Latin Entertainers Make Some Noise; Insiders Are Gathering In Miami To Discuss Where The Music Industry Is, But Little Doubt Exists About Where It Is Going, Nowhere But Up

Orlando – May 4, 2003

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Commercials:

Advertising companies are starting to understand that language.

General Motors licensed a track from Miami’s Latin rock band the Bacilos for a Corvette advertising campaign. Iglesias sings his “Don’t Turn Off the Light” hit while crunching on a bag of Doritos.

Mexican singer Thalia is in a Dr Pepper ad. Mexican pop-rock outfit Mana sing for Coors beer, and Argentinian singer-songwriter Fito Paez’s “Y Dale Alegria Mi Corazon” (And Give Happiness to My Heart) is used in Coca-Cola spots.

Latin music also is making inroads in the film industry, dominating the soundtracks for Y Tu Mama Tambien and the Oscar- winning score for Frida.

“It’s becoming part of the mainstream, but I think a lot of people don’t quite get that,” Cobo says. “They still think it’s some foreign thing, but it’s not. It’s like going to Taco Bell. It’s there.”

New York’s Yerba Buena, which released its debut album in April, was one of the groups showcased on the Chasing Papi soundtrack. The band also will have its music in the upcoming Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing 2 and recently had a cameo on NBC’s Third Watch, playing its “Guajira (I Love U 2 Much)” in a nightclub scene that opened the show.

Still, bandleader Andres Levin says that promotional opportunities for Latin acts are hard to come by, compared with non- Hispanic bands.

“There’s a lack of opportunity for a lot of talented bands and musicians,” Levin says by phone from his New York studio, which he calls the Fun Machine.

“A few years back, it was a little better because of the economy,” he says. “Now, it’s harder for interesting bands to travel to the United States and get deals in the United States. I’ve been involved in the expansion of alternative Latin music and it’s been a lot of work.”

After moving to New York from Venezuela a decade ago, Levin began absorbing the influences of hip-hop, Motown, Nigerian Afrobeat and Middle Eastern sounds. He formed Yerba Buena a few years back as a workshop orchestra to combine diverse styles in the studio and onstage.

Levin’s production sense has made him a popular collaborator both inside and outside the Latin genre. His resume ranges from work with Chaka Khan, Tina Turner and David Bowie to Latin alternative acts such as Los Amigos Invisibles, El Gran Silencio and Ely Guerra. He also indulged his funk influences as the principal producer of the Fela Kuti Afro-pop tribute album Red Hot + Riot, an all-star project that made numerous top-10 lists.

“I’ve really tried to bridge urban and Latin music together and strike on the common chord. It’s a slightly different animal because most Latin alternative music is more electronic or rock based. I always felt like the whole African style is so present in hip-hop and blues, but no one has really explored that deeply in a rock band.”

After working with so many acts, Levin is confident there’s enough talent to build Latin music into more of a commercial force.

WPRK’s integration of languages on Rock En Espanol is a logical move to increase the music’s reach, says Tomas Cookman of the New York management and promotion company Fuerte, which represents Latin acts.

“It makes all the sense in the world,” he says. “The people who listen to this music are not watching only Spanish-language TV or listening to Spanish-language radio. They’re watching the WB.”

A vast horizon of untapped marketing ideas increases the odds of Latin music rebounding from the current overall industry slump.

“I think it can be marketed much more, promoted much more and sold much more, despite all the issues,” says Cobo, the Billboard writer. “In the mainstream music industry, we’ve reached maybe 9 out of 10 in the capacity to promote things. On the Latin side, we’re still at maybe 4 or 5.

“There’s every option in the world for this music to keep growing.”

[read full article at Orlando Sentinel]