Embracing a Heritage

Living in Los Angeles, it might be easy to think that most Latinos are brown-skinned and of Mexican descent; after all, about 80% of the city’s Latino population identifies as Mexican.

Listening to Spanish radio in Los Angeles, it might seem that Latin music means only ranchera, banda and mariachi, or, most recently, the pop stylings of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias.

But visiting the many booths and concerts at the MIDEM Americas music trade show here this week--where the unifying theme is the impact of black music on the music of the Americas--another Latino reality becomes obvious: Millions of Latinos in the U.S. and abroad identify as black, and the most exciting new Latin music is coming from young black artists.

While artists such as Cuban singer Celia Cruz and Mexican singer Tonia la Negra demonstrated long ago the duality of being both black and Latino, the modern domestic entertainment industry, especially in Los Angeles, has been excruciatingly slow in accepting--and promoting--this reality.

Latin American scholars and historians agree that about 95% of the Africans forcibly brought to the Americas were bought to what is now Latin America. They are concentrated in the Caribbean, Colombia and Brazil, home to the world’s largest African American population.

This means that most of the black people living in the Americas live in Latin America. But it’s a reality that is not reflected in Latin pop rosters for the five major labels in the U.S., where executives openly voice concerns about the crossover potential of dark-skinned Latinos. Sony Discos’ newest crossover hopeful, blond Argentine Gizelle D’Cole, is a prime example of what some see as the white bias among the major labels when dealing with Latino artists.

The apparent resistance at the major label level is particularly surprising, according to critics of the practice--including Valerie Lawrence of New York’s H.O.L.A. Records--because of the enormous acceptance for decades in the mainstream pop world of African American artists, from Stevie Wonder to Lauryn Hill.

The good news is that in spite of being all but ignored by the major labels, young black Latinos from New York, Miami and even El Paso are churning out some of the most intelligent and experimental music on the market, most of it on smaller, independent labels.

Popular albums by older Cuban groups such as the Buena Vista Social Club have exposed many Americans to an antique genre of Afro-Cuban music. But dance clubs and urban radio are now exposing Americans to the new musical forms being created by black Latinos mixing Afro-Caribbean sounds with rap, hip-hop and R&B--sounds; that young Latinos of all ethnicities appear eager to hear.

Dandy, a Cuban-born 24-year-old singer who describes his music as “Afro-Cuban hip-hop,” says he was shocked when he was invited to perform this year at a Cinco de Mayo festival in San Jose, and found himself swarmed by young Mexican Americans who wanted his autograph.

“They’d never heard music like mine,” says Dandy, who records for Gozando Music in Miami and performed here Tuesday night at a MIDEM showcase. “I thought they wouldn’t like it, being Mexicans, but they relate to the rap side, and like the Spanish lyrics.”

Fulanito is another impressive group mixing Afro-Caribbean sounds with rap and American dance sounds; in their case, the Afro-Caribbean sound is perico ipia’o, traditional merengue accordion lines from the Dominican Republic. Though Fulanito, which records for New York-based Cutting Records, receives practically no radio play in Los Angeles, the label’s general manager, Louie Garcia, says that the New York-based group is gaining popularity in Southern California through word of mouth. “Mexican Americans love hip-hop, and they love Spanish music,” Garcia says. “It makes sense they would love these bands. But it’s hard to get L.A. radio to play us.”

H.O.L.A. Records started three years ago with the aim of signing young, hip, black Latino artists who performed hybrid Afro-Caribbean/hip-hop music, and who could eventually cross over into the mainstream.

“Our goal from the start has been to give these groups a chance no one else would give them,” says Lawrence, the label’s director of operations. “The big labels may not be ready, but they’re going to lose out big time in the long run.”

Artists on the H.O.L.A. label include Voices of Theory, a black Latino vocal group from Philadelphia that has opened for Mariah Carey; Proyecto Uno, a merengue rap group fronted by rapper Magic Juan; salsa singer D’Mingo, who dresses in hip-hop styles from New York; Veronica, a Puerto Rican R&B; singer; and a powerhouse Spanglish R&B; and reggae singer named Reign, the label’s big urban crossover hope.

One of the most anticipated performers of the week here is Los Angeles-based Ricardo Lemvo and his group Makina Loca. On San Francisco’s Putumayo label, the band performs a style Lemvo describes as “Congolese Cuban music.” Lemvo, who was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, says that he grew up next to a bar that played nothing but Cuban music.

“Everyone in Africa recognizes that Cuban music is African music,” Lemvo says, adding that he is pleased to see so many young Latinos finally embracing their African heritage.

Dandy agrees. “People might have been ashamed of the African roots before,” he says of Latinos. “But not anymore. Now, we’re proud.”