Search Results for: Spanish in the United States

The Bolivian charango with Spanish roots

There are many instruments that have greatly contributed to make Latin music and its great exponents known worldwide, but unfortunately they are not very popular and the general public is unable to identify them. Such is the case of the charango, which we will talk about in this opportunity.

The charango can be defined as a stringed instrument that is part of the lute family and has its origin in the South American Andean region. It is believed that it began to gain popularity during the Viceroyalty of Peru. It has approximately five pairs of strings, but there are some models that have a greater or lesser number of strings.

Here is more information and interesting facts about the charango and its history.

Federico playing the charango — Peruvian charanguista Federico Tarazona playing the charango

How the charango is created in the first place

Although it was not possible to determine exactly when the charango began to be played, it was found that it existed from the 17th century and was inspired by the Canarian timple (a stringed instrument from the Canary Islands that has five strings).

The Canarian timple was always very present in the so-called ”Spanish charangas”, which were a type of parades or comparsas that took place in the street. This is the origin of the name ”charango” with which it would be called from now on.

How the charango began to become popular

Previously, it was an instrument used exclusively by the more rural classes of the time and was closely related to the indigenous population. However, since the 1950s, this situation began to change and the charango started to be heard in more urban areas, which led residents of such places to participate in concerts and folkloric activities for all audiences.

the one responsible for this was Bolivian-born musician and luthier Mauro Núñez, who in 1944 began to use the charango to disseminate folk music and peduce new charango models in order to popularize it even more. This led many other musicians to find their own musical styles with the instrument, which brought the charango to concert halls and theaters all over Bolivia.

A few years later, the charango arrived in Ecuador, but in the 1960s, it reached Argentina and some European countries. During those same years, several artists from Bolivia, Peru and Argentina began to tour the world and, as a result, ended up taking the charango to the rest of Europe, the United States and Japan.

In 1973, Bolivian charanguista and composer William Ernesto Centellas took the initiative to create la Sociedad Boliviana de Charango with the support of charanguista Abdón Caméo and singer-songwriter Ernesto Cavour Aramayo. This society organizes the Congreso Nacional de Charango and the Encuentro Internacional de Charanguistas every two years.

Nowadays, everyone accepts the idea that the home city of the charango is the city of Potosí and, due to the way its later diffusion went, the town of Aiquile was very important for the instrument to the point that today it is known as the ”Capital of the Charango”.

A Youtuber playing the charango — A Youtuber teaching how to play a charango

How is the charango and how is it played?

The charango is shaped like the guitar, although it tends to be slightly smaller. Likewise, its sound box has a smaller size and the neck is much shorter. Among the most common sizes, we can mention 50cm, 60cm and 75cm. Generally, it has five pairs of strings, but there are some Peruvian models that may have four strings, two at eaither end and a double string in the middle.

The way in which the charango is tuned varies depending on the area and the musician’s preferences, but the most common tuning is natural temple. Just like the guitar, the charango also has the third-order strings octaved between them.

As for the way the charango should be played, the techniques most used by the charanguistas are the rasgueos, the repiques and the tremolo. In talking about the most popular rhythms, we cannot fail to mention the Huayno, the Carnaval, the Cuenca, among others.

Playing the charango can be quite a challenge for beginning musicians, but with enough effort and dedication, incredible results can be achieved even for the most inexperienced.

Young Puerto Rican singer Jeremy Bosch supports the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum

There are many people who believe that salsa is a genre of past generations that does not have worthy youth representatives who stick up for this set of rhythms that has been keeping so many people dancing for so long, but fortunately they are wrong. Jeremy Bosch, whom we had the opportunity to interview at The Johnny Cruz Shw a few weeks ago is a god example of this.

We are honored to know that one of the new sensations of Latin music, specifically salsa, supports one of the most important institutions dedicated to the genre such as the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum, so we want to take advantage to talk a little about the career of this young singer and everything he has achieved so far.

Jeremy playing the flute — Jeremy Bosch playing the flute live

Jeremy’s beginnings in this world

Jeremy Bosch is a singer and flutist born in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, who began his journey in the world of music singing and playing percussion in the church on his block while growing up listening to a great variety of artists including Hector Lavoe to Chicago and Tonny Bennett, so he had influences of all kinds.

Not much time would past before Jeremy took achevable steps towards the direction he was meant to take. At only 17 years old, he won a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in the city of Boston, United States, and graduated in 2023, specializing in jazz composition. From then on, what followed for the young artist have been successes and great proposals he could seize.

One of thse things he is best known for is having been the vocalist and flutist of the acclaimed group Spanish Harlem Orchestra, but that has not stopped him from collaborating with great figures in the industry such as musical director and Grammy-winning percussionist Pete Perignon, with whom he recorded the social short called ”Sería Una Pena”.

Johnny and Jeremy — Johnny Cruz and Jeremy Bosch posing for the camera

Jeremy’s professional career

Sometime later, he would have the opportunity to realize one of the most important works of his career, which is the tribute to the late Cheo Feliciano, which was recorded live at the Dizzy Club in New York City and was titled ”The Music of Cheo Feliciano. In addition, the project included Nelson Gonzalez, Johnny ”Dandy” Rodriguez and Spanish Harlem Orchestra leader Oscar Hernandez.

With regard to this great night for his career, Jeremy commented that since his debut both he and arranger and vibraphonist Felipe Fourniel had long time wanting to work on something about Cheo Feliciano and his legacy for a long time until they finally made it. This show was the sign that Jeremy has everything to become an icon of salsa and Afro-Caribbean music in general.

As for his solo career, he has made a few remarkable recordings and one of them was ”Prologo Hoy”, which included the participation of Nicaraguan singer Luis Enrique and Cuban vocalist and guitarist Alain Perez. It is a five-song EP that focuses a lot on Afro-Colombian and tropical music, while including some covers in English such as ”Love Holiday”, which gives a distinct flavor to the material as a whole.

Jeremy and Johnny on the set — Jeremy Bosch and Johnny Cruz on the set of The Johnny Cruz Show

Later on, Jeremy released ”Epilogo: la clave del tiempo”, which includes 11 tracks and is basically a mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms, soneo, urban genres, modern synthesizers, among other elements. The album starts with ”Locura” and continues with singles such as ”Try Again”, ”La Mala”, ”Autopsia” and a few more.

Support for the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum

In the social networks of the director of the Spanish Harlem Salsa Museum, Johnny Cruz, there is a clip in which the The Johnny Cruz Show host introduces Jeremy as his special guest on that occasion, promotes the interview with him and describes him as the sensation of the moment. Then, the camera goes n Jeremy’s face, who thanks the invitation with a smile and assures that they both will have a good time talking about his life and career.

We are honred to support young talents like Jeremy and, at the same time, to get the same support and love back because that is what salsa and the Latin music scene in general needs, that all those involved join together around it to keep it alive.

Four nationalities united in Ladama

Talent can come from the most amazing and unexpected origins and more when we are talking about music, a branch of art from which always emerges people with a lot of potential who can completely break our schemes. This leads us to introduce the topic of a group of four young musicians and singers who joined their skills despite their apparent differences. They are the musical group Ladama.

Ladama is an alternative Latin music band composed of four members of different nationalities: Venezuelan Maria Fernanda Gonzalez, Brazilian Lara Klaus, Colombian Daniela Serna and American Sara Lucas.

Three of the four members of the group spoke exclusively with International Salsa Magazine and this report will show some of the topics covered during this pleasant conversation.

Sara, María, Lara, and Daniela from Ladama — From right to left, Sara Lucas, María Fernanda González, Lara Klaus and Daniela Serna

Origins of Ladama as a group

The conversation was started by Lara and Dani, who explained a bit about the rise and concept of the band. The group was created in 2014 while the girls were doing an artistic residency known as OneBeat, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. They were selected to represent their respective countries, which led them to socialize with each other and discover the great chemistry between them because of the language and genres they played.

Since OneBeat was an initiative towards cultural exchange between artists and offered the necessary technical equipment to record music, they took full advantage of this space to get to know each other’s styles and see what they could do together.

Once the month-long residency was over, each went their way, but they kept in touch via Skype a year after having met. The motivation to create a project that would encompass a musical band and teaching classes to minority communities remains intact.

They wanted to create an initiative in which community, creativity, social impact and cultural exchange would be the fundamental pillars of Ladama. It was always clear that they not only wanted to make music, but also do something that would positively impact upon society and they think they have succeeded so far.

As for the name Ladama, it is simply a combination of the first two letters of the names of each one: ”la” comes from Lara, ”da” comes from Dani and ”ma” comes from María Fernanda. At the same time, ”La dama” in Spanish means ”The lady”, which also refers to the fact that it is an all-women group.

Ladama in a residency called OneBeat — They first met in an artistic residency known as OneBeat

How did these different origins coexist in Ladama?

We were very impressed by the fact that all Ladama members came from different countries, so we wanted to know how this impacted the group. Lara answered that the only thing they needed was the desire to play together and move this initiative forward, which means that the origin of each one was not a problem to found the group.

Just like every other band, each one had her own ideas and they discussed them together to know which one to choose or not.

Their major test was given during the Rec-Beat Festival in Brazil. They arrived only a few days before the event, so they could barely rehearse and set up the repertoire. Despite the haste, they feel that everything went very fluidly, as they spent time meeting with each other and writing some songs for an occasion like this.

Given that Lara, Dani and Maria Fernanda come from Latin and tropical countries, there are certain rhythms that sound so much alike, which they took advantage of to unify them and create completely new rhythms that sound good at the same time. Lara also pointed out that these mixes are in constant change and they always try not to get stuck in the same styles.

In addition to that, Ladama has left traditional music behind a little bit and has focused on alternative music and other genres such as pop, soul and R&B.

Dani addressed the topic of genres by saying that they do not follow a plan in which they have something specific to play or mix. Any of their songs can go from Dominican merengue and Colombian cumbia to trap and reggaeton without any problems. They do not like to limit themselves and always seek to reach all audiences.

Ladama in a Tiny Desk concert series

Playing on Tiny Desk (a series of live concerts organized by the radio program All Songs Considered in the United States) is always a prestige for any artist or group that performs on that platform, which is inviting Latin singers more frequently every time.

The girls were at a festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they had the opportunity to meet the curator of Tiny Desk, who would invite Ladama to record their session in Washington D.C. shortly thereafter.

Lara considers that this was a great opportunity to spread their work due to the large number of people who always tune in to Tiny Desk, in addition to the many artists they knew after their appearance on the platform.

For her part, María Fernanda commented that, on that same occasion, they took the opportunity to bring instruments from their own countries so that the Tiny Desk audience could get to know them. She also stressed that this session will be an important audiovisual document for history that will serve as an inspiration for other musicians in the future.

It was a great achievement after all that hard work.

Ladama on Tiny Desk — Ladama performing on Tiny Desk

Music classes for the community

The members of Ladama have also been focusing on music classes for the community at large, mostly in schools and universities. In their four countries, they have given workshops of all kinds related to music in the languages they speak, which are, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

the artist emphasized that they always try to do this type of activities together in the very countries where they offer live performances. They have total freedom to do things separately, but they prefer to carry out these activities supporting each other.

Although they offer classes to anyone who is interested, Latino children are a very important group for Ladama, as many of them often have some problems of identity and adaptation to the United States. When they arrive at school in this country, they often disguise or even hide their Latino roots in order to fit in with their peers, so these classes are an opportunity for them to reconnect with that identity they begin to leave behind.

These workshops and classes also serve as additional income for the group, as they can not only support themselves through tours and festivals. These educational activities are another way to diversify their earnings and have more stable inflows of money.

The message of the Latino community in the United States to Goya Foods

or weeks, we have witnessed how the Latino community in the United States has withdrawn its support, and has even considered its decision to buy Goya Foods, after the demonstration of support by its CEO to Donald Trump.

Goya Foods, or Goya as this Hispanic-rooted food company is popularly known, faces calls for a boycott in the United States. This comes after its CEO, Robert Unanue, fervently praised the President of the United States, Donald Trump, saying that his leadership is “a blessing.”

Goya Foods is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US With these statements, many of its loyal consumers and even some high-profile Democratic supporters are asking that they not buy the company’s products.

Unanue attended an event at the White House where President Trump signed the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, which was described as an effort to improve access to educational and economic opportunities for members of this community.

Unanue’s exact words were: “We are all truly blessed to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder.”

For many regular consumers it is puzzling and contradictory that the CEO of the largest empire of food consumed by Latinos in the United States, suddenly decides to support so openly a president who is not exactly the favorite for Hispanics.

Since then, much criticism has rained, not only for the political affinities of the highest representative of Goya Foods, but for what this company represents for the millions of Latinos in the United States.

The White House, has made controversial anti-immigration decisions, sought to end a policy that protects hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth from deportation, and sought to build a border wall in the south. enacted a policy that separated children from parents when they were detained at the border.

Many consumers have since said that they would no longer buy the company’s products, which include basic inputs for the preparation of traditional food in many Latin American countries. Those who promote this boycott have shared brands and alternative recipes on different social networks, with the hashtags #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya.

What message do Latinos want to send to Goya?

Some consumers say they have grown up with a sense of cultural attachment to the brand, but are now disappointed by the CEO’s comments. Many have relied on the company for affordable products that are often hard to find, but are key ingredients in Hispanic cuisine. Now they feel slighted by a CEO who has left the community that supports their company.

Unanue defended himself and pointed out that he has also worked with initiatives of former US first lady Michelle Obama. She stated that, in her view: “This is repressing (freedom) of expression,” she said. “I don’t apologize for speaking – and especially when the president of the United States calls you – you’re going to say, ‘no, sorry, I’m busy, thank you.’

Robert Unanue and his message at the Goya Foods

But the debate seems to involve more than just Latinos, as Goya has always been concerned about also attracting non-Latino consumers, from Asians to white Americans, using advertising slogans in English such as “Goya, O-Boya.” For many non-Latinos, consuming Goya products is a fairly authentic, albeit superficial, way of practicing Latinidad.

Goya fans are divided on whether or not to follow the boycott, a considerable number planning to end their attachment to the brand. Some have even published recipes for making adobo and stir-fry, among other alternatives to the brand’s products. Others have posted suggestions for lesser-known brands like Sun Vista, Pilón and Badia.

Goya will have to deal with a significant drop in sales and its perception in the market, at least in the short term, during a time when so many economic indicators are in recession. It’s also true that earlier this year, Goya donated some 136,000kg of food, or roughly 270,000 meal portions, to food banks and organizations to help with the coronavirus crisis. In the event that generated all the controversy, Unanue announced that it would donate another million cans of Goya chickpeas and 454,000 kilos of food products to food banks to help families affected by the pandemic.

Elections in key states are often defined by very narrow margins; even a small dropout of Latinos from the Republican side could be decisive for the results.

The White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative Act created a 20-member commission designed to work with various Cabinet members to implement vague initiatives related to employment, education, and small business development. But most Latinos will find this effort too little, too late, and too much like election-year complacency.

The message of the Latino community in the United States is very clear, they are a united front and will not be manipulated by last minute actions, even with the support of important figures in various sectors of the Hispanic community.

Why is Goya an icon of Hispanicity?

Like many of the immigrants in search of the “American dream”, Prudencio Unanue landed with his wife in New York in 1921, from Puerto Rico. The Unanue family had emigrated from Spain to the island in the early years of the 20th century. In New York he settled in the Latin quarter of Harlem and after several years of hardship, one day in 1936 he made the best investment of his life: he bought a bankrupt company (Seville Packing Company) and the Goya brand.

In 1936, Prudencio Unanue found the name Goya perfect: simple and easy to pronounce in Spanish and English. And he decided that his new business venture would bear that name, convinced that this time he would achieve his goal. He bought the brand for $ 1. He never imagined that that day a giant was being born that today has a turnover of more than US $ 1,500 million a year, according to company figures, and sells all kinds of foods of Hispanic American origin, such as beans, rice, canned meat and seafood, condiments, cheese, oil and even frozen dishes.

It started by importing products from Spain – like olives and olive oil – to sell to Spanish expatriates, but quickly expanded the business to import food from Latin America to reach other immigrant communities. In fact, as after the Second World War, a wave of Puerto Ricans entered New York to fill the lack of labor in the factories, Unanue realized that there was a great opportunity.

Then, in the 1960s, the first Cuban wave arrived and thus, little by little, Latino immigrants were opening up space in the different states of the country, and in the same way the business began to expand. Goya gave an answer to the “nostalgia” of those who leave their country.

Prudencio was succeeded by his son Joe, who inherited the challenge of expanding Goya internationally and today the firm is under the executive direction of his grandson: Robert Unanue. It only remains to wait to see how high the price Goya Foods will have to pay for having disheartened so many, to maintain a political stance rejected by the majority of its consumer base.

A walk through the history of Latin music in the United States

Latin music has been of great influence for singers in training and, without a doubt, marked the lives of its pioneers. Some born in Spanish-speaking countries and others with descent from these lands have not been able to put aside the flavor that has been inherited to them. There are those who affirm that these tropical and Caribbean rhythms are carried in the veins and it is very difficult to get rid of these roots.

The arrival of Latinos in the United States also implied the arrival of their customs and culture. Latin music is considered to be a large number of genres, including: salsa, merengue, bachata, bolero, bossa nova, reggaeton, rumba, ranchera, cumbia, tango, among others.

Photo of Latinamerican Festival at Nagoya in Golden Week

Latinamerican Festival at Nagoya in Golden Week

How did Latin music begin to enter the United States?

Latin American music has influenced American music, starting from jazz to country music. Many bands added congas, percussion, or maracas to their instruments as they were drawn to the result these elements brought.

Starting in 1940, the music of Latin America, which still did not have a specific term, covered a greater number of audiences in the United States; international radio networks broadcast different themes of the time. In addition, they featured different Mexican bolero musicians such as Alfredo Antonini, Néstor Mesta Chayres, Eva Garza and Juan Arvizu. In the 1940s the US also heard the “Calypso” with great acceptance.

It was not until the 1950s that the term “Latin music” became popular, seeking to establish a difference between Afro-American and Afro-Latin American rhythms. Some artists marked this musical fusion to a greater extent, making the best of Latin music known on American soil. During the 1950s, music brought to the north from the island of Cuba, such as mambo, cha-cha, and rumba, was very popular. As well as the famous Mexican songs: rancheras and mariachis.

Some Latino artists who marked the history of Latin music in the United States Tito Puente was an American percussionist with Dominican origins remembered for his participation in worldwide jazz, Cuban music and salsa. In 1950 he helped promote the genre of mambo and cha-cha. His album “Dance Manía” was considered the most famous by the artist, it was one of the most heard among the Latino community in the US The album also set a precedent by being recorded in Spanish, generally, Latin albums were in English or with instrumental songs. It was Tito Puente who broke with this tradition.

At the beginning of the 20th century, tango touched American soil. Then, in the 70s, the Argentine Astor Piazzolla gave something to talk about by demonstrating his passion for the genre and revolutionizing what was known until that moment. Piazzolla was born in Mar de Plata but lived in New York from a very young age. It definitely changed the way of looking at music that was long marginalized, it was considered the music of the working class. The singer made mixtures between tango, jazz and contemporary classical music. His songs were a great success and were famous in bars of the time.

It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that the term “salsa” began to become known. Afro-Caribbean musicians mixed Cuban dance with influences from jazz, Caribbean music, and American rhythms. Although in previous decades it had already had its beginnings, it was in the streets of New York where it was consolidated as a commercial success.

Photo by Celia Cruz and Tito Puente

Celia Cruz and Tito Puente – Latin music

Salsa launched artists who are now legends to stardom, such as: Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, among others.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, Dominican immigrants to the United States continued, especially to New York City, and promoted genres such as merengue and bachata. Juan Luis Guerra was one of the great exponents of both styles.

In the 90s, Selena mixed the Texan aesthetic with pop, giving her the title of the highest representative of the genre.

Entering the 2000s

In this decade, Latin rhythms continued to set the trend. Singers like Rubén Blades returned with songs that promised to be hits in the country.

At the end of 1999 Marc Anthony surprised his followers with an album of the same name. Although he was already known in the salsa genre, he decided to try other styles. With the intention of reaching the Anglo market, he is encouraged to sing in English. “I Need To Know” is a cha-cha song that quickly became popular in the United States. For eleven weeks it remained in the top North American positions, ranking in the Top 10 on the Billboard. The Spanish version won the Grammy for the best Latin song of the year 2000.

Marc Anthony was one of the artists who marked this decade in the US That same year a compilation of his best salsa songs went on sale, which he called: “Desde el principio”. With these successes to his credit within this country, he set out to make an important tour of the United States. Canada and Central America. Madison Square Garden in New York was overflowing with fans who wanted to hear this American singer but who positioned himself as the leader of a Latin genre.

Photo by Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony

The opening of “I Need To Know” appeared in the Nissan Versa commercial in the United States and in 2009 it also featured in an American Dad chapter, an American television series; thus giving greater projection to this genre throughout the North American territory.

During this decade, salsa and Latin music in general ended up positioning themselves in the United States.

In 2002 Blades launched his album “Mundo”, becoming one of the most popular in the United States. In fact, it won a Grammy. The album contained a mix of various rhythms and instruments. The artist wanted to create a fusion of cultures and musicians from different countries. “Estampa” was a subject with great acceptance as it evoked the Afro-Cuban influence in New York music.

By the year 2000, there were already music channels and with them the projection of emerging talents who in many cases did not speak the English language. The dynamics of these channels focused on the public, who chose which songs and videos were to be played, giving the opportunity to many young, little-known artists. They were also considered a springboard for the singers of the season and the Latin movement in general.

A movement that is here to stay

Latin music had come to continue making history and it was time to give it greater merit within the American spectacle.

Today, Latin singers, songwriters, and bands are innumerable. Latin music continues to gain space in the United States and more and more artists are achieving success within its borders. In addition, the endless awards that enhance their work in the industry.

Ruben Blades - Mundo

Ruben Blades – Mundo

The consumption of these musical rhythms has increased throughout the American territory. Latinos and followers of this genre have gained space over the years; they can enjoy nightspots, live music, festivals, concerts and much more. Long live Latin America and its people! Long live the United States and the countries that have opened their doors to Latin music