MEDIA AND THE MUSICAL IMAGINATION: COMPARATIVE DISCOURSES OF BELONGING IN “NUESTRO HIMNO” AND “REGGAETóN LATINO”

Abstract

In May 2006, United States residents were witness to the largest pro-immigrant cross-country protests in the nation's history. During the apex of the pro-immigrant demonstrations, the single “Nuestro Himno,” a Spanish-language paraphrasing of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was released. Both the “Nuestro Himno” recording and the demonstrations constituted important symbolic gestures toward the (re)claiming of U.S. public space and the contested meanings of citizenship, nation, and belonging. This essay commences with an overview of recent debates on cultural citizenship, followed by a discussion of the “musical imagiNation” as it pertains to Latino popular music in general. I juxtapose this commentary against a critical discourse analysis of mainstream (English-language) Internet and print media discourse regarding the “Nuestro Himno” recording and an audiovisual analysis of the hit video “Reggaetón Latino (Chosen Few Remix)” (2005). Employing “Nuestro Himno” as a analytical lens, I propose a (re)evaluation of the differential notions of (cultural) citizenship and family foregrounded in official and popular discourses: How does the discourse of family and nation that emerges from the media coverage of “Nuestro Himno” reflect prevailing beliefs about citizenship, belonging, and language? And if the marches of the spring of 2006 embody the political and social possibilities of cultural citizenship, then how are we to understand the contradictory underlying discourse of one of reggaetón's most popular music videos, despite its seemingly inclusive promotion of the pan-Latino familia?