Musical Migrations

The widespread popularity of Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony; the Grammies awarded to Carlos Santana; the growing presence of Latin popular music in television shows, advertising, and public spaces in the United States - clearly Latin popular music has crossed cultural borders. But what does that mean? And what is the cost of success? In Musical Migrations, seventeen scholars from various disciplines look at such disparate genres as salsa, mariachi, and Peruvian rock and roll in the context of a transnational culture of migration and mass media. Whether the subject is the African roots of mambo or the "demarginalization" of gaucho music, the cycles of approval and disapproval suffered by the Andean "scissors dance" or the development of Puerto Rican rap, readers will revel in the variety and excitement of Latin(o) popular music as explained by authorities in each area. Taken together, the essays show how cultural meanings change and shift as music migrates across multiple borders.