For me, Black History is celebrated 365 days a year, but it’s now February, the “official” Black History Month. And since the 2024 Grammy Awards are being televised on Sunday, I got to thinking about how the Black roots of certain music—music not often labeled as “Black”—have often been erased or overlooked. Scrolling through the Latin Grammy Award categories, nowhere do I see the word “Afro” or “Black”—though I suppose the “Tropical” and “Urban” subcategories are structured to house performances by Black Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking artists.
My godson Jesse, who is Chicano, and I were discussing Feb. 2 celebrations in the Chicano and Mexican communities for the Black Catholic saint, La Virgen de Candelaria. She’s a Black Madonna who is syncretized in Cuban Santeria with the Orisha Oya; somehow the conversation drifted into Black music and religion in Latino countries. Jesse brought up Mexico and Afro Mexican contributions to the genre of son jarocho music—which is known to many non-Latino Americans because of the late Ritchie Valens.
Yes, I’m talking about “La Bamba.”
Valens’ death at age 17 in a Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash—along with Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson—was a tragic event that was immortalized in American Pie, a song by singer-songwriter and guitarist Don McLean. The song is frequently referred to as “the day the music died,” an oft-repeated lyric.
My generation mourned the loss of Valens in real time, while Gen Xers and Millennials remember the 1987 biopic “La Bamba”, starring Filipino American actor Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. But “La Bamba,” and the son jarocho roots it sprouted from, live on. Join me today in exploring those roots.
”Black Music Sunday” is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music with over nearly 200 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
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