<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Original Broadway Cast "America" (1957) 27 second sample from the original Broadway casting of "West Side Story". </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Original Broadway Cast "America" (1957) 27 second sample from the original Broadway casting of "West Side Story". </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> The alternating bars of 6 8 (six eighth - notes in two groups of three) with 3 4 (three quarter - notes) (similar to a bulería) is a distinctive characteristic of the song . This rhythm has been called both a hemiola and a habanera but is not really either . The two bar - types alternate and are not superposed, as in a hemiola . The alternation is comparable with the "Habanera" from "Carmen", but "America" lacks the distinctive characteristic underlying rhythm of the habanera form . </P>

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