Latin Music USA
Latin Music USA highlights the great American music created by Latinos and celebrates the Latin Rhythms at the heart of Jazz, rock, country and rhythm and blues. It's a fresh take on American musical history, reaching across five decades to portray the rich mix of sounds created by Lations and embraced by all.
- 2009-2009
- 1 season
- Documentary, Music
- TV-PG
Latin Music USA highlights the great American music created by Latinos and celebrates the Latin Rhythms at the heart of Jazz, rock, country and rhythm and blues. It's a fresh take on American musical history, reaching across five decades to portray the rich mix of sounds created by Lations and embraced by all.
Season 1 Episode Guide
4 Episodes 2009
Episode 1
Bridges
Mon, Oct 12, 2009 55 mins
The massive success of Santana's innovative Latin-blues at the Woodstock Festival leads back in time to the first Cuban immigrants arriving, with their Afro-Cuban music, into the States. Using feature film clips, rare archive and location filming, the program reveals how Afro-Cuban music has impacted - since early last century - on jazz, pop rhythms and dance styles. From Cuban rumba to New York mambo, Latin music enthralled 1950s America, challenging racial attitudes and changing the stereotypes projected in movies like West Side Story. It influenced Hollywood, TV sitcoms and 60s rock 'n' roll, as the Beatles and many American R&B bands absorbed Latin rhythms into the wider worlds of rock music, fashion and culture. Featuring Carlos Santana, Cachao, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and the greatest names in Afro-Cuban music.
Episode 2
Salsa
Mon, Oct 12, 2009 56 mins
Filmed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and New York City, it reveals the untold story of salsa music, which burst onto the New York scene in the late 1960s. It first evolved in the clubs of Havana, Cuba and soon became the vibrant sound of the New York barrios, where Puerto Ricans and Cubans settled amid poverty and discrimination. Yet out of adversity came a thrilling and innovative dance music that became the voice and spirit of the Latin people in the 70s. From rebellious Latin Boogaloo to the shadowy empire of Fania Records, the story unfolds through the intimate memories of the Fania Family - the greatest salsa musicians of their generation and the purveyors of a music that lives on today. Featuring Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco and the Fania All-Stars.
Episode 3
The Chicano Wave
Mon, Oct 19, 2009 55 mins
From Ritchie Valens and Freddy Fender to Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, and Selena, a new generation of Mexican Americans raised on rock, rhythm and blues, and country music expresses their cultural identity through Chicano rock, Latin rock, and Tejano.
Episode 4
Divas and Superstars
Mon, Oct 19, 2009 52 mins
Focuses on the Latin pop explosion of the turn of the 21st century and the success of artists like Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan and Shakira in the English-language market. As studios concentrate on star-driven pop, Latino youth have gravitated toward urban fusions like Spanish rap and reggaetón, as well as rock en Español.