The Industrial Revolution, Colonialism, the Spanish American War, and Prohibition all had a role to play in the Diaspora of African-rooted music to the Caribbean and its development in New York City.
During Prohibition, gangsters turned Havana into the Paris of the Caribbean. After WWII, Latin music swept through America. The 1940 AFM radio blackout, the rumba and mambo, FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy, Hollywood, Disney, and television all embraced the syncopated sounds of Latin big bands and bandleaders: Machito & the Afro-Cubans, Mario Bauzá, Noro Morales, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo. Listen to Mario Bauza talk about organizing Machito & the Afro-Cubans in the 1940s. Hear him explain the details of how Chano Pozo died in a bar in East Harlem.
Stay tuned for Part IV; the 50s, where we’ll discuss the phenomenon of Puerto Rico’s Cortijo y Su Combo and the popularity of the merengue that began to seep into the Latino New York playlist in the late 40s.
Latin music was first recorded in NYC at the turn of the last century. Since the history of this music is rooted in Africa, it developed and “marinated” on the Islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. Cuba, being the largest Island with the most enslaved Africans, of course, developed more rhythms. However, the constant trade by sea disseminated these sonic sounds throughout the area and into places such as Vera Cruz, Mexico, where “son” was sung before there was radio.
But It was in NYC where Latin music found its spotlight.
However, similar to many African-rooted histories, its long legacy has never been fully documented, researched, cross-referenced, and processed. Although we have some periphery history with books by Fernando Ortiz or Lydia Cabrera, the categorical collections of record enthusiasts, producers, and musicians, Latin music lacks a cohesive historical narrative thread. There’s a reason we have been kept from our musical heritage and another why some keep insisting on musical borders. History belongs to everyone, and once we realize its power not only to shatter glass and move chairs, we will soar.
