Dance
for a Dollar uses three different types of music to tell its story: current
dance hall music, traditional Mexican folkloric music, and some original compositions.
The traditional music is intended to take the characters back into their memory
while the original compositions reflect on the human experience that still
weighs on the characters shoulders. The dance hall music ranges from rancheras to cumbias, and the popular pasito duranguense and cumbia norteña.

A
cumbia is a Colombian dance that
dates back to colonial times on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast. The word cumbia is
derived from the African word “cumbé” which means a party or celebration.
 Originally, cumbia was a courtship dance celebrating the union between
Africans and indigenous people. Traditionally, the music is played on drums,
flutes, and other types of percussion instruments such as the tambor mayor, the tambor llamador, tambora, maracas, and guache that come from Africa and other indigenous origins. In the
1820’s, cumbia became popular as
Colombia fought for its independence. Eventually, the cumbia became known as a symbol of national resistance.

The two different types of ensembles are the conjunto de cumbia and the conjunto
de gait. While both ensembles utilize the drums and percussion in their
music, the conjunto de gait adds the
indigenous cactus wood flute known as the gita.
After the cumbia spread to more urban areas of Colombia, the musicians
modernized the music by simplifying the rhythm and reducing the number of
drums. The 2/4 beat and stress on the upbeat gives the cumbia an optimistic
feel that sounds like a fusion between merengue and reggae. When the cumbia
travelled to Mexico, it evolved from the traditional Colombian form to develop
a polka feel from the German influence.

 Traditionally, the cumbia is dance with Spanish-inspired costumes such as long
skirts for women and red handkerchiefs for men. The dance itself is a
representation of courtship rituals. The dance follows the beat of the African
drums while the movement resembles indigenous movement.

The
cumbia that “Dance for a Dollar” focuses on is cumbia norteña (also known as onda
grupera) which emerged in the late 1970s by their promotion by major
Mexican labels in Monterrey. Since the 1990s, the hybridization of cumbia and norteña has created larger ensembles that reflect the growing
presence that Mexican culture has in American and Mexican media. Cumbia was
especially popular in Mexico during the 1950s and 60s. Up until the 1950s, the
music scene in Mexico was dominated by Afro-Caribbean music, but groups like
Mike Laure y sus Cometas, Sonora Santanera, and Chelo y su Conjunto replaced
the Afro-Caribbean bands by the 1960s. Cumbia
norteña is different from the Colombian cumbia because they usually have a
simpler rhythm. The norteña music
also swaps the brass instrumentation for an accordion instead.