Reggaeton

Rivera; Raquel Z.

Description

A hybrid of reggae and rap, reggaeton is a music with Spanish-language lyrics and Caribbean aesthetics that has taken Latin America, the United States, and the world by storm. Superstars-including Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Ivy Queen-garner international attention, while aspiring performers use digital technologies to create and circulate their own tracks. Reggaeton brings together critical assessments of this wildly popular genre. Journalists, scholars, and artists delve into reggaeton's local roots and its transnational dissemination; they parse the genre's aesthetics, particularly in relation to those of hip-hop; and they explore the debates about race, nation, gender, and sexuality generated by the music and its associated cultural practices, from dance to fashion.The collection opens with an in-depth exploration of the social and sonic currents that coalesced into reggaeton in Puerto Rico during the 1990s. Contributors consider reggaeton in relation to that island, Panama, Jamaica, and New York; Cuban society, Miami's hip-hop scene, and Dominican identity; and other genres including reggae en espanol, underground, and dancehall reggae. The reggaeton artist Tego Calderon provides a powerful indictment of racism in Latin America, while the hip-hop artist Welmo Romero Joseph discusses the development of reggaeton in Puerto Rico and his refusal to embrace the upstart genre. The collection features interviews with the DJ/rapper El General and the reggae performer Renato, as well as a translation of "Chamaco's Corner," the poem that served as the introduction to Daddy Yankee's debut album. Among the volume's striking images are photographs from Miguel Luciano's series Pure Plantainum, a meditation on identity politics in the bling-bling era, and photos taken by the reggaeton videographer Kacho Lopez during the making of the documentary Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds, and Hip-Hop.Contributors. Geoff Baker, Tego Calderon, Carolina Caycedo, Jose Davila, Jan Fairley, Juan Flores, Gallego (Jose Raul Gonzalez), Felix Jimenez, Kacho Lopez, Miguel Luciano, Wayne Marshall, Frances Negron-Muntaner, Alfredo Nieves Moreno, Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo, Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Raquel Z. Rivera, Welmo Romero Joseph, Christoph Twickel, Alexandra T. Vazquez

Sujets

• Reggae

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 24 avril 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822392323
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

REGGAETON

Refiguring American Music A series edited by Ronald Radano and Josh Kun Charles McGovern, contributing editor

REGGAETON

Edited by Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez

Duke University Press Durham and London 2009

 2009 duke university press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$ Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan Typeset in Minion by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

Frontis:álatPridenoP(2006) by Miguel Luciano. Chromogenic print, 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm).

A German language version of ‘‘Reggae in Panama:BienTough’’ appeared inRiddim magazine, March 2004.

An earlier version of ‘‘How to Make

Love with Your Clothes On’’ appeared as

‘‘Dancing Back to Front: Regeton, Sexual-

ity, Gender, and Transnationalism in

Cuba’’ inoPupalrMusic

25(3): 2006.

‘‘Chamaco’s Corner’’ originally appeared in Spanish, yet under the same English title, inBarrunto(San Juan / Santo Do- mingo, Isla Negra Editores, 2000).

‘‘Black Pride’’ was originally printed in NewYorkPost(February 15, 2007).

contents

Illustrations vii

Foreword: What’s All the Noise About? JuanFloresix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: Reggaeton’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry WayneMarshall,RaquelZ.Rivera,andDeborahPacini Hernandez1

Part I. Mapping Reggaeton

From Música Negra to Reggaeton Latino: The Cultural Politics of Nation, Migration, and Commercialization WayneMarshall19

Part II. The Panamanian Connection

Placing Panama in the Reggaeton Narrative: Editor’s Notes WayneMarshall79

Reggae in Panama:BienTough ChristophTwickel81

The Panamanian Origins oflpañoeRggnsEeae: Seeing History through ‘‘Los Ojos Café’’ of Renato InterviewbyIfeomaC.K.Nwankwo89

Muévelo (Move It!): From Panama to New York and Back Again, the Story of El General InterviewbyChristophTwickel99

Part III. (Trans)Local Studies and Ethnographies

Policing Morality,lyeeatSDruaMon: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s RaquelZ.Rivera111

Dominicans in the Mix: Reflections on Dominican Identity, Race, and Reggaeton DeborahPaciniHernandez135

The Politics of Dancing: Reggaetón and Rap in Havana, Cuba Geo√Baker165

You Got Your Reggaetón in my Hip-Hop: Crunkiao and ‘‘Spanish Music’’ in the Miami Urban Scene JoseDavila200

Part IV. Visualizing Reggaeton

Visualizing Reggaeton: Editors’ Notes WayneMarshallandRaquelZ.Rivera215

Images by Miguel Luciano 218

Images by Carolina Caycedo 221

Images by Kacho López 222

Part V. Gendering Reggaeton

(W)rapped in Foil: Glory at Twelve Words a Minute FélixJiménez229

A Man Lives Here: Reggaeton’s Hypermasculine Resident AlfredoNievesMoreno252

How to Make Love with Your Clothes On: DancingRegeton, Gender, and Sexuality in Cuba JanFairley280

Part VI. Reggaeton’s Poetics, Politics, and Aesthetics

Chamaco’s Corner Gallego(JoséRaúlGonzález)

297

Salon Philosophers: Ivy Queen and Surprise Guests Take Reggaetón Aside AlexandraT.Vazquez300

From Hip-Hop to Reggaeton: Is There Only a Step? WelmoE.RomeroJoseph312

Black Pride TegoCalderón324

Poetry of Filth: The (Post) Reggaetonic Lyrics of Calle 13 FrancesNegrón-Muntaner327

Bibliography: Selected Sources for Reading Reggaeton 341 Contributors 345 Index 349

illustrations

A skeletal sketch of reggaeton’sboom-ch-boom-chick. 23

Dancehall reggae’s minimal ‘‘bomp bomp.’’ 25

A (very) skeletal sketch of roots reggae’s ‘‘one-drop.’’ 26

Vico C’s version of a standard hip-hop beat. 29

Image fromapoñlRgeagsellhaceanDliner notes. 33

The basic elements of Puerto Rico’s localizedDem Bow. 40

Artwork forPlayero37. 41

Artwork forPlayero38. 41

From left to right: Rasta Nini and a friend in Colón, Panama. Photo by Christoph Twickel. 83

Lady Ann poses in front of her beauty salon in La Chorrera, Panama. Photo by Christoph Twickel. 87

Renato at the studio. Photo by Rose Cromwell. 90

El General, Panama City, Panama. Photo by Christoph Twickel. 100

‘‘Reggaeton a lo cubano’’ concert poster, Havana, Cuba. Photo by Geo√ Baker. 182

Promotional image for Plátano’s single ‘‘Helicoptero.’’ Image courtesy of Heavy Management. 202

Sito Oner Rock. Photo by Time-Shift Studios. 206

PurePlantainumatKingofPlatinum,125thStreet Miguel Luciano (2006). 218

PurePlantainum, Miguel Luciano (2006). 219

FilibertoOjedaUptowns—MacheteroAirForceOnes Miguel Luciano (2007). 220

Stills fromterrnóarGePn, Carolina Caycedo (2004). 221

,

,

Tego Calderón and children, Sierra Leone. Photo by Kacho López (2006). 222

Diamond miners at work, Sierra Leone. Photo by Kacho López (2006). 223

Man with prosthetic hands, living testimony of a diamond trade driven civil war, Sierra Leone. Photo by Kacho López (2006). 224

From left to right: hip-hop artist Paul Wall, author Ishmael Beah, and Tego Calderón. Photo by Kacho López (2006). 225

Detail ofcdcover art,Glou/Glory, 2006. (First released in 2005) 243

cdcover art,e13llaC, 2005. 265

cdinside art,31leCla, 2005. 265

Welmo E. Romero Joseph. Photo by Abey Charrón (2005). 314

foreword What’sAlltheNoiseAbout?

juan flores

My late friend Johnny Ramírez used to call it ‘‘racketón.’’ ‘‘Apaga ese racketón’’ (Turn o√ that racketon) he would shout as the thumping cars shattered the peaceful quiet of his little house,opmaedaortncin the hills of Puerto Rico. For him, music was El Trío Los Panchos,Ramito, a little salsa maybe, an occasional tango, and a lot of boleros, Daniel Santos, Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernández, and of course, Felipe Rodríguez, ‘‘La Voz.’’ Even after spending forty of his seventy years in New York City, Johnny’s whole system was geared to ‘‘la música de ayer,’’ the trusty old melodies and familiar cadences of yesteryear. The insistent boom and incoherent vocal gibberish of reggaeton was a ‘‘racket,’’ nothing but meaningless, ear-grating noise. It’s just not music. Reggaeton is to this extent no di√erent than other new styles or modes of popular music as they take hold among the young generation and conquer the soundscape of its place and time. The history of emergent genres and practices of music making illustrate time and again how the new language is greeted with widespread disdain among those with a stake in perpetuating what’s been accepted and taken for granted as ‘‘the real stu√.’’ Often what is at stake is social privilege, the wealth and power of the tastemakers and gatekeepers. But in the case of Johnny, who spent his whole life poor and uneducated, it’s obviously not about privilege or wealth or power. His rants against ‘‘racketón’’ were backed by another kind of power, the weight of tradition and generational authority. Music is what music has ‘‘always’’ been. The rest is simply not music; it’s noise, a racket. Of course music is never just about music, and the social judgments it faces are always about the people who create it and love it. Johnny’s responding not only to the sounds he hears but to the wayward, good-for-nothing young