Pasillo is one of the most popular music genres in Ecuador. It embodies the culture and it is considered the musica nacional. In the 1800's it was characterized by its influence of ¾ waltz, the requinto, and its poetic lyrics about national pride and idealized women. Today it continues to have the same charecteristics. It started in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, but only continued to thrive in Ecuador. In Venezuela it is still called the valse. The "national sentiment based on sadness, loss, and nostalgia is expressed through pasillo lyrics, vocal style, and tempo. These musical and national sentiments would become particularly meaningful after Ecuador lost half its territory to Peru in 1942 "(Martin-Frost, cite). It is not just music, but a sense of connection and pride that ties all Ecuadorians. "The Ecuadorian development of cultural nationalism, like that of many countries throughout Latin America, reveals a shift from exclusion to inclusion of the masses "one that moves from elite hegemony to populist aesthetics. " (Martin-Frost, cite). Pasillo's lyrical content, style, and rise to popularity over the years have been influenced by the diffusion of the music on the radio, the bolero and waltz, musical artists such as Julio and Carlota Jaramillo, and its musical structure. .
Pasillo has no specific origin but it recognized for its influence from European Waltz. This is because the mestizo music is a branch of several cultures. Invesigator and musical composer, Mario Godoy, in Herrera's article, affirms that "The Pasillo or colombiano is a derivation of European waltz and Spanish bolero that adopted variations until they were replaced by the Pasillo " (cite )1. The Pasillo came to Ecuador with the wars of independence towards the beginning of the 19th century. It's a genre of music that in that time period was interpreted mainly by military bands that came to Ecuador. Then the bourgeoisie welcomed the corridor as a way of distinction with indigenous musical culture, "becoming a form of literary poetic expression that required a knowledge of literature accessible to the bourgeoisie "(Penarreta Suarez Cite)1.