Spain
Bolero is a 3/4 dance that originated in Spain in the late 18th century, a combination of the contradanza and the sevillana [1]. It is danced by either a soloist or a couple. It is in a moderately slow tempo and is performed to music which is sung and accompanied by castanets and guitars with lyrics of five to seven syllables in each of four lines per verse. It is in triple time and usually has a triplet on the second beat of each bar. A number of classical composers have written works based on this dance: Frédéric Chopin wrote a bolero for solo piano, and Maurice Ravel's Boléro is one of his most famous works, originally written as a ballet score but now usually played as a concert piece.
Cuba and Mexico
In Cuba, the bolero developed into a distinct dance in duple time which eventually spread to other countries, while the dance itself gradually disappeared from Cuba, leaving behind what
author Ed Morales has called the "most popular lyric tradition in Latin America" [2]. The modern Cuban bolero song tradition originated in Santiago in the 19th century. The travelling, storytelling trova (or canción) tradition was major basis for the Cuban bolero, influenced by a variety of European musical styles.
The trova was usually accompanied only by a guitar, and had a rootsy, Spanish sound [3]. Some musicologists also trace an influence from the traditional son music of the Mexican state of Yucatan;
this is actually quite plausible, as the traditional music of this region sounds very much like the bolero, having many similarities
in melody, tempo, and vocal style. Though some scholars date the bolero to the early 19th century, Ed Morales dates it to
José Pepe Sánchez's Tristeza, in 1885, which popularized the term bolero and is now considered the first classic in the field [4]. The Cuban bolero traveled almost immediately to Mexico after its conception, where it became part of the repertoire
of Mexican traditional music. In fact, some of the bolero's most prominent composers have come from Mexico, an example being
the great Mexican composer Agustín Lara.
In the 1950s, sung boleros became extremely popular and have enjoyed enduring popularity as a popular song form throughout
Latin America.
American Style ballroom
Another kind of Bolero is the American Style ballroom dance popular in the United States. It is a unique dance style combining the patterns of Rumba with the rise and fall technique and character of Waltz and Foxtrot. The music is 4/4 time, and is danced to the slowest rhythms of the Latin ballroom dances (the spectrum runs Bolero, Rumba, ChaChaCha, Mambo). The basic rhythm of steps in patterns, like Rumba, is Slow-Quick-Quick.
Boleros in Pop Culture
The "Bolero of Fire" was a song in the popular Nintendo 64 video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
"Beck's Bolero" was a song written by Jimmy Page and performed by the Jeff Beck Group on the album Truth.
Second part of "Lizard" suite from Lizard album by King Crimson was called "Bolero: The Peacock Tale"
"Casi un Bolero" was sung by Ricky Martin in the 1990's
"Bolero" is the title of the song played during the ending credits of the movie Moulin Rouge!.
British post-punk band Bloc Party's second album will feature a song called "A Prayer to the Lord", which takes its inspiration
from the bolero. It will be centered around hand-claps and foot-stomps
