Latin American Music: Modernisation, Migrations and Myths

Associate Professor: Leonel Alvarado

For centuries, Latin American music has been moving bodies on dance floors across oceans, city limits, borders and walls. It took millions of European immigrants for tango (it takes two) to come into being. Millions poured into Mexico City to produce romantic and revolutionary ballads, and a wave of Latin American immigrants got New Yorkers moving to the rhythm of salsa.

Other music styles, such as Cuban Trova and rock, are all part of the story surrounding some of the different moves – and mythologies – behind the transforming power of Latin American music.