‘Viva!’ Ignores Some Important Details

The past year has seen many misguided media attempts to explain the supposed “Latin explosion” in pop music. Most of what gets reported is wrong, because the songs and artists of said “explosion”--from Jennifer Lopez to Ricky Martin--did not contribute Latin music to the pop charts. Rather, they were mainstream pop artists who just happened to belong to an amorphous ethnic category called “Latino.”

Nonetheless, the media have constantly confused people’s family history with Latin music genres, while the real Latin explosion in the U.S.--in Spanish-language music--has been virtually ignored. Watching Latino TV newsmen such as Geraldo Rivera and John Quinones contribute sloppy specials to the fantasy has been painful.

Now comes accomplished producer Ray Blanco, a year late and a peso short, with his two-part “Latin music” television series. The first hour ran last weekend. The second airs tonight on KTLA.

In the first show, Blanco--best known for his PBS documentary “Black and White in Exile,” about Haitians and Cubans in the U.S.--focused on Latino contributions to U.S. hip-hop, an important area largely ignored by the media so far. He smartly avoided labeling these artists’ music as “Latin,” and showed that Latinos have been present since hip-hop’s start.

The second part of the series, tonight’s “Viva! America Goes Latin,” is less impressive. While Blanco and company distinguish between ethnicity and musical genre, they still throw Nuyorican pop singer Lopez in with Cuban American jazz flutist Nestor Torres--who is profiled at length, while jazz greats such as Chick Corea and David Sanchez are overlooked.

The show also repeats the misconception about Latin music “dominating the charts” in 1999. Of the 200 top albums last year, only six--or 3%--were by Latino artists, and only one was a Latin record. Calling 0.5% “domination” is terribly misleading.

Blanco valiantly tries to address the many genres of “Latin music,” but inexplicably ignores Mexican regional music--which accounts for 60% of all U.S. Latin music sales. The show also ignores merengue--the world’s most popular Latin dance music--and Latin rock, with the exception of Colombian pop-rocker Shakira.

Blanco’s only nods to the vibrant Mexican regional market are brief mentions of Linda Rondstadt’s outdated ranchera album, and Selena. The omission of contemporary Mexican regional genres suggests Blanco’s East Coast bias, and is a slap in the face to California, Chicago and the American Southwest.

* “Viva! America Goes Latin” airs tonight at 11 on KTLA-TV.