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Mariach Vargas de Tecalitlán in Austin June 20th @ the Long Center

June 15, 2009
Press Release

The world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán will perform in Austin at The Long Center – Dell Hall June 20 as part of the Texas Mariachi Vargas Concert Tour. The long awaited concert is the first time Mariachi Vargas will perform in Austin since March 2006.

“Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán is recognized internationally as el mejor mariachi del mundo (the greatest mariachi in the world),” says Dr. Robin Moore, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. “They are the most highly respected ensemble of its kind and one that has been around since the late nineteenth century,” he added.

Founded in 1897 by Gaspar Vargas, Mariachi Vargas has performed for 112 years and five generations. Their extensive history includes being featured in more than 200 Mexican films and music videos with performances throughout the world including Prague, Czech Republic, Japan, Canada and most recently Spain. Under the direction of Maestro Ruben Fuentes, a classically trained musician, composer and musical arranger, Mariachi Vargas consist of 12 members that make up some of the best voices and musicians in Latin America. Jose “Pepe” Martinez, Sr. is the group’s musical director and a vocalist and violinist who has performed with Mariachi Vargas since 1975.

Additional traditional mariachi instruments played by members of Mariachi Vargas include the harp, guitar, vihuela, trumpet and guitarron. “Mariachi Vargas’ innovations in instrumentation, orchestrational technique, and stage presentation have influenced and inspired countless generations of mariachi performers,” says Dr. Moore. “They set the standard for the mariachi music industry,” he added.

Concert goers can expect to hear songs from their latest recording Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Mas de 110 años y aguí estamos (more than 110 years and here we are) with popular favorites like "Para Siempre" (a love that will last forever) and "Estos Celos" (a song of jealousy) as well as traditional songs that have been played for decades like “Por Amor” (a song about love) and “Urge” (a song about the longing to be with the one you love).

Opening acts for the Mexico City based Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán include Esteban Velasquez from Odessa and Virginia Stille from Houston to be accompanied by the University of Texas - Mariachi Tejas.

Tickets to see Mariachi Vargas in concert are available at The Long Center 3M Box Office, www.thelongcenter.org or by calling 512-474-5664.

For additional tour dates visit mariachimusic.com or call 210-225-3353 for more information.

'Land of a Thousand Dances' authors talk Chicano rock

May 16, 2009
By Reed Johnson

In 1998, when David Reyes and Tom Waldman first published their authoritative history of Chicano rock 'n' roll in Southern California, "Land of a Thousand Dances," their home state was in upheaval. The aftershocks of Proposition 187(1994) were rattling California politics. Thousands of migrants pouring in from war-torn Central America were remaking the landscape of Latino L.A. And the rock en español movement was erupting, hinting at a potentially seismic shift in Latino cultural tectonics.

A decade later, Los Angeles has a Mexican-American mayor, Latino artists are increasingly visible in U.S. culture, and the "Latinization" of American life is occurring in practically every state. But one thing hasn't changed, the authors say. Most Chicano rock bands, despite their continuing creativity, remain marginal to the mainstream rock scene.

"We still to this day don't have a model for what it means to make it, and really make it, in the Anglo market for a Chicano band," said Waldman, 52. "What's remained elusive is that huge worldwide success."

That's partly the result of marketing decisions made by record companies and the music industry, say the authors, who'll be appearing Sunday at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. They'll be joined by Lysa Flores, one of several younger Chicano artists who get considerable ink in the updated edition of "Land of a Thousand Dances," which has just been reissued by the University of New Mexico Press, with a new introduction and photos.

But the authors also believe that Chicano artists face unusual challenges in American society, where they're pressured to maintain a strong sense of Mexican identity but also to assimilate. As the men state in their book's conclusion, Chicano musicians, from Ritchie Valens to Los Lobos and beyond, have labored to incorporate Anglo-American pop music as well as Mexican and Latin influences.

"This not only contradicts the racists," the authors write, "but also the radicals, who while postulating a distinct Chicano identity seem to forget that Chicanos have been intimately connected to American life for decades."

"We're still not out of that restrictive definition of what a Chicano musician is, in America," said Waldman. For many Chicano rockers, he adds, the crucial question remains: "How do I resist the pressures both from Anglos and Chicanos to be the kind of musician they want me to be?"

The urge to venture past restrictive musical boundaries helped bring Reyes, 56, and Waldman together in the late '70s, when they worked together at Tower Records in West Covina. Reyes already was a budding music historian and archivist, amassing a vast personal collection of vinyl and vintage photographs. The store's clientele was a mixture of punk rockers, English-speaking suburban rockers into the likes of Journey and Cheap Trick, plus Latinos from El Monte and Pomona.

The two men discovered a mutual fascination with Valens, Chicano rock's founding icon, as well as with seminal Chicano rock bands such as Thee Midniters and Cannibal & the Headhunters (who once toured with the Beatles), and with influential disc jockeys Art Laboe, Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg and others who helped popularize the East L.A. sound.

Dismayed that most conventional histories of rock 'n' roll had ignored Chicano rock, or failed to elucidate its social context, Reyes and Waldman determined to write an alternative history. They began culling material from Reyes' personal collections and tracking down some of the old-timers for taped interviews. Many of the veteran musicians, who'd never been solicited by writers before, were eager to share memories.

"The word started spreading we were doing this, and that helped a lot," said Reyes. "Great stories. We couldn't fit 'em all in the book."

Only a few months after the book's original publication, the authors were approached by L.A.-based filmmaker Jon Wilkman about making a documentary about Southern California Chicano rock. The fruit of that collaboration, "The Chicano Wave (La Onda Chicana)," will be seen as part of a four-hour PBS series, "Latin Music USA," in October.

Despite a dearth of live-music venues in East L.A., and the authors' view that rock en español's success has splintered an already fractured Spanish-language music market, Waldman and Reyes believe that Chicano rock can continue to flourish with artists such as Flores, the politically charged Quetzal and Ozomatli, and a number of emerging Latino bands from L.A.'s middle-class suburbs.

In preparing the book's new edition, Waldman said, "David and I looked at some of the young bands. And I think they want to rock."

Source: Los Angeles Times

The Unifying Elements of Chicano Rock

April 8, 2009
by Denise Sullivan

It all started with Ritchie Valens and “La Bamba” in 1958, though it would be another decade before Santana took Tito Puente's “Oye Como Va” and freaked it out in 1970. Los Lobos brought Spanish language to LA punks with “Anselma” in the early ’80s and to the masses in 1987 with a remake of “La Bamba”; in 2002, they kicked Chicano butt with “Good Morning Aztlán.” Of course, these names of Latino rock royalty can twist a phrase en español—it is their birthright. But what about los gringos without Latino roots who’ve attempted to bring a little Mexican vibe to their rock ‘n’ roll? And the bands that feature lesser known Mexican-Americans or who are conquistadors of south-of-the-border sound? Well, they are the subject of this edition of Origin of Song, claro que si.

There are any number of starting points I could choose to begin the story of Latin rock and the use of Spanish language in rock ‘n’ roll, but since I'm not a scholar of the stuff and just an admiradora, I'll apologize upfront for any mismanagement of details, mangling of the language, and my Anglo-centric survey of the music. Let’s just say for the sake of ease we start with 1948 and Don Tosti’s recording of “Pachuco Boogie”, a swingin’ tune about the rebellious zoot-suiters featuring a conversation or street rap in Caló, the urban dialect of the Pachuco subculture. The Pachucos donned the zoot suit and started a rebellious ’40s fashion and attitude trend that asserted individuality and anger in the face of having been stripped of a cultural identity. What, you are asking yourself, does this have to do with music? Well, Southwestern Chicanos adopted the baggy trouser/knee-length jacket uniform that had previously been seen on the Harlem jazz scene, and Don Tosti earned the nickname “the Godfather of Latin Rhythm and Blues.” Alongside Lalo Guerrero, “the Father of Chicano Music,” who also sang of Pachuco life as well as farm laborers’ rights, Tosti opened the door for an ethnocentric brand of music to cross into the mainstream (“Pachuco Boogie” was a massive seller), though it wouldn’t be until the late ’60s that the Chicano Movement would come to organize in the name of cultural identity. “Suavecito”, the 1972 hit by Malo (the group led by Santana’s brother Jorge), is an example of Caló y Latin rhythms coming together in one classic R&B/rock ballad. But what happened between “Pachuco Boogie” and the day when Santana threw down at Woodstock before even releasing a debut album?

Well, that would be the invention of Latin rock by California son, Ritchie Valens, a rocker whose “Come On, Let’s Go” and “Donna” are '50s standards, but who happens to be most remembered for the music of his cultural heritage. As we know, the music died on February 3, 1959 when Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Valens, and the pilot died in a plane crash in Iowa, yet “La Bamba”, the el hefe of Spanish language rock songs, lives on. Starting out as a hundreds year-old Mexican folk song, Valens rocked it up and delivered a three-chord wonder that eventually any garage or punk-rock band could play. The Plugz, an LA band by way of El Paso, featuring Tito Larriva and Charlie Quintana, self-released their cranked-up version of “La Bamba” in 1981. The Plugz also recorded two long-playing rare classics, Electrify Me and Better Luck, before morphing into the Cruzados and then eventually going their separate ways, but not before their “El Clavo y La Cruz” and “Hombre Secreto” (as in “Secret Agent Man”) gave the right touch to Repo Man, the punky midnight movie about “the LA experience.” Larriva went on to work as a solo act and got into movie scoring; Quintana did a stint drumming for Dylan and continues to work with the big names in rock. Speaking of Dylan, aside from his film Masked and Anonymous featuring a wicked Spanish-language version of “Like a Rolling Stone”, as well as a Lobos version of “On a Night Like This”, Dylan is an on-the-record fan of Sir Douglas Quintet, famous for Augie Meyers' Vox Continental organ sound.

Meyers met Doug Sahm as kids in San Antonio, Texas; when their band got together, they were among the handful of US groups who brought the spirit of the British Invasion (English musicians doing American music), back into the hands of Americans by tricking the public into thinking they were playing British-styled music like the Beatles and the Stones, rather than American music by Americans. Ha! So Sir Doug had officially added the Tex-Mex sound to the American music mix, while Sahm would also go on to sing of the border and other Mexican concerns (“Michoacan”). In later years, Sahm and Meyers would also join forces with Mexican-American rock and genre-straddling songwriter Freddie Fender and accordion virtuoso Flaco Jimenez as the Texas Tornados. But it all began with the Sir Douglas Quintet's greatest hit, “She’s About a Mover”, released in 1965.

The Farfisa organ sound and the count-off uno, dos, one-two, tres cuatro would become recognized around the world that same year as the opening to “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Led by a Texas-born son of Mexican immigrants, Domingo (Sam) Samudio, the song is about nothing really and was said to be named after his cat. Domingo worked as an itinerant musician and reportedly as a carny before forming the Pharaohs, who took their name from Yul Brynner because he looked tough as the character in The Ten Commandments, one of those epic 1950s Bible movies. “Wooly Bully” became a staple of the frat-rock genre though it was more distinctive than just serving as the soundtrack to Animal-House-style hijinks. The song spent an incredible 18-week stand on the charts, and by the end of 1965, it was named Billboard magazine's Number One Record of the Year and had helped dislodge singles on the charts by the aforementioned pesky British bands of the era. Sam the Sham’s “Li’l Red Riding Hood” was certainly another fine moment for the band, but it lacked the Tex-Mex organ sound that would crop up on the great singles of the '60s made by another legendary group of Mexican-Americans: “96 Tears” by Question Mark & the Mysterians, who hailed from Michigan and were fronted by Question Mark aka Rudy Martinez and featured a teenaged organ player, Frank Rodriguez, Jr. The organ riffing would also inspire the group’s “Can’t Get Enough of You, Baby.” In 1998, Smash Mouth from the Mexican-American-populated San Jose, California, had a hit with the song alongside their hit remake of “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by War, a mixed-race funk band whose big hit “Low Rider” was a hats-off to cruisin’, Chicano style.

Of course, when it comes to cruisin’ Chicano style, the band for that is East LA’s Thee Midniters. Known for their instrumental jam “Whittier Boulevard” (Let's take a trip down Whittier Boulevard—Arriba, arriba!), the band and their especially soulful singer Willie Garcia, better known as Little Willie G, was a big inspiration to the future members of Los Lobos. The song was a natural to cover for Los Straitjackets, the contemporary (mostly) all-instrumental band that performs in Mexican wrestler masks.

Okay, so copping a Spanish name and wearing a mask does not make a Mexican rocker. But by virtue of using the article “los” in their names, Los Straitjackets, as well as Texas rockers Los Lonely Boys, are filed in American record stores with the other “los bands,” like Los Bravos, the rock group from Spain whose 1966 hit, “Black Is Black”, did not contain a word of Spanish. Nor to my knowledge did the Zeros, the Mexican-American band from San Diego, ever sing in Spanish, though as members of the class of ’77, they are distinguished as first-wave punk rockers; they also sprung Robert Lopez, aka El Vez, the Mexican Elvis. Somewhere, there exists a single of their anthem “I Don’t Wanna” backed with “Li’l Latin Lupe Lu”, a cover of a Righteous Brothers song made famous by Mitch Ryder.

I regret this column is a little bit short today—deadline pressure keeps me from elaborating on Devendra Banhart’s musings en español on Cripple Crow and the Mission District’s #1 son, Jerry Garcia (that is if you don’t count figure #1a, Santana). I had planned to wax on about Beck Hansen’s Mexican-American neighborhood origins and the exact definition of un perdedor as heard in “Loser.” I wanted to touch upon that great Spanish-lover, Joe Strummer, whose Mexico City childhood allowed him to open his corazón to the Spanish-speaking world, and they to him. I had hoped to remind you to remember to forget U2’s lame-o uno, dos, tres, catorce countdown to “Vertigo”, but who am I to talk when all I can offer are my own gabacha sign-offs, ay, caramba y que lástima. Yo no soy una roquera, lo siento. Pero, in the hands of the Mars Volta, Ozomatli, Zack de la Rocha, y todos los músicos, La Raza rocks on.

Source: CrawDaddy!

Remezcla.com SXSW 2009 Official Showcase 3/20/09

March 19, 2009
Press Release

Remezcla.com is proud to announce its Official Showcase at this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival, featuring live performances by an eclectic roster of Latin artists from different corners of the globe: Chikita Violenta (Mexico City), Niña Dioz (Monterrey), We Are Balboa (Madrid/New York City), Pilar Diaz (Los Angeles), Contramano (New York City/Buenos Aires) and Don Yojan y La Frescura (Austin). 

The Remezcla SXSW 09 Showcase will bring together diverse up-and-coming performers who sing in both English and Spanish and represent different cities and scenes across the Latino spectrum.

Headlining the show is the indie rock band Chikita Violenta, which is based in Mexico City and signed to influential Canadian music label Arts & Crafts. The quintet, whose breakthrough debut The Stars and Suns Sessions (2007) put them on the international rock map, is currently working on its next release with longtime producer David Newfield (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos!). 

Young female rapper Niña Dioz is about to become a household name in Latin American hip hop. The 24-year old Monterrey native not only shares a birthday with Lady Sovereign, but also shares the same irreverent attitude and masterful flow. Niña Dioz recently appeared on a track on Plastilina Mosh’s latest album and is featured on the soundtrack of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s new movie, the forthcoming Rudo y Cursi. 

Although they just recently relocated to New York City, We Are Balboa hail from Madrid, where for the past 6 years their English lyrics, power pop-rock sound and pretty vocals by lead singer Lua have earned them a popular following. With comparisons to Rilo Kiley, We Are Balboa has toured extensively through the United Kingdom and Canada with their last album Space Between Bodies. 

For the past few years, Chilean-born, Los Angeles-bred Pilar Diaz was best known as the front woman of bilingual new wave outfit Los Abandoned. Now, on her new solo project, this multifaceted singer-songwriter explores her folk roots while incorporating modern elements and her trademark ukulele. Her self-titled debut album was recently released to widespread acclaim.

Contramano’s frontman Pablo Cubarle is a classically trained cellist-turned-rocker who blends Spanish and English lyrics with the group’s punk, electronic, chamber and world music sounds. The group’s energetic performances incorporate interactive visuals and plenty of crazy antics, electric cello included. With two albums under their belt, the New York-based band spends a few months a year touring in Pablo’s native Argentina.

A tropical urban group from Austin? Mexican and Puerto Rican rapper Don Yojan decided it was time to tap into Texas’s rich multicultural reality and together with El Gigante (Honduras), The Prodigy (Texas), and DJ Kris (Panama), formed Don Yojan y La Frescura, a blend of influences that range from salsa to hip hop and reggaeton. Like groups such as Orishas and Kumbia Kingz, Don Yojan y La Frescura look to their Latino heritage to create bilingual, urban music that resonates with today’s youth.

Latinos love Morrissey, and why not?

Unlikely fans tap into his Irish outcast melancholy.

Mar. 19, 2009
By A.D. Amorosi

There are some mysteries of fandom that cannot be easily fathomed.

Why do the French love Jerry Lewis and the Germans David Hasselhoff?

And here's yet a third unexpected fan-artist connection that has been going on since the early '90s: the Irish singer Morrissey's hold over the Latino community of the West Coast.

Since his days in the celebrated British band the Smiths, Morrissey has had a devoted following among Latinos in California, in L.A. in particular. Fans packed his concerts and emulated his slicked-back look. Morrissey, who plays the Academy of Music Sunday night, even has a Spanish nickname: El Moz.

Now with Years of Refusal, Morrissey's label, Lost Highway, has formed an alliance with Nacional Records, America's preeminent Latin alternative label, to promote the singer in Spanish-speaking markets throughout the United States.

"It's a no-brainer," says Rahsaan Lucas, 35, a Philadelphia percussionist and entrepreneur whose Afrotaino Productions runs events musical and nonmusical for Latino audiences.

"I got into him in the '80s, that 'Girlfriend in a Coma' moment. He tapped into and channeled this resident melancholy that we carry around with us internally."

Whether as front man of the Smiths (disbanded in 1987) or as solo artist, the British-born child of Irish Catholic parents has been a potent but flowery crooner. He's a sexual enigma whose literate, sarcastic lyrics speak of personal and social politics. He sings of wronged romance, alienation, and dysfunctional unions on a scale from intimate ("I Just Want to See the Boy Happy") to grand ("Irish Blood, English Heart"), with fanciful character studies in between.

At first, the Smiths' ringing new wave and the glam rock of his solo albums might seem a world away from the tastes of Latino listeners in East L.A.

Morrissey is conspicuously British-looking. His face and body, thicker now at 49, were waifish, even when topped by a high rockabilly do. Though today he wears natty suits, Morrissey was a model of billowy shirts and cuffed-jean cool.

But fans say his image, his message of trouble assimilating, his outcast appeal connect with Latino listeners.

"Latinos in the Southwest have a strong, complicated culture, so to branch into areas that are countercultural makes sense to me," says Philadelphian Heather Phillips, a Mexican American bartender and fine-art photographer who has friends in L.A. "So long as there are societal standards and cultural pressures, there'll be outsiders and oddballs who seek solace in a union with other like-minded folk." That's Morrissey, in her estimation.

She fell in love with images of Morrissey when she was 14 and watching MTV's alterna-rock 120 Minutes program. "I saw this video for 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before,' with legions of British kids styled like Morrissey riding around on bikes." That was romantic to Phillips, and gave her insight into style. "I grew up feeling like an outsider. When I found this outlet where I could dress differently and listen to music that spoke that language, I embraced it."

Kim Buie, vice president of artists and repertoire at Lost Highway, learned of the connection between Morrissey and his Latino fans while hanging in Mexico City in the '90s. "I was amazed to find amongst the kids and in the depths of the street markets of Mexico City Morrissey fans selling and trading music and T-shirts next to Menudo paraphernalia," Buie says.

"Ever since the Smiths, Morrissey was important to us - his music and image, the attitude of what he said onstage and offstage, how he rolled up his jeans and what motorcycle boots he wore," says Tomas Cookman, the Puerto Rican founder of Nacional and an organizer of the Latin Alternative Music Conference. In L.A., he says, he has seen men who resembled Morrissey but were proudly Latino. "They were not English-accent wannabes. They were into the fact that they were Latino - they just had a distinct Morrissey stamp."

Cookman notes that Mexican cowboy crooning legends like Vicente Fernandez are not so unlike Morrissey.

"They portray themselves as real knock-the-batteries-off-your-shoulder tough guys, but there's lots of sensitivity in their lyrics," he says. "As many songs as there are about sleeping with women cavalierly and riding horses, there are lyrics about how this is hurting my heart that people in different emotional stages . . . can relate to."

The same Latino audiences who understand that brand of hurt, lashing-out lyricism surely get Morrissey.

Ramon Martinez, a Venezuelan American pharmacist who lives in South Philly, doubles as on-air host for WXPN's Y-Rock Internacional. Martinez, 42, got into Morrissey when he was a teen.

"Morrissey opened my eyes to things I didn't understand: girls, being in love, falling out of love, living with pain, suicide, abandonment, misunderstanding, and silence," Martinez says. "I was a kid who grew up in a different society, and my parents sent me here to study, so I understood what he was saying about the 'Headmaster Ritual' and the feelings of anger and rebellion."

Between them, Cookman and Buie are testing the crossover currents in both directions. While Lost Highway markets Nacional's Manu Chao records to gringos, Nacional takes on Years of Refusal with pushes at Latino radio and listening parties across the United States. Cookman says Nacional couldn't keep up with the demand for them.

"Not just in Los Angeles but in Chicago and Philadelphia," says Cookman, who asked Lucas to showcase El Moz at Lucas' monthly Discoteca event at Fluid, which he did last night, premiering Morrissey music remixed by Mexican Institute of Sound as well as playing new records from Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

"With all the broken-heart crooning as well as Mexican rancheras that wail in that corta vena [cut vein] style, it was no wonder Morrissey found a Southwestern Latino" audience, says Lucas, who has long spun new wave records in non-Latino clubs.

He finds in Morrissey's music a space for listeners to touch on feelings and thoughts that haunt them. "It's not a scary, dark melancholy that makes you want to dress in black and be depressed. It's uplifting. It's human experience to want to be appreciated for who you are and what you do, and he fleshes out that struggle, that experience, through his lyrics."

Source: Philly.com

"Idol" gets Latino flavor with Puerto Rican Nunez

Mar 6, 2009
By Jill Serjeant

"American Idol" is going to be hearing a lot more Spanish this season.

Puerto Rican college student Jorge Nunez, who divided the judges over his heavy accent, won congratulations from Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez after singing his way through to the coveted Top 12 of Fox's top-rated talent show.

Encouraged by the superstar music couple, Nunez said he hoped to sing a few verses in his native language in future rounds of the competition, saying "my voice sounds best when I am singing in Spanish."

Nunez told reporters in a conference call on Thursday that Anthony and J.Lo, both of whose parents were born in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, sent a text message to show host, Ryan Seacrest, after his performance this week.

"Please tell Jorge that Jen and I could not be prouder. We were in tears witnessing, honestly. Pure talent," said Anthony's text.

Nunez, 21, has received conflicting advice from the Idol judges, who first advised him to lose his thick Spanish accent if he wanted to advance in the show.

But British judge Simon Cowell told Nunez this week to keep the accent, noting that many a Spanish and Latino singer had achieved popular international success.

"I wanted to follow their advice and let them know I had listened to what they say. But I can actually feel more relieved now that Simon has said he wants me to keep my accent," he said.

"I would like to integrate a few verses in Spanish (into my performances). It is part of who I am and if I get the chance to sing in Spanish, I'm not going to lose it," Nunez added.

Some 45 million, or 15 percent of the U.S. population are Hispanic or Latino, according to 2007 census figures.

Tatiana Del Toro, 24, also from Puerto Rico, was given a second chance to advance by competing in the "wild card" round later on Thursday.

Nunez was joined in the Top 12 by Lil Rounds and Scott McIntyre, the show's first blind contestant.

McIntyre, 23, told reporters he did not think his impairment would be a problem even as the competition heats up with new songs and choreography every week.

"I have never thought of it as a disadvantage...I don't want people to look at it in that way," said McIntyre, who has been blind from birth.

"I am quite the dancer," he added. "Sometimes it just takes some-one to show me the steps and I'm really good at keeping an awareness of my space. I've had some practice performing for some churches. I am very comfortable performing on stage."

"American Idol", now in its eighth season, has been America's most watched TV show for some six years and currently attracts a U.S. audience of about 24 million per episode.

Source: Reuters

Grammys: Where were the Latino musicians?

Feb 17 2009
By Reed Johnson

There's been an understandable amount of head-scratching and second-guessing in some quarters over the shortage of Latino and Latin American musical artists presenting trophies at the Grammys earlier this month.

Musically, CBS' 3 1/2 -hour broadcast on Feb. 8 reflected what Times pop critic Ann Powers called “the great wide mess of styles and sounds that fill the marketplace,” including artists as dissimilar as Neil Diamond and Lil Wayne. But while Latino musicians were represented within that mishmash, they were noticeably absent from the presenters' ranks.
Should the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences -- or, for that matter, the Oscars or the Super Bowl halftime show -- be striving to include Latinos, in proportional numbers, in all aspects of their broadcasts?

It's a question, obviously, that cuts to the essence of how Americans perceive themselves and their popular culture in relation to equal opportunity and other weighty societal matters. Conventional wisdom holds that the era of ethnic- or sexuality-based identity politics ended somewhere between the crossover of hip-hop's influence to mainstream pop and Barack Obama's inaugural address.

But even if we've stepped into some glorious new era, it would be naive to think that Americans of various ethnicities have stopped scanning music, movies, TV shows and sporting events, searching for signifiers of their (hopefully) growing acceptance and social status.

When invited last week to comment about the Grammy telecast, the NARAS forwarded e-mail responses by academy President and CEO Neil Portnow to questions posed by Billboard magazine. Asked whether "the launch of the Latin Grammys had anything to do with the demise of Latin presence in the mainstream Grammy awards," Portnow said that, "There hasn't really been a 'demise' of Latin presence on the GRAMMY Awards."
"If anything," he wrote, "since the Latin GRAMMYs has been around the last 10 years, there have been more Latins on the telecast in the last 10 years as opposed to the 40 before that."

The recording academy's evenhanded response might not satisfy some Latin American and Latino music producers, promoters and label owners who questioned why not even one Latino musician was among last week's presenters.

But Julio Rumbaut, president of the Miami-based media and consulting firm Rumbaut & Co., said that "whether it be content in television, award shows, [the presidential] cabinet, academia, I think the days of someone making it on the basis of ethnic origin are over."

"Whether it be the Grammys or the Oscars or the Clios, I think it's based on talent and competency," he said. "But at the same time, the organization, the decision maker, would be smart [to] mix those groups in."

Interestingly, the Colombian rocker Juanes, a no-show at the Grammys, was back in the spotlight last Sunday, performing at the NBA All-Star Game's halftime show in Phoenix. Like the music industry, the NBA wants to keep growing its Latino and Latin American fan base, especially now that U.S. pro basketball has a number of Spanish-speaking stars to promote.

And that's telling. In the eyes of many TV and recording executives, Hollywood producers, sports marketers and advertising agents, "Latino" is increasingly denoting a cultural orientation as much as, or even more than, a language preference, let alone a skin tone (always a misleading criterion). The very concept of Latino embraces a fusion of languages, ethnicities and histories.

U.S. Latino culture is in an extremely dynamic period right now, continually redefining itself in relation to Latin America, the Spanish- and English-speaking United States and its own past (including the Chicano movement of the 1960s and '70s). That transformation is becoming more complex than just a question of the number of accented vowels in a surname, or the number of presenters on an award show.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Ritchie Valens paved the way for Latino rockers

January 30, 2009
By Melissa Rentería

During the short time Ritchie Valens was able to share his music with a national audience he had amassed four hit singles, appeared on “American Bandstand” twice and embarked on a tour of the Midwest with other rising rockers.

His career spanned just eight months, but in that short time Valens, a Mexican-American kid who would sometimes do migrant work to support his family, was able to blend the music of his ancestors with the rock ’n’ roll he taught himself to play on a second-hand guitar.

“Ritchie Valens really was the first Mexican-American rock star. No one had reached the popularity that he did,” says New York-based filmmaker John J. Valadez, whose documentary “La Onda Chicana” will screen at next month’s 31st Annual CineFestival de San Antonio.

The documentary traces the evolution of Mexican-Americans in music, and it begins with the story of Valens, whose accomplishments in such a brief career, Valadez says, have “never been equaled in American music.”

From his hit singles to his appearances on national stages, Valens realized the American dream of rising from poverty and obscurity to riches and fame.

One of the most significant things Valens did, say music historians, was pave the way for other Latino rockers. His crossover appeal showed the music industry that Latinos could create American music with broad appeal, while his rendition of the classic Mexican folk song “La Bamba” showed musicians that you can embrace your ethnicity and still have mainstream success.

“Ritchie Valens really pointed the way to where we are today. I think the true impact of his legacy is just being realized,” says Los Angeles-based filmmaker Jon Wilkman, who grew up near the San Fernando Valley neighborhood where Valens once lived.

Wilkman, who directed the PBS documentary “Chicano Rock: The Sounds of East Los Angeles,” says the musicians he interviewed credit Valens as a trailblazer, particularly for his “drawing from all influences.”

Valadez points out that while music producers insisted Valens change his name to downplay his Latino heritage — producer Bob Keane tells Valadez that if Valens hadn’t changed his name radio stations “wouldn’t even listen to him” — future Latino rockers wouldn’t have to hide it. Carlos Santana, Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys used Spanish names and blended the language of their ancestors into their music.

The crossover appeal of Valens’ music also helped make his 1987 biopic “La Bamba” a hit with mainstream audiences, its filmmakers say. The groundbreaking film, which remains the top-grossing Latino-themed movie to date, according to filmmakers and Hispanic arts organizations, exposed another generation to Valens and his music.

“There were some musicians who admitted to me that they didn’t know Ritchie Valens was Chicano until they saw ‘La Bamba,’.” Wilkman says.

Valens’ family would like for his legacy to be that he inspired all young people, not just musicians and not just Latinos.

“Ritchie’s story transcends race and ethnicity,” says Connie Lemos, Valens’ younger sister, from her home in Hollister, Calif. She and Valens’ other siblings plan to attend an upcoming 50th anniversary tribute concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa for Valens and the others who died in the Feb. 3, 1959 plane crash.

“I want people to know his story,” Lemos says. “He was such a great role model for all young people.”

Source: San Antonio Express-New

The Brooklyn Philharmonic Loves Latino!

January 29, 2009
By Andy Seccombe

Soft red and lavender lighting gave the Brooklyn Masonic Temple a decidedly sensual feel last night as the Brooklyn Philharmonic kicked off its Nuevo Latino Festival in salsational style.

Amidst the candlelit tables, a troupe of white-shirted musicians emerged in the forefront to the sounds of wood blocks and the thuds of a conga drum. Then, rattles from a chekeré echoed, a wandering guitarist joined the throng and a lone trumpeter appeared on the Temple’s second tier.

The scattered musicians then made their way to the stage, where three violinists and a cello player awaited. It was there that the party really got started as classical strings met with the liveliest of Latin rhythms for two and a half hours of funky, sexy splendor.

Featuring music from Gonzalo Grau and his 12-piece band, La Clava Secreta the evening featured a collection of the group’s Grammy-nominated tunes which spanned Cuban, Venezuelan and Greek traditions as well as smoky jazz, classical, flamenco and funk.

Variety was the key spice of the night as each instrument brought some new and indispensable flavor to the showcase: one moment a saxophone gave the rhythms a hardy push, then a flute piped from the heavens. Next, the plucking of violins met the musings of a trombone, or a piano solo broke out, followed by the groovy utterances of an electric base. It was music characterized by its energy, urgency and escapades – how often do you get the chance to ride a salsa express, mellow out to sultry jazz, then feel like you’re in the middle of string-laden Hitchcockian chase sequence anyway?

And they weren’t even close to being done. Because Greek scatting is the new hip hop, there’s always time for a few Calypso hallelujahs or 4-part harmonies, and a little call and response and some blasts from the brass consistently seal the deal.

Some nights we’re all Latin lovers. Some nights we’re all twenty-one. And it’s always music that makes it so…

Source: New York Press

Gustavo Dudamel unveils LA Phil's 2009 concert season

January 23, 2009
Via AP

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will begin their first season together with a free concert at the Hollywood Bowl to introduce classical music's current it-boy to the city.

Dudamel gave a news conference Thursday to announce the orchestra's 2009-10 season. The classical music world has been eagerly anticipating the Venezuela native's debut as music director in Los Angeles, hoping his star power and Spanish-language skills will generate interest in the Philharmonic and orchestral music.

"This is a beautiful challenge and second, it's a wonderful opportunity to make great music with my new LA Phil family," said Dudamel, who turns 28 on Monday. "The most important thing is to enjoy our time together."

Dudamel will conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on Oct. 3 at the Hollywood Bowl. The free concert is titled, "Bienvenido Gustavo!"

The season officially begins Oct. 8 with an international telecast from the Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring the world premiere of "City Noir" by composer John Adams, who was recently appointed creative chair for the orchestra.

Adams said "City Noir" was commissioned by the orchestra and "inspired by the peculiar ambiance and mood of Los Angeles "noir" films, especially those produced in the late '40s and early '50s."

The season also will include a three-week multidisciplinary festival called "West Coast: Left Coast" to celebrate California's distinct musical culture, with the Kronos Quartet as ensemble-in-residence.

Another festival will be dedicated to music of the Americas, one of Dudamel's passions.

"This is our music," Dudamel said. "It is the language which links us as a people — borders dissolve, colors emerge and mix, and we find those voices which unite North, Central and South America as one."

The orchestra and its new music director will also tour the country in May, making stops in cities including San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

Dudamel, a charismatic and gifted conductor who was educated in Venezuela's far-reaching classical music education program, also said he is looking forward to expanding Los Angeles' youth orchestras.