Alternativo en Español

The most indiscriminate genre under the umbrella of Latin music, alternativo en español has something for every ear. Born in the ‘50s out of worship for British and American idols, Latin alternativ rock spent half a century carving out an identity, encompassing everything from Andean folk music to thrash metal. Around the same time that Sandro was earning his “Argentine Elvis” nickname in Buenos Aires, Ritchie Valens took a traditional Mexican folk song and turned it into rock ’n' roll gold: 1958’s “La Bamba” sparked the Chicano rock movement in North America. Following Carlos Santana’s legendary set at Woodstock in 1969, the Tito Puente–penned megahit “Oye Como Va” combined smoldering Afro-Cuban percussion and Santana’s spellbinding guitar riffs, which sound just as incredible today. The late ‘60s were charged with revolutionary sounds from around Latin America. In Argentina, Gustavo Santaolalla pioneered the fusion of rock with charanga and ronroco-based folk music and soon became the go-to maestro for scores of commercially successful pop-rock acts. He produced Colombia’s Juanes, Mexico’s Café Tacvba and Julieta Venegas, all while working as an Oscar®-winning composer and gigging with his neo-tango ensemble Bajofondo. Emerging from Buenos Aires' underground club scene in the early ‘80s, Soda Stereo put the angst of Dirty War–era adolescence and the dreams of a newly formed democracy into song, giving voice to a generation that had long been silent. The trio resonated particularly deeply with youth in countries that had endured their own right-wing military dictatorships, like Chile and Spain. By their fifth and final album, 1995's Sueño Stereo, Soda had credibly touched on the genre’s far-flung corners: folk, funk, new wave, prog-rock, electronica, ambient pop and more. Other bands in this loosely related family have been fearless from the get-go: consider the early ska of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, the cumbia-rock fusion of Caifanes’ classic “La Negra Tomasa”, the irreverent punk of Aterciopelados and the norteño roots on a tune like “La Ingrata” from Café Tacvba’s Re—easily one of the most timeless alt-rock en español album ever recorded.