Justin Bieber Has the Spanish Tinge

One of the things I find interesting about pop music is the proliferation of the clave rhythm, which originated in Spanish/Latin music and is found in a lot of salsa, mambo, Bossa nova, Latin jazz, etc., music.

The clave is found in two popular tunes from the 80s: Faith by George Michael & I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow.

And though I'm used to hearing this in many places aside from Latin music, I was a little surprised to hear it on the radio on my drive home from school tonight:

Yes, ladies and gents, Justin Beiber caught the Spanish Tinge. You can hear it in the thumping bass, and the hand claps on beat 4 make up the final note of the 3/2 pattern.

I remember my one of my high school band directors telling me about a talk by (I think) Paquito d'Rivera at an IAJE conference about the prevelance of the clave in musics today. It only continues to spread beyond its origins.