Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated from September 15 to October 15, recognizes Hispanic and Latin Americans’ overall contributions, specifically in respect to their origins, traditions and cultures. The Hispanic population in the United States is the nation’s largest minority and is continuing to grow — making it only appropriate to pay tribute to the month-long holiday with reverence, commemoration and visibility.
Latinx music artists are finally beginning to receive the acclaim that they have deserved for so long, breaking ground with their genre-fusing sounds and unapologetic personas.
With no signs of stopping, musica urbana, compiled of many sub-genres, is one of the most powerful waves today and its arrival is more important than ever before — attributing thankfully to Latinx and Hispanic artists.
In spirit of celebrating Latinx artists and music that defies the mold, the music discovery platform Pandora launched a brand new music station, El Detour, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. The station includes an array of Latinx artists that cannot be defined by labels, as well as the inclusion of sub-genres within Latinx and Hispanic music. Some artists featured in the playlist include Kali Uchis, The Marías and Cuco.
Pandora’s Head of Latin Music Marcos Juárez talks about the development of El Detour, and speaks to the curation of the station, as well as the importance of Latinx music in today’s political climate.
Why did Pandora decide to create the El Detour station to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month?
Marcos Juárez: El Detour had been in the works for months, but we identified Hispanic Heritage Month as being a great window to market and launch it. We knew that we would have resources to do something special around this timing and the station narrative fit so well into the statement we wanted to make with respect to the celebration of Latinx culture. Basically, we wanted to expose the fluidity of creative identity as expressed through the music. We hope that El Detour helps to dispel the notion that Latin music is static, monocultural and homogenous. The idea is to give a platform to the artists and music that defy genre and push the music forward.
How does Pandora ensure inclusion of different sub-genres (within Latinx music), and new artists as the music scene is rapidly evolving?
Juárez: The primary goal for us as Latin music programmers is to be as reflective as possible of the reality of audience, artist and industry. To that end, we are constantly working to better understand emergent scenes from north to south. Firstly, we are huge music fans and having that interest built in goes a long way. I won’t lie, social media, specifically Instagram, is an amazing window into local scenes — big and small — if you are willing to spend the time to investigate. Obviously, there are limitations to what you can infer, but it’s amazing what you can learn about how people are talking about, consuming and creating music. We are dependent on our colleagues across the industry, as well. Communicating with folks who are part of these scenes is essential. And as much as possible, we try to get out to shows and events and travel, whenever possible.
Why is it important to celebrate Latinx music in this current political climate?
Juárez: I think celebration and reverence for culture is an essential part of being human. It’s probably not a coincidence that the current surge of Latin music in the US coincides with some of the most overt attempts to try and intimidate, repress and subjugate our people in recent memory. From what I’ve seen in my lifetime, whenever there is structural repression of marginalized people, the creative output of those being repressed accelerates in defiance. By actively and outwardly celebrating who we are, we rise above the bullshit.
There are many Latin artists who have made waves in the mainstream market (Selena, Shakira, Pitbull, Santana, etc.) throughout the years. Why do you think it took this long for Latinx music to finally get to the forefront as a whole? How do you think social media has helped with this?
Juárez: I think the growth of the Latinx population in the US has helped a lot in terms of mainstreaming the music globally. The US market heavily influences global taste. With the exponential growth of Latinos in the US, we have gradually become more and more integrated into mainstream culture. Within that process, the US is becoming acculturated to Latinx culture. Technology has helped as well. The ability to create and disseminate your own music outside of the traditional means of production and distribution has helped artists gain a voice and a platform that wasn’t previously available to them. Of course, social media has also helped. In terms of self-promotion and being part of a bigger dialogue around music, social media is key. As I mentioned, we are heavily dependent on social media to stay in touch.
What do you hope for the future of Latinx music?
Juárez: My hope for the future of Latin music is that we can do and be whoever we want to be creatively.
Follow me on Twitter @champagnelali.
