“E-le-le, le-le-le, A-la-la, la-la-la-a…” We’re actually much more than Hispanic. Latin in the Americas is various mixes of Indigenous, European, and African, with Asian influences.
Things To Do in NYC This Weekend
New York Carnival Climaxes at the West Indian Day Parade 🇹🇹 🇯🇲 🇳🇬 🇻🇨
US Open Tennis Championship Climaxes with Men’s and Women’s Finals 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇮 🇨🇱 🇨🇳 🇨🇴 🇫🇷 🇭🇰 🇮🇹 🇯🇵 🇱🇧 🇲🇽 🇵🇪 🇵🇹 🇷🇴 🇿🇦 🇪🇸 🇹🇼
Armory Show Brings Latin Galleries and a Focus on the American South to New York City 🇺🇸 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇫🇷 🇨🇦 🇮🇹 🇲🇽 🇳🇬 🇵🇪 🇿🇦 🇪🇸
Some of America’s Best Spanish Flamenco at Lincoln Center
Latin Art
Latin Books
Latin Comedy
Latin Dance
Latin Fashion
Latin Festivals
Latin Film
Latin Food
Latin Music
Latin Parades
Latin Sports
Latin Theatre
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Latin, Latino, Latine, Latim ~ Tout Moun se Moun
¿KLK Dime a ver? Editor “Kíko” Keith aquí con todos ustedes. Vamos a gozar la vida Neoyorquino juntos. Tú lo sabe.
What’s up? “Kíko” Keith Widyolar, the real founder of New York Latin Culture Magazine, here. I’m American of the United States, but my point of view is also Caribbean and Yoruba. I live in Spanish. The Magazine is my way of supporting the Argentine, French, Colombian, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Dominican families on my journey.
Over nearly 20 years, my concept of Latin has grown from the traditional Caribbean, North and South American; into the great mix of Indigenous peoples of the Americas plus our mother cultures in Africa and Europe, with Jewish, Arab, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, and even German influences.
“Tout moun se moun” is Haitian Kreyòl for “All People Are People.” There is only one human race. Appearance is a false flag. We are all mixed, and when you learn to love and respect all peoples, your world grows exponentially. Mine has. ¡Mi Gente, Ustedes!
Latin culture is a far bigger part of American culture than most of us have been taught. Puerto Rican NEA Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri (vaya con Dios) defined Latin in the Americas and the Latin influence on American culture in the simplest way:
The Spaniard brought the African
Eddie Palmieri at the 92nd Street Y in 2016 🇵🇷
The African put everyone to dance
In the States, they took away the drum,
and we got the blues“
The blues is the root of most American popular music and dance, including: jazz, rhythm and blues, country, rock, soul, funk, disco, house, hip hop, and trap. Even American country music originates in Mother Afrika.
Together, the Latin family has created music and dance that is uniquely American, and loved around the world. Latin culture brings people together and turns the blues into joy!
Oye, you are crossing the Kalûnga
The Kalûnga is the frontier between the realms of the living and the dead in the traditional Kongo culture of Central Africa. It is the horizon in the Dikenga Cross, the Kongolese cosmological diagram which represents the spiritual journey through the stages of life and death. Psychology texts use similar diagrams to describe psychological development. La Altagracia taught me this. ¡Mmm!
It is also the Atlantic Ocean. Kongolese knew that anyone taken away across the ocean, never came back. That was a terrifying journey to the land of the dead. But it turns out there was life on the other side. More or less, that is what we today call Latin, the mix of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian peoples in the Americas.
La Llamada de los Tambores
(The Call of The Drum)
Bienvenido a el areíto en el batéy del pueblo Latino. Somos uno en el tambor.
Escucha la llamada. La rumba ya se forma en el solar.
Yo prendo una vela.
(Welcome to the community gathering in the sacred circle of the Latin people.
We are one in the drum. Listen to the call. The party is starting in the patio. I lit a candle.)
Bom, bom, bom
ba-ta-ba-ta, ba, ta-ba, ta-ba
Bom-ba, ta-ba, Bom-ba, ta-ba
Bom-ba, ta-ba, Bom-ba, ta-ba
This call of the drum is Bomba Puertorriqueña Sicá.
“E-le-le, le-le-le, A-la-la, le-le-le“
Loíza Aldea, Loíza, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
La salsa begins with the “Diana,” the call to prayer that asks for spiritual connection before we dance;
because by tradition, dance is how we pray.
“E-le, le-le, le-le-le-le“
La Marina, Matanzas, Cuba 🇨🇺
Rumba is what the first Africans in Cuba did, as soon as their hands were free.
“Yo Soy Ogun Balenyo”
Villa Mella, Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana 🇩🇴
Palo, even more than merengue, is the root music of La República Dominicana.
“Diki riki riki riki, Diki riki riki riki, Diki riki riki riki, Di, Diki ri”
Capotillo 42, Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana 🇩🇴
Dembow is the sound of the streets in La República Dominicana.
“Ay, ay, Ay-ay“
San Juan de Ulúa, Veracruz, México 🇲🇽
“Canta y no llores…”
“Aí aí aí“
San Basilio de Palenque, Bolívar, Colombia 🇨🇴
“Ajai, al son de los tambores…”
“Bim Bom, Bim Bim, Bom Bom“
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
“O meu coração pediu assim, só…”
“I like to be in América“
San Juan Hill, New York City 🇺🇸 🇵🇷 🇮🇱
“Okay, buy me in America,
Everything free in America
For a small fee in America…”
¡ A-G-U-A-N-I-L-É !
El Barrio, Loisaida, Bushwick, y El Bronx 🇵🇷
“Aguanilé” is a healing prayer to Ogun.
Who answers the call? The community responds!
¿Oye Cómo Va?
We are Indigenous, European, African, Jewish, Arab, South Asian, East Asian, and everything in between.
“¿Oye cómo va? Mi ritmo, bueno pa’ bailar, mulata.”
Hey, how’s it going? My rhythm is good for dancing, Latina.
“Andando, andando, andando…”
(Walking, walking, walking…)
“Yo me tiro pa’l solar”
(I throw myself into the field)
Dios te bendiga
(God bless you)
¡Ashé!
(Amen)
“E-le-le, le-le-le…”
(We start and end the dance with a call to Eleguá, God’s messenger)