribbean countries share African rhythmic and melodic influences. In the 1980's wherever television, radio, and records abound, diffusion imposes ever greater homogeneity. A new sauce in any one Caribbean commercial product soon flavors the lump elsewhere.;Cuban influence on the area's repertoire has been considered in this study and interviews with distinguished performers illustrate the extension and popularity of Cuban music in Puerto Rico. Data on popular dance forms and ensemble types before and after this influence are included in this work.;Aspects of the waltz and seguidillas are analyzed in this com- parative study. Ways of construction of bomba drums have been presented. Drawings and photographs illustrate these descriptions. Musical transcriptions of plenas, bomba songs and drumming patterns, and waltzes enrich this study.