As the child of a Colombian father and an American mother, Deborah Pacini Hernandez grew up and lived in different parts of Latin America and the United States. As she outlines the history of her family in the preface of her latest book, it becomes evident that hybridity, defined as ‘the mixture of two or more dissimilar elements’ (p. vii), plays a key role within her own identity. Without mentioning the theoretical background of this term – for example, its development from biology to post-colonial studies (Homi K. Bhabha) – but discussing the term mestizaje instead, she focuses her research directly on the relationship between hybridity and identity in the context of Latin American music. Therefore, various musical genres that reflect the cultural exchanges between ‘Latinos’ in the United States and ‘Latin Americans’ in their countries of origin stand at the centre of this book. Coming from an anthropological background, she claims her approach to be comparative and connective; she defends her methodology, based on fieldwork in the Spanish Caribbean, as being hybrid as well. Unfortunately, she does not explain in further detail how she constituted this hybrid methodology in her work.
Even the book title, in addition to the author and her topic, is a hybrid product, consisting of a Spanish imperative and an English subtitle. The Spanish title could be translated as ‘Listen up!’ or ‘Listen to how it goes!’ and this turns out to be a very good choice. Inspired by the famous song ‘Oye como va’, written by Tito Puente in 1963 and made internationally famous by Carlos Santana in 1970, the phrase perfectly represents the issue. Consequently, a brief history of the song is given in the introduction, where the author points out that the song's world famous riff was borrowed from an even older piece called Chanchullo, composed by Israel ‘Cachao’ López. The song's history also relates to the topic of hybridity, in that its musical mixture of cha-cha, mambo and rock has been shaped by three musicians with complex identities themselves: an Afro-Cuban (Lopez), a ‘Latino’ with a Puerto Rican family background (Puente), and a Mexican who moved to California during his adolescence (Santana).
Furthermore, Santana and Puente represent two ‘Latino’ communities which are subject to a closer analysis in the third chapter, where west-coast Mexicans and east-coast Puerto Ricans are compared by their relationships to rock'n'roll during the 1960s and 1970s. Again, Santana's music is exemplary, this time for the successful fusion of Mexican genres with rock'n'roll, which also raised up bands like Malo, Sapo and Azteca. According to the author, this positive approach towards rock was due to the historical connections between California and Mexico and to the popularity of rock'n'roll in Mexico since the 1950s. But she also states that the ethnic constitution of ‘Chicanos’ (Mexicans living in the US) was an important factor, too. Since most of them were ‘mestizos’ (a European/indigenous mix), they actually did not fit into the bipolar black-and-white categories predominant in the USA at the time, but they managed to be accepted within the white category. Unfortunately, many of their east-coast counterparts from Puerto Rico were considered to be black because of their ‘mulatto’ (an African/European mix) heritage. According to the author, this was probably the main reason why rock'n'roll on the east coast did not cross over as easily with Latin styles as it did on the west coast. Hence, instead of listening to rock'n'roll, most Puerto Ricans expressed their cultural identity through a new hybrid genre that was defined by a mix of different Latin sounds, and therefore called salsa (‘sauce’). However, Pacini Hernandez manages to name some almost-forgotten Latin rock bands from the east coast: Harvey Averne's Barrio Band, Toro, Seguida, Benitez, and Chango (p. 49).
The predominant thinking in black-and-white categories, stressed frequently in the book, has also resulted in a general neglect of the influences of ‘Latinos’ in the early days of hiphop. This is but one example of the many observations on ‘Latino’ identities within turntable-based genres made here, as outlined in Chapter 4. The point here is that most of these styles (e.g. disco, rap, house) are generally not considered as typically ‘Latin’, which makes the author's research in this area even more valuable. Moreover, a closer analysis of the phenomenon of Los Angeles Backyard Parties, also illustrated by an original flyer (p. 67), is definitely a highlight of the book.
Two other groups of more recent immigration are presented subsequently. While Chapter 5 deals primarily with the second generation of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, bringing merengue and bachata to the US, Chapter 6 is dedicated to Colombian immigrants and their respective styles (e.g. cumbia and vallenato). Although both chapters contribute significantly to an understanding of the broad range of different styles, the book understandably cannot cover all genres considered ‘Latin’. In fact, some of them (e.g. duranguense) have been intentionally excluded, while other typical forms from some countries (e.g. Cuba) are not jointly presented and therefore must be followed by the useful annotated index. However, the four main groups (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Colombians) and their musical representations are covered comprehensively.
In addition, two more chapters on the Latin music industry are included. In Chapter 2 the basic historic trajectories of the early years, concluding in the rise and fall of the legendary Fania label, or ‘The Latin Motown’ (pp. 31–3), are outlined, while the last chapter (‘Marketing Latinidad in a Global Era’) focuses on developments from the 1990s up to the present day, emphasising the relationships between a steadily growing US ‘Latino’ population (44 million in 2007) and the music industry's recent reactions to this demographic trend.
Valuable not only for the broad stylistic range presented, the book is a very good source for everyone who does research in the field of Latin American popular music. Although a discussion on its key term, hybridity, is absent, the book does not lose its significance. Finally, it can be confirmed that life at the cultural crossroads, where two paths meet in a hybridity, is ‘one of the signature characteristics of the Latino experience’ (pp. ix–x). An unexpected crossroad is often a challenge, but like reading this book, is also an enriching experience.
