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09/16/99 Say It Loud, I'm Brown and I'm Proud! "Latino" explosion is more than chicks and salsa by Victor Payan When Los Lobos performed their supercharged bilingual song "Mas Y Mas" on the David Letterman show in 1996, perhaps nobody noticed at the time that the lines "Uno pa' delante, otro pa' detras, dame chispas, honey, dame mas y mas" were a message to America on par with Bob Dylan's "please get out of the new (road) if you can't lend your hand, for the times they are a changin'." For in the few years since that declaration of interdependence, the times have certainly changed. Increased purchasing power, the benefits of higher education and increased political clout have given US Latinos a taste of the respect they deserve. And 1999 in particular, no matter how you lay it down, has been a great year to be brown. Brown is hot, brown is hip, and brown is in. From Manhattan to Miama, from California to the Canadian border, from Tijuana to Tennessee, people are grooving to the brown sound. Wherever you stop, look and listen, Ricky Martin is pouting, Jennifer Lopez is shaking something and Santana is making things happen. On the radio, in the clubs, all over the music television channels, there have been more Latinos in heavy rotation since the mass repatriations/deportations of the 1930s. And brown music is not just sabroso and caliente, it's phat, it's funky, it's reet, it rocks, it's heavy and it kicks ass! In English and in Spanish, brown artists from the Americas are making noise, and they're making it loud. And while it seems that the salseros and rockenespañoleros are getting the most attention, there is a whole corps of Chicano musicians who are fueling musical revolutions of their own. But whereas the Nuyoricans of New York and the gusanos of Miami draw inspiration from Perez Prado, Xavier Cugat or Tito Puente, Mexican American artists from the southwestern states have more in common with the musical traditions handed down from Los Panchos, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Santiago Jimenez and Ritchie Valens. This year's San Diego Street Scene provided a clear glimpse of the musical shape of things to come. San Diego-born El Vez ("the hardest migrant-working man in showbusiness") infotained the audience on Friday night, laying down postmodern retrorock grooves while singing about Cesar Chavez, the Virgen de Guadalupe and the Zapatistas on Friday. Alejandro Escovedo and Coco Montoya worked their magic on the crowds at the blues stage before the phenomenal Orange County guitarslinger Kid Ramos mowed them down as the axeman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on Saturday. And Ruben Blades, the Los Angeles-based Ozomatli and the Cuban band Los Van Van whipped up a whirlwind of moving bodies on Sunday. And perhaps the most striking thing about the scene was that the crowds didn't seem to care whether the bands were singing in English or Spanish. They were all eager participants in a great party in which everybody was welcome. They were united by music. Nonetheless, El Vez singing about the Zapatistas, "who are fighting injustice even as I dance," and Panamanian Ruben Blades joining Los Van Van onstage in a display of solidarity over the fact that their Miami show earlier that week had to be cancelled due to threats and pressure from rightwing conservatives in that town, these were moments that demonstrated an underlying recognition now that as Latinos and as Americans, our destinies are indelibly linked. And with all that talk about Latinos becoming the largest minority (or the second-largest majority, depending on how you look at it), then perhaps it's time to start acting like it. And that means throwing some economic muscle around and voting with our dollars, supporting all the artists who are leading this peaceful revolution. Another opportunity to see a fine roster of brown talent is this weekend's Adams Avenue Street Fair, which is free to the public. The lineup includes The Blazers, Los Alacranes, Primo, Jack Costanza and his Afro-Cuban Band, the East L.A. Sabor Factory, Z Tribe, The R.A. Brotherhood, The Sleepwalkers, Colorblind, the MHS Island Steel Drum Band and the cover group Viva Santana. And then there's the aforementioned Los Lobos, who are playing at 4th and B on Oct. 14th, or Irakere, who are playing there on the 16th. Then there's Jaime Valle and Equinox, then there's the Gilbert Castellanos trio, then the B-Side Players. The list, and the beat, goes on. Where music is concerned, su bote es su voto, which loosely translated means: get your nalgas out there and support these artists. This is the year for census and sensibility, the time to stand up and be counted, the time to say it loud: I'm brown and I'm proud.   © 1999 Victor Payan back to top