|
If you need a gauge by which to determine just how much impact Hispanic culture is having on American life, you need not look too much further than this year's Grammy Awards' nominees and winners.
If you haven't already noticed, a truly disproportionate percentage of today's hottest vocal talents are Latino. Does it really get any bigger than Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilara, Mark Anthony, Ruben Blades, Jennifer Lopez, Santana, and Enrique Iglesias?
Q & A's Hispanic Perspectives Division has learned that Latin music sales in the first half of 1999 were more than 50% higher than in the same time frame the year previous.
And it's not just a growing U.S. Latino marketplace that is responsible for the explosion. "While there's no denying the impact of the rapidly growing Latino youth population, the Anglo audience is buying Latin music, too," so reports Jose Behar, president and CEO of EMI Latin. "The perception a few years ago for Anglos was that Latin music was mariachi."
Latino artists are not the only ones producing the "new beat" embraced by American pop culture either. Many a song by other American and European bands evidences Latino influence.
Is this just a fad? Possibly, but as one Time magazine writer has said "With Hispanics poised to become America's largest minority group within the next few years, this music could be the sound of your future."
|
