Dolce 1

Sofia Dolce
American Sabor Midterm
11/11/15
Time: 2:00- 4:25 P.M.
1) For Puerto Ricans who came to the U.S. in the first half of the 20th
century, how did their experience here affect their sense of racial
identity? How were they perceived racially by Anglos, and how did this
affect their musical opportunities? How did music help to establish
links between Puerto Ricans and African Americans? Consider how the
answers to these questions might change over time, between the
1910s and the 1960s.
Puerto Ricans who moved to the United States due to gaining
citizenship in 1917, experiencing recruitment for World War I, and
working in factories were met with struggling between assimilation and
non-assimilation. Their sense of racial identity was further confused by
English taught in schools, and Spanish spoken at home. Some parents
even refused to teach their sons and daughters in order to more
rapidly assimilate to the culture. Furthermore, Puerto Ricans identified
with various rubrics. They were simultaneously Nuyoricans, Latinos, or
Hispanic depending on the language at the time (such as the 1940
census using the term Hispanic for nationality). The music that they

Dolce 2
produced was not only salvation but also ensured that musicians kept
their culture and sounds alive. In the early 1900s, the best Puerto
Rican directors and musicians formed part of the first military jazz
bands, as they played ragtime extremely well. While the music enabled
Puerto Ricans to coexist with Anglos, their image was still controlled by
imperialism, racism, class domination, patriarchy, and heterosexism.
Anglos often maintained the concept of Latinos as a monolithic cultural
group sharing the same language, geographical space, and political
struggle in their home country while this was not the case. This
excluded Puerto Ricans from music production as power relations
ensured that participatory dancing and music with heavy African
influences were not allowed in capitalist U.S. Thus, Puerto Ricans living
in Spanish Harlem and African Americans were both kept out of popular
culture, and they saw an opportunity to produce music together. Darkskinned Cubans and Puerto Ricans began playing in white-led AfroCuban ensembles, such as Machito and his Afro-Cubans which broke
down separations of color. Machitos arranger, Mario Bauz, broke skin
color barriers as he was a dark-skinned musician. Other musicians
mixed jazz and Afro-Cuban sounds, such as Tito Puente who was said
to sing like Frank Sinatra and brought improvisation, typical to jazz, to
his music. In the 50s, the Palladium Ballroom boomed as a hub for
African-Americans, Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans, etc. to dance and
create music in. Mambo and Cha-Cha enabled racial boundaries to

Dolce 3
break down as the dance floor contained people from different
backgrounds, languages, and cultures.
2) Compared to musical styles that preceded it, like boogaloo and Latin
soul, how was salsa music in the late 1960s and 1970s different? How
did it represent a different strategy of cultural identification for Latinos
in New York? Why was salsa important to Puerto Ricans, especially
i.e. what uniquely Puerto Rican experiences or circumstances did salsa
speak to?
Unlike music played at protests during the era of the Civil Rights
Movement, Farmworkers movements, the Cuban Revolution, and the
revival of folk music, salsa became a vehicle for protest and selfexpression. This manifested through elaborate arrangements that
featured and introduced improvisational freedom to Latin dance music
like never before. Boogaloo and Latin Soul portrayed the juggling of
multiple identities and cultures, as they had Spanish and English lyrics
in order to express belonging in America. The deviation from the
crafted art of Mambo and other genres to the informal Boogaloo and
Latin Soul led to fusions with American sounds in order to compete
with R&B, for example. Salsa, on the other hand, focused on resisting
assimilation and connecting to the music of Latino communities and
ancestors. Singers became a crucial part of salsa, and the rhythm
section took on the responsibility of playing a more consistent rhythmic

Dolce 4
pattern (unlike the variations seen in Cuban Son, for instance). Another
vast difference lied in the introduction of the rugged trombone sound
by Eddie Palmieri, which musically represented the roughness of the
barrios the musicians grew up in. There was also a return to black
consciousness that existed in Salsa music, as exemplified by Rafael
Cortijo playing with improviser Ismael Rivera. They played for the
working class and quickly built a black fan base, which reflected the
return to Latino roots as it inspired African pride in the Caribbean.
Salsas popularity was not only a proud representation for urban
Latinos but also resonated in various socio-political contexts, as the
music provided an avenue for individuals to resist their adversities.
The music promised the uplifting of the lower class and challenged
oppressive cultural, musical, and racial hierarchies. At its core, salsa
was extremely creative and expressive, and artists such as Ruben
Blades created wonderful poetry through his lyrics. To Puerto Ricans,
salsa delivered an avenue for the liberation of American colonization
they had experienced in New York and also on the island. Salsa
became a gateway for defying the oppressive structures of power
Puerto Ricans experienced on a daily basis in the United States.
3) List the five cities that American Sabor: Latinos in US Popular Music
features. Then chose two of those cities and explain its importance and
influence in US popular music. You can refer to musicians, their music,
and their musics significance to their identity and cultural survival.

Dolce 5
New York, Miami, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and San Francisco
were the five cities of American Sabor. San Francisco monumentally
changed US popular music as the city was a center for political
activism (Civil Rights, Farmworkers, Affirmative Action) and the
crossing of racial boundaries through music. As Rock and Roll grew in
popularity, mixed-race musicians, dancers, and audiences appeared in
San Francisco parks and recording studios. The Bay Area proudly
displayed and initiated a counter-culture with their fashion, music, and
multi-racial makeup. Participatory drumming circles boomed at parks
where social movements occurred simultaneously, such as at Mission
Dolores Park, Golden Gate Park, Aquatic Park, etc. Within the same
area, students rose up in rage against patriarchal oppression and the
Vietnam War. Music was not inherently activist but rather an
entertainment aspect of rallies. Another astronomical influence was the
introduction of Latin percussion instrumentation into rock, such as the
addition of conga drums and heavy syncopation that eventually led to
the birth of funk. Mongos conga playing in Cal Tjaders Latin Jazz band
eventually led to the appearance of the conga everywhere. Cal Tjader
along with other artists in San Francisco featured a mixed band
makeup, as whites played alongside blacks and Latinos. Carlos
Santana pioneered Latin Rock, wherein he utilized the electric guitar,
the organ, Afro-Caribbean rhythms/percussion sections, and the drum
set to create a unique sound. His music jumped the boundaries of

Dolce 6
style, culture, and language as it appealed widely to national and
international audiences. Santana also forged the sound of a guitar
melodically playing riffs and improvising. Artists such as Santana and
Malo also maintained their ethnic heritage, as the music often
emulated characteristics of Cha-Cha and other Latino styles. Bands
such as Tower of Power and Azteca fused Latin Rock and Funk while
playing on Latin percussion instruments and being influenced by artists
such as Tito Puente.
On the West Coast, the Los Angeles music scene was shaped by
its geographical proximity to Mexico and its history of various
ethnicities. While individuals were dispersed across the city, large
youth movements managed to form part of the American music fabric
through means such as the radio. A vital change in U.S. popular music
occurred through L.A. bands prominently featuring women with
attitudes who sang rich harmonies, fused genres, and were on the front
line. Punk gave women freedom as it lacked the structure seen in
salsa, and both women and youths were no longer confined to their
previous roles. Los Angeles also paved the way for fusions between
Latin styles and blues/rock and roll. Mexican Americans who wanted to
claim respect and elevate their status wore expensive zoot suits and
chains. This youth called themselves pachucos and their fashion
sense and language, cal, became icons of identification. They played
for the working class, integrating swing with Spanish lyrics and

Dolce 7
maintaining the tradition of tenor saxes improvising. These pachucos
were influenced by Mexican corridos, Latin Caribbean dance music,
blues, and jazz as they created the foundation for later Chicano music
through their expression of the painful in-between experience. The
social marginalization of Mexican Americans was so rampant that
music was a way to cope with the exclusion. Lalo Guerrero, the Father
of Chicano Music, also celebrated the pachucos style in his music as
he borrowed from Afro-Caribbean rhythms, romantic ballads,
Habanera-style bass lines, and rock and roll. These lively negotiations
with multiple cultures created the widespread Eastside Sound that led
to support for Chicanos through radio promotion time and the
protection of venues where diverse races attended to listen to music
and dance.
4) List three major themes of American Sabor. Then chose TWO and
explain how music related to them. You might refer to the context of
peoples living and everyday challenges, discuss the music they have
produced to face those challenges, and the styles they created to help
them fit, in otherwise hostile social, cultural, and economic
environments.
The three major themes of American Sabor are immigration and
migration, crossing borders of ethnicity and race, and challenging
gender stereotypes. Musicians were not only drafted from their home

Dolce 8
countries but specifically sought out hubs of music production and
consumption. Dizzy Gillespie, for example, pursued Cuban
percussionists and musicians in order to integrate Jazz with Latin
styles. This led to Chano Pozo migrating in order to collaborate with
Gillespie to create what is now a worldwide jazz classic, Manteca. Since
African Americans were discouraged from learning to read music and
Puerto Ricans could read charts very well, Anglo musicians recruited
Puerto Ricans to their orchestras and jazz bands. Those who migrated
to mainland U.S. feared losing a part of themselves, and Latinos
expressed their culture through music creation. Once here, artists even
moved from one city to the other depending on their sound. Sunny and
the Sunliners, for instance, blended their Chicano roots of mariachi
with the San Antonio sounds of Tejano and blues.
For the most part women were excluded from the spotlight, but
made enormous influences at home. Madres and tas drove their young
musicians around to rehearsals and gigs, while also teaching them
Spanish lyrics (such as Ritchie Valens and his hit La Bamba) and
Latin rhythms. In San Antonio, women escaped these marginalizations
by creating rancheros, salsa, and boleros where their perspectives
were shown through rich harmonies singing on the front line.
Furthermore, the market for salsa changed from identifying solely with
urban barrios and male workers through the work of iconic women
such as Celia Cruz and Selena. Tejano women became empowered

Dolce 9
through the strength in vocals and even spreading important political
messages. In Los Angeles, punk became a gateway for women to have
more freedom in music production as they were not confined to singing
but participated by playing the electric guitar (or even screaming on
the recording- adding to the dense sounds). As gender barriers were
broken down, women had a very important role through their active
participation and fundamental presence in the music scenes of
America.