The New Indie Wave in Latin America

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

It is no secret that I am infatuated with my culture and that I would like to put forth all my efforts to push Latin music into a more mainstream place in the international music industry. I've spoken before on the recent surge of Latin music in the charts here in the United States, but while Reggaeton peaks the industry's interest and permeates the radio stations, Latin Alternative Rock and Indie move in the shadows slowly finding their way into the spotlight.

Although most people would not think of Indie and Alternative music as something you could find throughout South America, the increase in artists that have focused on mixing typical latin sounds and instruments, prove that this could become a genre that could blur the language boundaries that have prevented Latin music from being mainstream.

It is important to say that this fusion of genres is not something necessarily new, it has actually been a part of our pop culture for quite some time. From mythical bands like Soda Estereo, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs all the way to newer bands like Monsieur Periné, Bomba Estereo and solo artists like Juan Pablo Vega and Vicente Garcia, this scene has a wide variety of sounds that show how these genres can change into a different and flavourful direction.

I hope to see these artists that are understated and sometimes overlooked find the way to slither into more people's hearts and I sure hope that I can be a catalyst to this reaction within the music industry.