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Latunes: An Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Gustavo Pérez Firmat
Gustavo Pérez Firmat*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Abstract

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Beginning in the 1930s, a new type of song entered American popular music—the so-called “latune,” that is, a tune with a Latin beat and an English-language lyric. Although latunes drew on a variety of genres, what prevailed were Cuban rhythms, and particularly the “rhumba,” an elastic term (unrelated to the Afro-Cuban rumba) that included up-tempo sones as well as languid boleros. At one time or another, many of the best-known American composers—Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer—contributed to the latune songbook. In spite of their popularity, however, latunes have elicited little attention, for they have been regarded as vapid, watered-down versions of authentic Latin American music. Arguing that these songs furnish important clues about the United States' absorption of Latin American culture, this essay undertakes a study of the history, features, and principal categories of latunes.

Resumo

Resumo

A principios de los 1930, un género nuevo aparece en la música popular norteamericana: el llamado latune, o sea, una tonada con ritmo latino y letra inglesa. Aunque los latunes se nutren de diversas fuentes, prevalecen los ritmos cubanos agrupados bajo el marbete de rhumba, un término impreciso que guarda poca relación con la rumba criolla e incluye sones, guarachas, mambos, boleros y otros géneros de música cubana y latinoamericana. A lo largo de más de tres décadas, algunos de los más celebres compositores norteamericanos cultivaron la rhumba, entre ellos Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, los hermanos Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael y Johnny Mercer. No obstante, los latunes han merecido poca atención, ya que se consideran imitaciones insulsas de la genuina música latinoamericana. Al estudiar los diferentes tipos de latunes y sus principales características, este ensayo propone que estas canciones híbridas, más allá del interés estético que pudieran tener, ilustran cómo la cultura estadounidense incorpora a sí misma elementos ajenos. Sometida al rasero del gusto popular, la extrañeza de la música cubana se diluye en una agradable atmósfera rítmica vaciada de contenido.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , 2008 , pp. 180 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the University of Texas Press

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