Jump To:

• banda
  banda

  noun

  a style of Mexican dance music featuring brass instruments and having a heavy beat.
• Banda
  Banda

  noun

  Hastings Kamuzu 1906–97, Malawi physician, political leader, and public official: 1st president of Malawi 1966–94.

banda

¹ American  

[bahn-duh] / ˈbɑn də /

noun

1. a style of Mexican dance music featuring brass instruments and having a heavy beat.

---

Banda ² American  

[ban-duh] / ˈbæn də /

noun

1. Hastings Kamuzu 1906–97, Malawi physician, political leader, and public official: 1st president of Malawi 1966–94.

---

Banda British  

/ ˈbændə /

noun

1. Hastings Kamuzu (kæˈmuːzuː). 1906–97, Malawi statesman. As first prime minister of Nyasaland (from 1963), he led his country to independence (1964) as Malawi: president (1966–94)

---

Etymology

Origin of banda

First recorded in 1990–95; from Mexican Spanish: literally, band ¹ (in the sense of “group of musicians”)

Example Sentences

Música mexicana’s boom has reimagined sounds passed down through generations with corridos, rancheras, norteño, banda and sierreño for the streaming era.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026

Chuy Lizarraga and José Angel Ledezma Quintero—popularly known as El Coyote—boast a combined 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but their latest venture isn’t named after a heartbreak ballad or a rural banda anthem.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

Vallejo’s parents first started going in the early ’90s, when banda and corridos began echoing across L.A.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

“He was a trombone player and played in a banda in my mom’s hometown in Jalisco.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

After “Dismiss,” Bertram returned to the Mess banda.

From Cupid in Africa by Wren, P. C.