Rock and roll in Espanol.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Music

The center of gravity is shifting. At times, the change has come with the frenzy of a hurricane. In a world where reverence for time-honored traditions was once the unquestioned norm, a new music landscape is emerging: Built on dissatisfaction with the status quo and a consciously irreverent attitude that's captured the imagination of a generation to whom the boleros, salsa, sambas, and tangos of its parents and grandparents are as outdated as a postcard in the age of electronic mail.

What began as a music movement almost exclusively grounded in the language of international rock has evolved into something more original and reflective of the diverse national cultures that have bred its most consistently creative exponents, in the process, the new music has become a true alternative to what preceded it while at the same time, somewhat ironically, it has begun to reexamine traditional forms and incorporate some elements of the music once dismissed as passe. No longer are they just angry young men and women armed exclusively with electric guitars; they are now serious musicians with bajo sextos, congas, and trompetas equally close at hand.

No longer a fringe movement confined to bohemian haunts of large urban centers and the campuses of major universities, what was not long ago conveniently termed rock en espanol has mushroomed into a culturally and musically diverse juggernaut that is capturing global attention.

Today what's increasingly known as Latin alternative music is flexing its collective muscle. Signs that it has become a force to be reckoned with are visible everywhere. Slick publications and their web-zine counterparts dote on the latest recordings, chronicle the emergence of promising new groups, prone the activities of genre heavyweights, track radio air play, aid promote concerts. La Banda Elastica (www.labandaelastica.com), based in Long Beach, California, has become the music's Rolling Stone. The published-in-Miami !Boom! Nacion Alternativa (www.boomonline.com) bolsters its coverage with a string of correspondents that covers the Latin pop music world from Madrid to Bogota.

While most emerging groups get their start with self-produced albums on private or small independent labels, such popular group as Jaguares, Mana, La Ley, and Aterciopelados enjoy the big-budget promotion and distribution clout of some of the world's most powerful recording conglomerates. The creation of the Latin Grammy Awards, now in its fourth year, features a plethora of rock, pop, and hip-hop categories, dramatically expanding opportunities for recognition of the genre's solo artists, groups, and composers. The annual Latin Alternative Music Conference is conducted in either Los Angeles or New York City, providing a stage for new groups to debut their art while focusing attention on the business aide with panels on successful promotion, ways to obtain radio and television exposure, and academic discourses on trends and cultural and social aspects. And, the most inventive examples of the new sound are at attracting a cult following that extends far beyond Latin American nations, Spain, and the Spanish-speaking communities of the U.S.

"The few Spanish language rock acts that have become mega artists--Mana, Juanes, Jaguares, La Ley, and Shakira, among others--all share a larger element of pup in their music than some of their edgier, less mainstream peers," comments Josh Norek, whose public relations firm represents mousy of the hottest alternative groups. He also organizes and produces the annual Latin Alternative Music Conference and leads his own band, the Hip-Hop Hoodios, which he describes as a Latino-Jewish collective.

Examples of groups that are mining the movement's outer fringes, Norek says, are El Gran Silencio, which, he maintains, carries off the best fusion of such traditional Mexican styles as norteno with modern forms like hip-hop...