New wave of Latin singers spins politics in a different direction

“A new crop of South Florida music-makers is singing about issues and ideas that are sometimes shocking to their parents but that represent the changing global awareness and politics of a younger generation of Hispanic-Americans. In their efforts to project new and powerful images, some acts are even appropriating the leftist iconography of guerrilla rebels and socialist artists.

Such acts as Guajiro, Mayday!, Seven Star, Jorge Correa, Locos por Juana, and Johnny Dread, along with record labels including Beta Bodega and Counterflow, are working mostly in American and Caribbean genres that often voice progressive political views: hip-hop, reggae, and punk. By tapping sounds and experiences from their distinct backgrounds, these acts are simultaneously broadening the scope of and challenging the sometimes kneejerk postures of artists within those genres.”

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