By Luke Ryan
Anyone who has not spent the last year living in a cave deep in the Himalayas will by now be aware of the latest YouTube sensation, Gangnam Style, the mega-chart busting single (and the crazy-ass music video that accompanies it) from Korean pop superstar PSY which has recently surpassed 100 million views and has become the talk of the Internet. One other thing it has also brought into the spotlight of Western culture is the ever increasing popularity of K-Pop, as well as its close cousins, J-Pop and Canto pop.
However, while East Asian Pop music may be the latest pop culture craze, it is by no means the first international style of music to make it big in the USA. That honour goes to the musical style of Latin Pop.
Latin Pop, or Pop Latino, depending on where you live, can have a broad range of meanings. Technically it refers to all music sung in any of the five main Romance Languages of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or Romanian, as well as the dozens of regional languages such as Catalan or Occitan. But when most people talk about Latin Pop, they are referring to music originating from Spanish-speaking Latin America, that being South America, Central America and the Caribbean as well as the large Latino population in the United States.
Latin America has had a rich tradition of music. The mixing of traditional Spanish folk music with the styles of the indigenous populations and the Africans brought to the Americas as slaves, has produced a wide variety of musical genres such as Salsa, Samba, Tango, Bolero, Tejano, Bossa Nova, Flamenco, Mariachi and Reggaeton to name but a few. Contemporary Latin music blends these styles of music with Western pop and Rock music to create a style of popular music which is unique to the region. Beginning in the 1950’s, Latin American Artists began to break into the lucrative American market with Spanish language tracks.
One of the first artists to popularise Latin Pop was Ritchie Valens. The Mexican-American performer was the first to have a hit song sang entirely in Spanish, La Bamba, in 1958. Valens, who was a gifted singer and Flamenco guitarist from an early age (he was only 16 when he recorded the song) decided to record the song in Spanish as a tribute to his heritage, despite the insistence of record producers that a foreign language record would never sell in the U.S. He proved them wrong when La Bamba became an overnight sensation, reaching number 1 on the charts and propelling him to international fame. Tragically, his career was cut short when he was killed in the infamous plane crash of February 3rd, 1959, along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, known as The Day the Music Died and immortalised in Don McLean’s, song American Pie.
Another of Latin Pop’s forerunners is crooner Julio Iglesias. Hailing from Spain, the singer began his career in the late 1960’s, becoming a huge hit across America and Europe selling over 300 million records and becoming one of the biggest Latin singers of all time. Years later, his son Enrique would go on to have his own career with hits such as Hero and Bailamos and be known as “the King of Latin Pop”.
Today, Latin Pop and Rock have successfully become part of mainstream culture in the United States. Artists such as Ricky Martin, Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan, Marc Antony, Selena and Alejandro Fernandez has all has success both in the States and across Latin America, and have broadened their appeal by releasing both English and Spanish versions of their songs. Take, for example Ricky Martin’s hit song She Bangs; the Spanish version:
Due to the large Latino population of the U.S. and the lucrative market they offer, many Latino singers have made it big in the mainstream music industry. One example is the biggest selling female Latino artist of all time: Shakira. She is currently the only South American born singer to reach number 1 in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada, winning two Grammy Awards in the process, as well as breaking records across Latin America and being the highest selling artist of all time in her native Colombia. In 2011 she accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame having declined the offer in 2009.
Perhaps surprisingly, she has also been a long-time humanitarian and advocate for Latino rights in the U.S. In 2010, when the state of Arizona passed draconian laws on illegal immigration, she was one of many who spoke out against the new laws, claiming they destroy civil rights. A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she has also started a charity, the Piez Descalzos Foundation, which has founded several schools for poor children across Colombia, performed at both Live 8 and Live Earth and in 2011 was named by the Obama administration as a member of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
So, while K-Pop may be starting to make inroads into the international scene, Latin Pop was the first to introduce the West to another culture’s music.
Melodic Ramblings 