Latin Music USA: Bridges

Writing Assignment #3
Tyler Ross To reflect on the short documentary, Latin Music U.S.A.: Bridges, it starts off by talking about some of the various personailty profiles of musicians such as Maurio Bauza, Tito Puente, Carlos Sanatana, and others. It speaks about their coming-up stories of playing Latin Music in the U.S.A. and the experiences/obstacles they went through to make a name for themselves. The documentary starts out by describing Carlos Santana's personality profile, and how one of his first experiences playing latin music in America was at Woodstock, which became one of the most successful international debuts in popular music history. Santana's music was a mixture of rock, blues, and afro-cuban percussion. In the documentary, Santana reflects on when he saw “the movie” and says, “And when I saw the movie, I remember I was under the influence of LSD. Then it all came back to me like, damn, why did I take LSD?” My reaction to this is exactly what I thought it would be concercning the use of drugs of musicians during the 60's and 70's: I had a feeling they used psychodelic drugs at Woodstock. The next personailty profile they describe is Maurio Bauza, a cuban, who arrived in New York in 1930 to pursue a life in the big band
scene under the style of jazz as a clarinetist. He moved here because of being held back in Cuba regarding his dark skin. Here, in the Harlem, he could walk down the street and not feel the oppression and racism he felt in Cuba. In Harlem, New York, he started working with Chick Webb at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, where he became the orchestra's music director and lead trumpet player, chaning from the clarinet. In 1931, Bauza's orchestra released a hit called “El Manisero”, which became widely popular in ballroom's due to the rumba dance that went with it. This caused a musical revolution. Following Maurio Bauza's presonailty profile, the documentary speaks on his brother-in-law's personailty profile, Machito. Machito is a moniker that means little macho. Machito was a singer and a maraca player for his band “Machito and the Afro-Cubans.” This caused an uproar of objections because of the term “Afro” in the band name due to Africans not recognize being recognized during this time. Eventually, Machito and his band build a bridge between audiences, drawing in white and black individuals. This success earned them the spot as housemen at the La Conga club for three years. Later on, in the 1940's, Machito and the Afro-Cubans created a landmark position and their theme song “Tanga.” To approach the next theme: the influence of Latin music on rock and roll, you would have to start out with the song “Save The Last Dance For Me”, written by Pomus and Shuman.
They called this work Jewish Latin. Other classic songs have a direct lineage to Latin music such as the song “Louie Louie.” More and more rock and roll songs started to follow the rifts and rhythms of Latin music. Rock and roll started following the “cha cha cha” beat found in Latin music also. You can find these Latin music influences in even more famous bands such as the song by The Beatles “Day Tripper”, which is similar to one of Machito's songs from the 1940's. Another famous rock and roll song with a similar beat is “Good Lovin'” by The Young
Rascals. To conclude the theme of the various personality profiles and the theme of the influence of Latin music on rock and roll discussed in the documentary, Latin Music U.S.A: Bridges, Latin music does not get enough recognition on how influential it was on the development of music in America. Most people do not realize the similarity of Latin music compared to famous rock and roll songs that we listen to today. Without musicians such as Carlos Santana, Maurio Bauza, and Machito that brought Latin music from Cuba to America, rock and roll may not have been the same as what it is today.