The message is in the musica - Contemporary Christian music is picking up a Latino beat, with artists such as Jaci Velasquez, Marcos Witt and the South Florida band Contagious.

“In hip-hugging jeans and dark makeup, Zully Porres turns up the sound at Libreria Cristiana Emmanuel. She works the cash register at the West Palm Beach bookstore and plays the same best-selling tunes she blares at home. Ask her what’s worth buying, and the names roll off her tongue: Marcos Witt, Jaci Velasquez, Rojo, Rabito.

They mean nothing to the average devotee of Latino pop. But in a universe parallel to the one ruled by J.Lo, Shakira and Marc Anthony, millions of fans like Porres play these artists’ God-praising CDs and hum their lyrics as if no other music mattered.”

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