Nación reggaetón (Nueva Sociedad no. 223)

La revista Nueva Sociedad de Argentina (no. 223) acaba de publicar el ensayo "Nación reggaetón" que co-escribí con Frances Negrón-Muntaner. ¡Aprovechen, que el artículo se puede descargar GRATIS! Es una versión traducida y actualizada del artículo "Reggaeton Nation" que publicamos en la revista de NACLA.


Aquí un resumen del artículo:

Nacido en los barrios pobres de Puerto Rico, el reggaetón fue combatido en sus inicios, acusado de corruptor y de promover el perreo, un baile considerado soez. Pero con el tiempo se ha ido expandiendo y sofisticando hasta convertirse en un éxito mundial y en el principal producto de exportación musical de Puerto Rico. El género pone en evidencia la centralidad de las diásporas africanas en la cultura local y sugiere que lo local está compuesto de culturas globalizadas.

Marisol LeBrón on Reggaeton's Future

Check Marisol LeBrón's insightful take on "Reggaeton's Futurity."

Ivy Queen vs. Victoria Sanabria

Finally! A Trovatón episode that I've actually enjoyed and hasn't made me squirm. I usually suffer an acute case of "pena ajena" (feeling ashamed for somebody else) because the trovadores tend to leave the reggaetoneros in the dust. But, I have to admit, sometimes it's been the trovadores that make their own selves look bad. Plus those disrespectful low blows from either side also kill any potential joy for me.

But this episode had plenty of respect flowing from both sides. Victoria held her own when she rapped. And Ivy Queen sang jíbaro style and did pretty good, though not holding herself tightly to the complicated constraints of the décima. I wonder if the loose interpretation was on purpose or if its just that improvising in true décima style was beyond Ivy's means. Whatever the case may be, much respect to both these women.

November 12, 2009: Princeton University, NJ

Roundtable at Princeton University, NJ, featuring scholars and artists Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, Marisol LeBron, Miguel Luciano, Ines "Deevani" Rooney and DJ El Niño.

Afro-Dominicana: Music from the Other Dominican Republic

A few months ago I blogged about "Regaeton Roundup" on the AfroPop Worldwide radio show. Well, AfroPop just came out with a groundbreaking new program titled Afro-Dominicana: Music from the Other Dominican Republic.

While Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions get a lot of shine on the world stage, and Afro-Puerto Rican traditions have been getting a bit more shine recently, the celebration of Afro-Dominican music and culture has been notably lagging behind.

A few years back reggaeton/hip-hop group Del Patio did a collaboration with Ilú Ayé titled "Lo palo." Ilú Ayé, as usual, did a great job. And I was happy to see an urban music group like Del Patio link themselves to Dominican roots music through their collaboration with Ilú Ayé. I won't say much about the many reasons why I think that production left a lot to be desired. Judge for yourself. I'll just say I'm not feeling the use of Afro-Dominican music as a splash of color on otherwise drab and cliché urban music formulas.



What I'm hoping is that shows like AfroPop's Afro-Dominicana: Music from the Other Dominican Republic and the Quijombo Festival this week in the Bronx and the Afro-Dominican drumming/dance classes organized by The Legacy Circle in Harlem will motivate and challenge urban music artists to do excellent and inspired productions that draw from the roots.

Here's a plug for an artist that does an amazing job at fusing urban and roots music: Rita Indiana. Ok, so Rita might not be primarily a hip-hop or reggaeton artist but she definitely draws from that type of urban music. She's one of the artists featured on AfroPop's Afro-Dominicana show. Here's one of her songs, "Encendía," from her earlier work as part of the duo Miti Miti.



And a more recent song, as frontwoman of Rita Indiana y Los Misterios, titled "El Blu del Pin Pon."



Not that Rita holds all the answers. But she definitely has a great one.

P.S.
Found two more, for good measure: dembow and palos inflected to boot!





I can't say enough about the lyrics. How can that childhood tale of sharing in "Da pa lo do" be so tender, heartwrenching and hilarious at once?

When Hip-Hop and Reggaeton Collide

Check out Allison Desir's piece "When Hip-Hop and Reggaeton Collide" in The Mantle: A Forum for Progressive Critique. The article pays close attention to issues of race and ethnicity, and features interviews with music industry executives. Plenty of fascinating stuff here!

Parodiando la cultura urbana latina

Tato Torres just posted this on my FaceBook page:



And this is the conversation that followed:

Raquel Z. Rivera
Annoying, smug and misinformed... yes. And at the same time I had to laugh out loud a few times. It also had a few witty moments. I can't help thinking how we ("Latinos" in the US, urban music artists and fans...) leave ourselves open to this kind of caricature for falling into cliches... por cabezones.


Tato Torres Sáez
It is exactly the point he is making, he very clearly and cleverly states in the beggining: "por suerte hay hermanos latinoamericanos viviendo en NY... y gracias entonces a nuestros hermanos anglosajones en los EEUU que toman de ellos la cultura latina, la embasan y la difunden poco a poco hoy en nuestros barrios, podemos ver lo latino presente..."

yet you gotta love the "perreo simulator" LOL

"mi verdadero nombre es Mariano Grumberg Hollester Junguersen Smith, pero soy Latino" ¡JA!


Raquel Z. Rivera
Wow... I somehow missed the "la envasan y la difunden poco a poco hoy en nuestros barrios" criticism. Now I like this even more. I initially thought it was a simplistic caricature. But now I see it's more. And, yes, the perreo simulator was one of my favorite parts. And also the "papá cómprame las zapatillas blancas" bit.


Tato Torres Sáez
exactly!.. the guy is geniusly making a joke about the commercially distributed "packaged" generic concept of "Latinos," which is obviously formed on a stereotypical "Nuyorican" image.