MUSICA ‘TROPICAL’
Salsa, merengue, bachata, bugalú or “boogaloo,” and more
Origins: 20th century.
Curator’s Note: The term “música tropical” is a music industry creation, originally developed to market commercial music from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean to Western audiences in the 1940s. Inevitably, there are some issues with this; many of the following resources are useful in understanding why.
BOOKS
- The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean to New York City by César Miguel Rondón, 1978 . ︎
- Salsiology: Afro Cuban Music And The Evolution Of Salsa In New York City by Vernon W. Boggs, 1992.
- Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music by Deborah Pacini, 1995. ︎
- Merengue : Dominican Music and Dominican Identity by Paul Austerlitz and Robert Farris Thompson, 1997.
- Salsa, Sabor y Control! Sociologia de La Musica Tropical by Angel G. Quintero Rivera, 1998.
- Musica!: Salsa, Rumba, Merengue, and More by Sue Steward, Willie Colon, 1999.
- Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and Puerto Rican Cultures by Frances R. Aparicio, 1998. ︎
- Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local Meanings in Latin Popular Music ed. by Lise Waxer, 2002.
- Tigers of a Different Stripe: Performing Gender in Dominican Music by Sydney Hutchinson, 2016.
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Salsa Rising: New York Latin Music of the Sixties Generation by Juan Flores, 2016.
FILMS & SERIES
FILMS & SERIES
- Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa Latina) dir. Leon Gast, 1972. 1h 25m.
- Episode 2: The Salsa Revolution by PBS, October 2009. 55m.
- Eddie Palmieri: A Revolution On Harlem River Drive by RMBA, May 2016. 14 minutes.
- The Duke of Bachata: Joan Soriano, dir. Adam Taub, April 2017, 53 minutes. ︎
- Joe Bataan on Latin Soul, Salsoul Records and Activism by RBMA, March 2018. 2 hrs.
PODCASTS & RADIO
- “Música Tropical in Colombia” by Afropop Worldwide, 1h. December 2011.
- “Latin Roots: The Lasting Fad Of Boogaloo: World Cafe” by NPR World Cafe, 2012. 8 minutes.
- “A Tour Of Spanish Harlem, Birthplace Of Boogaloo” by NPR, July 2014. 39 minutes.
- “Episode 50: Colombia—Vallenatos, Sextetos, and Afro-Colombian Musical Traditions” in Radio Menea, April 2018. 43 minutes. ︎
ARTICLES
- “Social Identity and Class in ‘Bachata,’ an Emerging Dominican Popular Music” by Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Latin American Music Review, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1989.
- “Cantando la cama vacía: Love, Sexuality and Gender Relationships in Dominican bachata” by Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Popular Music Popular Music, Vol. 9, No. 3. 1990.
- “Bachata: From the Margins to the Mainstream” by Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Popular Music Popular Music, Vol. 11, No. 3, Oct., 1992.
- “Merengue Típico in Santiago and New York: Transnational Regionalism in a Neo-Traditional Dominican Music” by Sydney Hutchinson, Ethnomusicology,Vol. 50, No. 1, 2006.
- “‘A Country A Country That Ain’t Really Belong To Me’: Dominicanyorks, Identity and Popular Music" by Angelina Tallaj, City University of New York (CUNY), 2006.
- “Desde la Orilla: Fighting for a Queer Identity in the Dominican Republic” by Angelina Tallaj, City University of New York (CUNY), 2009.
- “Boogaloo Revival: A 1960's Fad Is Cool Again” by Felix Contreras, NPR, April 2011.
- “Urban Bachata and Dominican Racial Identity in New York” by Deborah Pacini, Hernandez Cahiers d'Études Africaines, Vol. 54, Cahier 216, 2014.
- “Queerengue: Afro-dominicanidad y performance en el merengue callejero del Rey Tulile” by Omaris Zamora, 2015.
- “Dominican Migrants, Plural Identities, and Popular Music” by Angelina Tallaj, City University of New York, American Music Review, Volume XLVI, Issue 2, 2017.
- “A Visual History of Salsa in New York” by Jessica Lipsky, RBMA, June 2017.
- “Religion on the dance floor: Afro-Dominican music and ritual from altars to clubs” by Angelina Tallaj in Civilisations, Volume 67, Issue 1, January 2018.
- “What Celia Cruz Brought With Her” by Alexandra T. Vazquez, NPR, September 2019.
- “'Boogaloo': From Music Genre to Extremist Code Word : Code Switch” by Jessica Lipsky, NPR Code Switch, May 2020.