Why doesn't Miami have a good/great latin music scene?

[CongaTick]

sorry jc, were you in the picture? didn't notice you.

[PRDRconguero]

That's a shame that south FL doesn't have the the musical pride that other places do, which is shocking. I am a young buck at a strapping 27 years of age, but to my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to have the social drive to create that musical environment.

For example, look at when salsa got big in NY in the 60's in 70's. You had a blending of cultures, and you had that "push", if you will. It was something that people felt, wanted, and strived to be a part of.

Now, I was not even alive during this time, but that is the impression that I have received from others that were.

I'm very disappointed in my generation. Very few know their history, and it seems to have ebbed out of our lives. It happens to all groups after a few generations, but I just don't like the direction they are headed in. When I tell some friends of mine that I play bongos, congas, etc....I get that "oh....wow...ok." That's not all of them, for a select few still love the culture. But many simply do not care. It's just the way it is, I suppose. I'm a proud American, but I am also proud of my background.

[yambu321]

PRDRconguero,

WELL SAID, AND VERY, VERY TRUE! I'M FROM THE 60'S AND 70'S ERA OF HAVING A BLAST. FROM THE BRONX TO MANHATTAN, IT WAS ALL HEAVEN! PEOPLE OF ALL ORIGINS WERE ON BOARD. AND THE SPIRITUAL STRENGTH OF OUR CARIBBEAN CULTURES WERE FELT ALL OVER NYC. THAT IS WHY, I AM TRUE TO MY ROOTS AND WILL ALWAYS BE. THE LOVE OF AFRO-CUBAN RHYTHMS, THE PERFECTION OF BORICUA/NUYORICAN, DESCARGA STYLE, SALSA, AND BOLERO'S, AND OF COURSE, MERENGUE!!! THE WAY THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DOES IT! ALL OF THAT IS ME, AND, I MISS IT! ALL WE HAVE FOR THE MOST PART THESE DAYS IS THE WATERED DOWN ROMANTIC, NO TRUE DRIVE SALSA. THERE'S NO TELL IT LIKE IT IS, NO AWESOME TALES, NO INSTRUMENTAL BATTLES, NO SPECTACULAR EVENTS!

A RESURRECTION OF OUR BEAUTIFULLY CHARGED MUSIC IS GREATLY NEEDED, FOR EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET TO ENJOY AT IT'S BEST!

CHARLIE.

[trivursio]

I'm in Orlando and it's no different here......If anyone in this area wants to get together and get something going, please don't hesitate to contact me. There's two of us but we need more. The heck with politics and all that....let's go! Not a seasoned rumbero but that's because there's nowhere to get seasoned!!!!!!!

[OLSONGO]

Here in Tampa it comes and it goes. I have a Boricua bro who puts on what started as a drum circle , but has become a rumba; will keep you posted, this will be my first Sunday going... I told him that if its Rumba I will be there, otherwise I can't stand those jungle drummers.
On the band side I am the percussionist with Level 10 Contemporary Latin ( Cuban, Brazilian, Funk ) Jazz. And our objective is to record and gig all over the place, so we may be coming to a city near you.

Paz
Olsongo

[congamyk]

I've recently been digging this guy's videos lately.
His name on youtube is AFROROOTS and he has a lot of good vids.
He has some really good videos of rumba Miami/Key Biscayne.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AFROROOTS

Check out this rumba last summer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1X5u3YHcNo

[Raymond]

Things have changed everywhere....New York and Puerto Rico no longer have a latin music scene....I wouldn't be surprised the same is with Miami....Those are three places where people will expect to have a great latin music scene....But that was years ago...and is something that was forthcoming based on what "we" did to the latin genre in the 90s...

Regeatton is king genre now...Salsa never bothered catering to the kids...The "hall dancers" revived the "classic" groups and music but made impossible to dance to the regular guys...The kids, that do not follow any standard like we did, went the easy way with music that they could identify and easy to dance...We failed on that....So...the music scene is in very few places and with old folks...few kids...Remember the ones that enjoyed the golden era of latin music are over 40 now...

I can talk about Puerto Rico, and heard the same is with New York, is hard to find places when in the past the amount of clubs was endless...We are becoming a cult little by little...Can we save it???? Don't know...we still have the "hall dancers" scaring people off of dancing and the radio is stuck with classics and nothing new that appeals is coming out. (Besides the fact that most of all "golden era" guys tend to be very reluctant to new music. I talk in general because personally I am open to all new...).

Miami??? I think is the same problem as with New York and Puerto Rico....

Saludos!

[OLSONGO]

oops

[OLSONGO]

Salsa never bothered catering to the kids.

Man I was a kid when I decided i loved the drum and the high energy music that came with it. Anywhere I saw a drum, what ever it was, a drum set, congas, bongos,timbales etc...I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. There was a time when a friend left a set of fiberglass congas in my dorm at college, and almost didn't give them back. I just think that todays generation is not as sophisticated and cultured ...and neither do they strive for complexity and excellence. They can't dress ( pants down to their ankles, showing dirty oversize underware ) , can't talk ( I don't understand what most of those boricuas say in that regatton ) is it Spanish ? Can't play an instrument ( they copy music samples and all sound the same ) The Salsa and rumbas that i listened to, had some kind of social concern message. Willie Colon, Ruben blades...Hector Lavoe and one could dance it... with class, and not as if I was raping a babe. I think it is just their way of wanting to be different, to the old school parents. But it won't hold because it doesn't have any weight, no strong tradition as our music does. Nuestra musica siempre vivira!!!

Paz
Olsongo

[Light Seeker]

Olsongo,
Just today I was speaking with a friend who moved to FL from la Habana about 8 years ago. He's in his early 20s now, attending University of Florida, and he is also an officer of COLSA, the UF Colombian student association, but he has no interest in being a part of CASA, the Cuban student association. I asked him why that is, and he told me it's because CASA is composed mostly of Miami Cubans, who don't care so much to speak Spanish, and don't appreciate older Afro-Cuban traditional music. By them, Spanish is viewed as more the language of their parents, and rumba is viewed as a thing of the past, more distant and inaccessible to them.
But my friend, while he does enjoy modern music like reggaeton and hiphop, he also loves Salsa, Timba, rumba, etc. He dances to these types of music. It's interesting how Cuban Americans who were born and/or grew up in the U.S. can feel so alienated from the older traditions of Cuba, thinking them to be outdated, but for the youth of Cuba, these traditions are not archaic; they're still alive and well among the youth as well as the older generations.
I think I understand it, though, because my father is 100% French, from Paris, and I feel no cultural connection to France. It's partially because my father never taught any of his kids how to speak French, and we didn't really celebrate French culture in my house. But it seems different for Cuban Americans. Most of the ones I meet were still raised with a lot of their culture, they simply rejected it.

[OLSONGO]

Light Seeker, I thing that all we have mentioned is a relative thing. I was born in a family where culture was encouraged and to the max, and not reserved to where you came from. When I arrived to the States ( New York ) from Colombia , I met kids from everywhere in the world, and I tell you.. it is perhaps the best thing that could of had happened to me. The great thing was that I was always welcomed with open arms in their homes and due to my nature I took everything in, from the language to the food that is how I happen to speak 4 languages , play and dance to many music styles and also learned the cuisine from many regions of the world. I honestly say that I can sit down and talk to just about anyone from any part of this world. To limit yourself in knowledge is the most asinine decision that one can make and to forgo your roots its even worst.

Paz
Olsongo

[Slaptop Chop Hop]

The Latin scene in the U.K is also very quiet. Snowboy and his crew still hold sessions and have new music out and the typical commercial Salsa clubs are doing their thing but not much fresh or exiting in the U.k and a lot of musicians I talk to are having difficulty getting work. Reggaeton for me is an obnoxious music pandering to the lowest common denominator. That's not to say that some Reggae inspired Latin fusions aren't worthwhile experiments and certainly get the body moving but as a generic style it doesn't do much for me.

[seisporocho1]

This is such a hard question to answer. So many things to consider. It is not one or two or three reasons. It's hundreds...

I live in Miami and have lived the lack of music here for close to 10 years. (Although personally I cannot complaint because i have not stopped playing original music at all since I got here - thanx to my band Suenalo). When I say lack of music, I mean serious latin jazz, old school salsa and rumba. Unfortunately, it just doesn't exist on a grand scale like perhaps San Francisco, NYC, LA, etc. It is the ceremonial cubans/puerto ricans that play bembe, toques, and occasional private rumbas. Those are what I call "ghost rumbas" and unless you are part of the click, you will NEVER find out when they happen. The other day there was a rumba to which even Manenguito went and played but it was in a house in Pembroke Pines (1/2 an hour from central Miami) and of course VERY FEW people knew about it.
I guess Light Seeker has a point: "Cuban Americans who were born and/or grew up in the U.S. can feel so alienated from the older traditions of Cuba, thinking them to be outdated" Perhaps with the move to the US and the preoccupation of building the American Dream, traditions like rumba and music overall fall to the side. We all know that Cubans enjoy music but something happens when they get here. Somewhere between spending money to see a band play and investing time to support live music, it is there that the Miami people fall short. It's like the interest is simply NOT there.
It's really a downward spiral and sad, self-defeating cycle: Those that want to make music can't make a living doing it because the scene is not supported by viewers. In return they stop making live music and focus on a career in anything but music disregarding the passion to perform it. Which could be said about any other place in the world since we all realize living off of music performance is very much like prostitution, in Miami there is a serious lack of sense of community. That's a very important issue as to why people don't gather to share common passions.
We have to take something into consideration when speaking about Miami: Cubans/Cuban Americans have everything else that constitutes their culture in Miami. They have their families, they feel very established politically and socially, they have arroz + ropa vieja in every corner, la tiendita to buy cafe con leche (where they all know eachother), they don't have to learn english (making it more like they never left home), they can get work (since they don't have to deal with being illegal) and a sense comfortability and ambition for social progress overcomes any other desire. In the end they can do their ceremonial rumbas whenever they like (amongst themselves). In short, they live in a Cuba with benefits and the struggle is not as heavy.
After all, the drums came about partly from the struggles of the enslaved generations and a need for an outlet. Perhaps the cuban americans just don't associate to the drum the same and therefore don't feel the need for it. ??
Another thing is that Miami is extremely touristy and it is that tourism that penetrated the identity of the city in many ways. Miami was never really established as a major city but as a vacation destination. With a small, insignificant downtown (when compared to other cities) and all the focus on South Beach. It was always transient and a temporary place for those that came here. The nightclubs and their DJ music became for a long time the main vein for going out and having a good time. Alot of drugs,sex and electronic music is what attracts people from all over the world and the US itself.
It is the "International" side of Miami that feeds that as well. European tourists pay good money to come here and the industry caters to that target market with expensive boutique hotels and lounges with neon lights and white curtains. With that comes the chic, modern look that steers everything else away from the African roots that might have seeped thru the border. Eventually, Miami locals (people that were born and raised here) relate to that and it has become a part of their identity in some way.
Let's face it, the salsa,drums, rumba, arroz con frijoles, hot steamy salsa clubs, and "cheesy" dress attires had always been associated with things of the lower-middle class. The struggling class whose idea of fun is gathering at the corner playing clave and rawhides and drinking rum. The simple people who live in the moment and are not so caught up in the matrix.
As of course that is not always the case (nor does it have to be) but it plays a big role in why cuban americans go in the opposite direction.

In the end I think it has to do with many more things and a book could be made of it. One could go back to history of Miami and the people that made Miami, social dramas, etc. So I'll stop right here.

On a positive note, Miami is growing fast and there are very good signs of wonderful things to come for the music industry. The downtown has almost doubled in both the business and residential sectors. More and more people are realizing Miami is a place to stay and live and not just party and leave. So they are investing, bringing their businesses here, and promoting the idea of living in paradise. The City is experiencing a boom of some sort. Will it become as big as other cities? Well, as much as I want to say "unlikely", time will tell!
Venues are paying well for live music ( I've heard way better than NYC). There are a few rumba groups getting their material together and recording. There will be a Bomba group (yours truly involved!) to start playing at numerous events. As a matter of fact on Sunday there is a local Bomba & Plena group playing in Pompano Beach (for all you miami residents). There are bands that play original material - sorry latin jazz lovers, not exactly down that path - but more on the afro funk vibe: Locos por Juana, Suenalo, Elastic Bond, Afrobeta, Spam Allstars, etc.

So, it's really what you make of it and hope that venues keep stepping it up so the musicians have their place in the city.

wow, sorry for going off, it is an interesting topic to me .

6x8

[congamyk]

wow what a post brother. extremely well thought out and thought provoking.
thank you for your insight.

[TONE74]

Here is something that might be of some interest to some although its in spanish I'm sure it can be translated by some type of program. It's from Manolin (timba artist) a Cuban Exile who lived in Miami and talks about his experiences in the music bussines. Now living in Madrid.

http://elblogdelmedicodelasalsa.blogspot.com/