There was a moment when it seemed like Spanish-language alternative music was ready to make a break into the American market: bands like Café Tacuba, Aterciopelados, and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs were given a push by their U.S. labels, and they made appearances on packages like the Warped Tour and Lollapalooza. However, a few years after the buzz has dissipated, Café Tacuba (considered by some to be “the Beatles of Latin alternative music”) is one of the few acts left standing. What happened?
That question was asked in the Los Angeles Times on the occasion of Café Tacuba playing a show at the Hollywood Bowl and the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City:
Where is the new generation of Mexican rockers?
The very fact that this 18-year-old group remains the marquee name in Spanish-language rock speaks volumes about the state of the genre. Their wave of roqueros (rockers) whose vitality and vision promised to transform Latin music has receded since the turn of the millennium. Nobody has come along to seriously challenge the stature and influence of Café Tacuba.
Not that there are no new groups in Mexico. The capital has a busy indie rock scene that is finding outlets on the Internet, partly through Mexico’s new MySpace site, mx.myspace.com. But the new generation has abandoned the fundamental principles that gave rock en español its power and broad appeal.
Today’s Mexican bands reject the concept of fusing rock with native forms of Latin American folk music, a concept articulated in the early ’70s by pioneering producer Gustavo Santaolalla, who has worked with Café Tacuba and other major groups in the field. The upstarts don’t care to incorporate Mexican music or reflect Mexican reality in their songs, as bands such as Café Tacuba and Maldita Vecindad did in their very names.
Nowadays, Mexican bands often pick names that disguise their identity and country of origin. They call themselves Allison, Los Dynamite, hummersqueal and Motel. In fact, some don’t even care to sing in Spanish anymore.
“I feel kind of bummed about that because it’s what I’ve been fighting against all my life,” Santaolalla told me this week. “I think it’s an example of cultural dependency and many sad aspects of globalization.” …
Santaolalla’s slogan: “Pinta tu aldea y pintarás el mundo.” (“Paint your own village and you’ll paint the world.”)
It’s a good lesson for young rockers still stuck in their MySpace pages, because the world isn’t waiting for a Mexican version of My Chemical Romance or Nirvana. Imitation is just a form of flattery, not creativity.
While imitation seems to be a key to success for English-language acts, the language barrier is nearly insurmountable for foreign language acts without a distinct cutting edge. With a few exceptions, radio playlists have only narrowed, even at the college level, making less and less room for the unfamiliar, not to mention the tightening of the shelves at record stores. Harp‘s Mario I. Oña covered the Latin Alternative Music Conference for the magazine’s Web site, and made note of one band’s performance:
It’s not bad music; it’s just not very original. Doing Cure en español or the Specials en español is so late ’80s, and it would be regrettable if Latin alternative devolves back to being nothing more than someone else’s music sung in Spanish.
While the accessible multicultural sounds and exciting live act of Manu Chao–who also got a boost from performing at Coachella–have built some anticipation for his forthcoming disc in the U.S. mainstream, it remains to be seen how much Latin influence there will be in the alt-rock landscape in the near future–despite the fact that the Latino population in the U.S. is climbing.
Few are following Café Tacuba’s lead [LA Times]
Latin Alternative Music Conference, Day 3 [Harp]
It’s bugging me I can’t find the words to put this into a couple of key sentences but I’ll try — this is a collision of various impulses:
* a continual extension/romanticization of the appeal of nationalism in a 19th century sense into art in general (cf the use of ‘folk’ melodies as interpreted in a variety of European composers’ works)
* Mexican philosophical and artistic beliefs in a distinct, unique hybrid identity (tons of examples, such as the art of Rivera, Siqueiros and Kahlo)
* responses to this embrace from later generations as moving from hybridization to a new orthodoxy resistant to further changes
* simultaneous embracing/loathing of monocultural globalization (we’ve all been there)
* to paraphrase a great line I read once about fifteen years back: “A band in Austin, Texas can have more in common with a completely separate and unknown-to-them band in Manchester than with another band just down the road.”
And I’ll leave it to everyone else who has more sense and gifts with thoughts than I to talk about this far more intelligently/completely tear down what the heck I’m babbling about.
Well, that´s true.
Café Tacuba is one of the few bands that matters and is still active downhere. I wrote an article years ago that said that los Cafetas, Los Tres from Chile and Babasonicos from Argentina were the only bands doing something worthy of a chapter in history, and that doesn’t seem to have changed. The only new latinamerican band I can think of that has a chance of conquering the world is Miranda! from Argentina. You all will probably HATE it, but they make intelligent and kindda gay pop that girls – smart or not – love, and they do it well.
There’s a lot – a LOT – of immitation going on downhere, but there are good bands as well. The thing is you’re not gonna find them in MTV Tres or in a conference curated by the labels, you’ll have to dig deeper if you´re interested. And believe me, if you´re not I understand.
I don’t know if my thoughts are any more original, but there was just an article about this in the NY Times, taking completely the opposite point of view: ie, that Mexican indie acts were doing something interesting by taking their influences from somewhere besides “traditional” music. Personally, I always think there’s something racist in the idea that a Mexican band has to incorporate “Mexican” sounds. Aren’t they allow to like The Ramones?
@Ned Raggett: You’re smart.
@DanGibson: No, I’m a rambling goof! Or something.
@Ned Raggett: Gah, that’s basically what I wanted to say, and I can’t get it out any more incoherently either, so.
@DavidWatts: ROCK ON, IT’s CULTURAL IMPERIALISM FROM ALL SIDES! YAY! Seriously, though — you are correct, the thing about rock en espanol IS that it takes traditional elements and does something different with them fusing them with the white man’s rock’n'roll. the annoying thing is that because of that, this kind of doesn’t sell to the gueros, y’know — except the kind who like stereotypically gross ‘world’ music.
@HUGE_Hefner: Well, honestly, since Rock en Espanol isn’t like, my main focus of interest, but I do like it quite a bit — I enjoy what I hear/see on MTV Tres, and come on, the indie show they have is adorable. And, this is totally embarrassing, for about six, seven years now, my best source of info about good rock en espanol acts … has been Nic Harcourt on KCRW.
And people, when is Morrissey just gonna start singing in Spanish? Because THAT would be rad.
Café Tacuba is “the Beatles of Latin alternative music” and Maná is Mexico’s U2.
…Except they’d kill Maná for U2, but that is beside the point.
haven’t read the article yet, but a few things… cafe tacvba aren’t the only band out there by any means, they’re just the only one that’s been around for 15+ years that is able to remain relevant in the new scenes. mana keeps doing the same stuff they did when they started ’cause they know it’ll help them sell records. cafe tacvba is able to sell records because they’re really talented musicians and continue to evolve with every album. i would definitely put them on the same level as babasonicos.
but there are definitely a bunch of new folks out there worth mentioning: Zoé, Porter, Chetes, Austin TV, dapuntobeat…. so they might not be your standard rock en español hybrids, but the genre has evolved. few bands consider themselves rock en español anymore, anyway… the name itself connotes a certain retro/dated-ness of the 80s and 90s. Jaguares still play rock en español. Enanitos Verdes. El Tri. are they doing anything new or interesting? Nope.
the singing in english/rejecting their mexicanness thing is a touchy subject. the thing is, mexican bands shouldn’t HAVE to be all about being mexican, and i don’t think that all of those singing in english are necessarily denying their mexican roots. they grew up listening to music in english, look more to interpol and the white stripes for inspiration than to cafeta or maldita vecindad, so it’s all good. one thing would be if they couldn’t speak spanish and the lyrics sucked (like some of the songs on kinky’s album “atlas”, ajem ajem), but many of these groups are able to compose coherent, witty lyrics in english. and that’s cool.
Miranda! is a good group, but definitely not on the same level as Cafe Tacvba. The thing is, I feel like there are a lot of emerging music scenes in a bunch of Latin American cities, that we here in the US just aren’t aware of yet. Santiago, Chile has a pretty cool electronica scene going on, San Juan, PR, has a growing rock/indie scene as well. Just because we’re not calling it rock en español doesn’t mean there’s nothing out there.
(more later, very likely… gotta run)
Can’t say too much about this, obviously, but I interviewed two members of Café Tacuba on Friday, and they told me that yeah, they’re aware that much current Latin alternative music is made by laptop acts that could be from anywhere (then there’s bands like Los Bunkers from Chile, who sound like Franz Ferdinand singing in Spanish), but it doesn’t worry them. They figure it’s cyclical. They started expressing an explicitly Mexican identity in their music because the generation of bands before them hadn’t, and so they figure the generation coming up now probably thinks all the hard work of carving out a unique “Latin rock” identity has been done by Tacuba, Maldita, et al, so they can go make any kind of music they want to and not feel “obligated” to throw ethnic/folkloric sounds in there like some kind of governmental content requirement or something. A lot of my favorite Latin bands right this minute are retro thrash outfits from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and southern California – they’re all 19-21 years old, but they sound just like Metallica circa 1983.
Two other quick points:
1. Miranda!, si!
2. Aterciopelados still exist – they put an album out last year.
i would definitely put them on the same level as babasonicos.
Ah, Babasonicos. Those guys are gods.
I’ve always liked and admired Cafe Tacuba, but I’ve never loved them. I keep hearing the Beatles of Mexico, etc. etc., and I even promoted the great Reves/Yo Soy (which is an unimpeachable record), but I’ve never connected with them beyond digging a few records. It might be a language barrier, but I understand a lot of Spanish. One of the main problems I have (and this is MY problem, not theirs) is that all of their analogues and influences lead back to the US, so I’ve never been able to springboard off CT into a greater exploration of Mexican rock.
@Claruxxx: You’re right about the retro thing.
About cafeta i really enjoyed their version of “Chilanga Banda”. But somewhere between “Cosme” and “Gallo Gas” they just lost their magic.
And mana? They never were pop or rock… They should be saving turtles or something else.
Mexico has a strong electropop scene. But if you want to hear real “Rock en Español” you gotta go to Argentina, Chile or even Colombia.
I’m actually amazed that nobody has said a thing about Soda Stereo and their comeback tour this year. They were maybe the biggest latin American rock band.
Good post, and that confirms a lot of suspicions I have over this all.
Though thinking on it, a lot of the random late seventies prog stuff from Mexico I’ve been hearing this year courtesy of Mutant Sounds mostly sounds like it’s trying to engage what else was out there on its own terms, rather than fulfilling the ‘obligation’ of other elements as noted. So probably that sense was always present, just not as able to be easily expressed.
Not an exact comparison point but — I recall that after Selena died her brother continued making music by following his first love: namely, KISS-style hard rock.
@THERICHGIRLSAREWEEPING: I was actually talking out of my ass there, I’ve never seen MTV Tres. I live in Venezuela and here we only get our beloved MTV Latinoamerica witch targets 14 year olds. Just like your regular MTV, with “My Super Sweet 16″ every other show and everything.
@EVERYBODY: I was trying to think of another good band that has the potential to be massive and could only come up with Calle 13 from Puerto Rico. Their second album isn’t as good as their debut, but they are so good live when they have the whole band you won’t believe it.
Well, and Cachicamoconcaspa y Leyko el perro de la IIII Dimensión from Venezuela. Look it up.
I’d like to comment on the part that says:
“Nowadays, Mexican bands often pick names that disguise their identity and country of origin. They call themselves Allison, Los Dynamite, hummersqueal and Motel. In fact, some don’t even care to sing in Spanish anymore.”
There are actually lots of new bands that sing in Spanish all around the world. It’s just that they are still very indie and aren’t on huge record labels or being played on mainstream radio stations. These kinds of bands you can find through Myspace, blogs, suggestions from the bands themselves, as well as DJs who spend hours online searching for this kind of music.
There’s a party that my friend and I produce in NYC called Nacotheque and ALL the music is in Spanish! We created Nacotheque because there was no where you could go to listen to spanish-sung alternative music. For Example, in Mexico, all the cool clubs play music sung in English and maybe one or two songs in Spanish. Nacotheque is dedicated 100% to música alternativa that is sung in español. But listen, “alternative” means different things to different people. For us, cumbias villeras are considered alternative, Raffaella Carra is alternative as much as Zoé (Mexico), Los Super Elegantes (Cali/Mexico), and Panico (Chile).
Why? Because the music is new, forgotten classics y people realize there’s more to discover. There are hundreds clubs in the world that play Ladytron, The Strokes, Lilly Allen, Beyonce, Fischerpooner, etc. Right now, there’s only one party that spins Zoé, Mecano, Baba, Circo, Dixybait, Pibes Chorros, et….
Nacotheque website (w/ downloadable music mixes)
Nacotheque on Myspace
Zoé
Los Super Elegantes
Panico
Circo
Dixybait
I absolutley do not think Rock en Espanol is a dead language – in fact, I think some of the most exciting things happening in music right now are coming from the now hard-to-categorize genre. What’s great about this music is its ability to bring people of all cultures together.
I went to the last Manu Chao in LA and I don’t think I’ve ever been to concert with such a mixed crowd – there were at
least 3 different languages being spoken within earshot were I was standing. I love that. Speaking of which, did you know Manu Chao has a new 4 song EP now available at digital stores
like iTunes? I’m loving the new single “Rainin In Paradize”.
I don’t know why they’re making people wait so long for the new album, La Radiolina. It’s not coming out until Sept. 4 but I need my Manu fix now …
[www.myspace.com]