Música : Spanish Caribbean Music in New York City

Abstract

Despite its vague title, the orientation of Gustavo Paredes' film is fairly specific: it focus s on the history and development of Latin jazz in New York City, and on the social meanings of Latin dance music to the Spanish-speaking immigrant community there through various decades. Intended for a general audience, the documentary considers the lives and artistic contributions of key individuals involved with music making in New York since the 1930s, a number of whom are interviewed directly by the filmmakers. The documentary includes an effective mix of performance footage, voice-over commentary, interviews with performers, with musicologists and sociologists, and period images from past decades that bring to life the context in which Latin jazz and salsa dance music developed. Most of the issues raised by M?sica surface through a focus on par ticular performers and their life histories. The documentary begins by discussing Mario Bauz?, for instance, describing his move from Havana to New York, his collaborations with well known jazz bands of the 1930s, the difficulties he encountered as a Spanish-speaking immigrant in New York of that period and as performer of color, the ties he gradually established with the diverse Latino community consisting of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, and others, and so on. The documentary continues in roughly chronological fashion, considering many other artists (Desi Arnaz, Noro Morales, Miguelito Valdes, Tito Puente, Arsenio Rodriguez, etc.) whose contributions to Latin jazz and dance music in New York have been significant. Later sections of the hour-long film describe collaborations between African-American and Afro-Latin artists in New York in the 1960s, issues of crossover and the mainstreaming of Latin music among English-speaking audiences, and emphasize the importance of preserving Latino heritage into the future.