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• 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.

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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.

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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)

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Etymology

Origin of banda

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

Example Sentences

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

Barraza is onstage with a mariachi accompanying his banda.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

It’s what Selena has carved for her Latino fans especially, what banda music has offered generations of Angeleno families, and what the Egyptian Lover has given “the freaks.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

“This is something that is new because there is an income. Vaquero culture, banda culture is expensive, and people don’t give that credit.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 8, 2025

Wending his way to his banda, Bertram found Ali Suleiman making work for himself and doing it.

From Cupid in Africa by Wren, P. C.