Sonic Sundays Special | Latin Heritage Month Part I

Image | NASA

Latin Heritage Month (aka National Hispanic Heritage Month) in the United States lasts from the 15th of September to the 15th of October. It starts mid-month because between September 15th and 21st, several Latin American countries celebrate their independence days, including Mexico, El Salvador, Chile, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

In 2019, the US Census Bureau counted 60.5 million people who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Latin American, and especially Mexican, culture have shaped the US from its inception. After all, until 1848, much of the American Southwest and California was part of Mexico. Latin Heritage Month is a great time to celebrate the richness and diversity of Latin America. Here are a few Latine musicians who have impacted popular music and culture here in the US. Since there is so much to cover, this will be a two-part series, but still I can only scratch the surface of the enormous impact of Latin American artists on US music and culture.

Rock n Roll

Ritchie Valens’s “La Bamba” took pop audiences by storm in 1958 as a surprise hit from the B side of a 45. For the recognizable guitar riff, Valens drew from the traditional son jarocho from Veracruz, México and the cha cha chá rhythm from the Caribbean (you can hear cha, cha, cha-cha-cha keeping the beat throughout the song).

“La Bamba” is actually a folk song from Veracruz dating as far back as the 18th century. Bamba is a word that refers to “wood” and it is of African origins, not Spanish; it would have reached Veracruz and the Yucatán by way of Cuba. Valens, born Richard Valenzuela in Los Angeles, learned how to pronounce the lyrics in Spanish from his aunt. Although he died tragically in a plane crash in 1959, along with Buddy Holly and “The Big Bopper” on “the day the music died,” Ritchie Valens inspired young Chicano and Mexican-American kids who ushered in the Chicano rock movement of the 1960s.

The video below is from the 1987 film La Bamba, about Valens’s life and music. Click here for a video of the song including photos of Ritchie Valens.

Salsa

Salsa emerged from Puerto Rican and Caribbean immigrants fusing their traditional genres—mambo, boogaloo, bolero, rumba, and more—to create a “salsa” of sound.

Johnny Pacheco, a musician and conductor, recruited several well-known Latino Musicians onto his Fania record label, and while many were recording artists in their own right, the group of musicians recorded and performed together as the Fania All-Stars. They included many Puerto Rican, Nuyorican (New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent) and Cuban artists like Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Willie Colón, and Rubén Blades.

This recording was taken in 1974 during the Fania All Stars performance in front of a massive crowd in Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire). Celia Cruz, who abruptly made her home in the US after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, sings Quimbara. The term doesn’t have a translation into English, but is most likely of African origin. Celia Cruz sings “quimbara” over and over to create rhythm with her voice.

Tejano

Selena Quintanilla, known as just “Selena” is one of the most famous Mexican American singers, whose talent, style, and stage presence captured the hearts of many people in the US. She began her career as a child singing with her siblings in a family band, but it was her voice and performances that soon gained popularity in the Tejano music scene. Selena’s career was defined not only by massive hits like “Amor Prohibido” and “Si Una Vez” and dozens of music awards, but by her warm personality and the way she engaged with audiences.

Tejano music was originally seen as a genre for male musicians, but Selena defied the stereotypes and instead brought Tejano music into pop culture. She blended different genres like disco, pop, reggae, country, techno, and cumbia (a genre originally from Colombia and Panama, but which has been adapted across Latin America).

Her life was tragically cut short when she was killed in 1995, at the age of 23, leaving fans to wonder what else she might have accomplished in her life. Despite her relatively short career, Selena has made an incredible impact on pop culture and the music industry both in the US and in Latin America.

Here is the video of Selena’s “Como La Flor” from her iconic 1995 performance at the Houston Astrodome.