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Hearing the Americas
Agustín Lara

Agustín Lara

Name

Agustín Lara

About

Lara was a composer, pianist, and singer who popularized the bolero in Mexico. In the 1920s, Lara was working as a piano player in several Mexico City brothels. Inspired by Guty Cárdenas and other Yucatecan performers, he adopted the bolero. Although not a strong singer, Lara reinvented the genre by incorporating the piano and violin. Through his compositions as well as his work on radio and in film, Lara made the bolero the quintessential sound of urban, post-revolutionary Mexico.

Date

1941

Source

Wikimedia Commons
Lara was a composer, pianist, and singer who popularized the bolero in Mexico. In the 1920s, Lara was working as a piano player in several Mexico City brothels. Inspired by Guty Cárdenas and other Yucatecan performers, he adopted the bolero. Although not a strong singer, Lara reinvented the genre by incorporating the piano and violin. Through his compositions as well as his work on radio and in film, Lara made the bolero the quintessential sound of urban, post-revolutionary Mexico.