The label “Latin American Music” is problematic because “Latin American Music” as a whole is so broad and the term implies that it is a single style of music.  It compares to saying that the music of Beethoven is the same as the music of ABBA because they are both “European Music”. Latin America is made up of many different countries and regions, and the music and culture has evolved over many years. Broadly referring to all music that has come from Latin America as one single genre of music takes away from the individuality of the many different Latin American musical genres and styles.

Latin American Music and Latin Music differ in their place of origin.  Latin American Music is music originating from Latin America while Latin Music is music that comes from people of Latin American descent living elsewhere in the world. The difference in the musical styles are the surrounding influences of the music. Latin Music will of course have more musical influences from wherever in the world the particular piece or genre comes.

Ostinato often is understood to simply mean something that is repeated over and over throughout a piece of music. They are often used in Caribbean and Latin American Music to move the music and give it a specific flow. They are often layered on top of each other, and played with various different instruments. A common ostinato used is the “Habanera Pattern”, which can be identified in numerous musical expressions all across not only Latin America but also elsewhere in the world.