Ethnomusicology Report: Reggaeton Latin Fusion Southern California has a strong, dominating Hispanic culture influenced by its neighbor country Mexico. Reggaeton is one of the many Hispanic music genres that holds high on the music charts throughout Southern California all the way down to South America. Reggaeton music is a diverse fusion of hip hop, Latin Music, and Caribbean music that got its ground in the early 1990’s.Vocals include rap and singing, normally in Spanish along with electronic, techno instrumental in the background. The genre’s place of origin came from Puerto Rico, yet has spread like wild fire to the mainland (the United States) and all over Mexico, becoming a popular hit in music charts. Since southern California holds …show more content…
However, Reggaeton music's origin is most closely associated with Puerto Rico where it first gained momentum and was commercially packaged. The Reggaeton music genre spread rapidly throughout the Latin American communities of North and South America in the 90s and has since gained worldwide popularity. Reggaeton music evolved from raggamuffin or “raga” music which is a sub-genre of dancehall electronic music that evolved from reggae and Hip Hop. Reggaeton music can be distinguished by its controversial Spanish lyrics, either rapped or sung, provocative style and incorporation of other Latin rhythms such as Bomba and Salsa. Additionally, Reggaeton is identifiable by its “Dem Bow” beat, which relies heavily on the snare drum and was first made popular by Shabba Ranks in 1991. Raggaeton music developed as an urban underground movement focused on youth, much like in the case of North American Hip Hop. The Reggaeton genre is also closely associated with a dance style known as Perreo, derived from the word “dog” in Spanish, which refers to the lewd and sexually explicit dance moves …show more content…
This year’s festival featured opening music band the Nortes. The Daily Press states, “With a sold-out crowd of about 15,000 people, the inaugural Tropicalia Music and Taco Festival brought a wide lineup of music and more to the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Saturday, Nov. 11.” This particular festival it encompassed the whole spectrum of Latino music; however you could find Reggaeton right there on the line up. Clubs are everywhere in San Diego playing the hottest music to liven the authesisstic crowds and have everyone feeling in a good mood. Reggaeton is definetly a genre played through the club scenes and even can has its own special reserved spot for the evening in some clubs. I decided to call a few club owners and managers to get feedback on their clubs featuring reggaeton music and how it works with their crowds. My first call was to the club called Club Crawl that is located in Gaslamp district in San Diego, CA and spoke with a gentleman by the name of Miguel. Miguel is the general manager that runs