“E-le-le, le-le-le, A-la-la, la-la-la-a…” We are Americans. Why vote for people who hate us? Why vote for those who attack our families? Why vote for people whose American dream is using the US Army to jail and deport millions just like us. No por el odio. Vota por la esperanza. Vota por la alegría. Vota por la familia Latina. Unidos, somos poderoso. We are all Puerto Rican now. ¡Vota ~ Vote! 🇵🇷
Discover a world of Latin things to do in NYC in October, as many Latin communities prepare to remember our ancestors. Day of the Dead, Día de Muertos is about family. The skulls and skeletons are cool, not bad or scary. Por los ancestros y los hijos, la familia sagrada. 🕯️ ❤️
Angélique Kidjo, the “Queen of African Music,” Celebrates 40 Years of African Joy at Carnegie Hall 🇧🇯 🇫🇷
Elizabeth Catlett was More Than a Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies, She was a Revolutionary Mexican Artist and a Revolutionary Woman Too 🇺🇸 🇲🇽
Day of the Dead, Día de Muertos, Fèt Gede, All Souls Day
A Mi Me Gusta Mi Pueblo, A Mi Me Gusta Mi Gente
Things To Do in NYC Next Week
Melvis Santa & Rafael Monteagudo Duo Afro-Cuban Jazz at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem 🇨🇺
La Calle Linda de Puerto Rico
Things To Do in NYC November 11-17, 2024
Miguel Zenón Plays the New York Premiere of his Jazz History of San Francisco, “Golden City” 🇵🇷
¡Viva Zapata!
Nuestros Sonidos ~ Carnegie Hall’s Latin Culture Festival
By naming this season-long festival of Latin culture “Nuestros Sonidos” (Our Sounds), Carnegie Hall is reaching out to Latins and friends, but is also saying that we belong at Carnegie Hall too!
Somos Latinoamérica
How America Got the Blues
Over more than a decade, our concept of Latin has grown into the great mix of peoples in the Americas, Latin Europe, and Mother Afrika, with influences from West Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific. In the beginning of Turtle Island, we are all Indigenous somewhere.
The Spaniard brought the African.
Eddie Palmieri at the 92nd Street Y in 2016 🇵🇷
The African put everyone to dance.
In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues!”
The blues, with gospel and ragtime, is the root of most American popular culture, including: jazz, rhythm and blues, country, rock, soul, funk, disco, house, hip hop, and trap. Yes, even country music originates on our side of the tracks.
We are far more Indigenous and African than we have been taught. Together, the Latin family has created culture that is uniquely American, and loved around the world. Latin culture brings people together and turns the blues into JOY! Vamos!
Latin Art
Latin Books
Latin Comedy
Latin Dance
Latin Fashion
Latin Festivals
Latin Film
Latin Food
Latin Music
Latin Parades
Latin Sports
Latin Theatre
Sponsored by the Best of New York
New York City’s leading Latin, Indigenous, European, African, Jewish, and Global cultural organizations support us because they support you. Let’s support them back!
2024 Sponsors guide our editorial direction. We learn from them. They pay indirectly for the free editorial we do for small organizations that deserve coverage, but don’t have budget. Thank you! ¡Gracias ustedes!
Oye, you are crossing the Kalûnga
The Kalûnga is the Primordial Spark, The Big Bang, The One in Kongo religion, the same One as in your religion.
The Kalûnga Line is the boundary between the world’s of the living and the dead.
It is the water boundary between our ancestors and us.
In the Kongo context, it is the Atlantic Ocean.
Let the water hold you down.
Because the water is love.
Somos hijos del mar.
Aguanilé
La Llamada de los Tambores … .. The Call of The Drum
Bienvenido a el areíto en el batéy del pueblo Latino. Somos uno en el tambor.
Escucha la llamada. La rumba ya se forma en el solar.
Yo prendo una vela.
(Welcome to the community gathering in the sacred circle of the Latin people.
We are one in the drum. Listen to the call. The party is starting in the patio. I lit a candle.)
Bom, bom, bom
ba-ta-ba-ta, ba, ta-ba, ta-ba
Bom-ba, ta-ba, Bom-ba, ta-ba
Bom-ba, ta-ba, Bom-ba, ta-ba
This call of the drum is the bomba Puertorriqueña sicá rhythm.
“E-le-le, le-le-le, A-la-la, le-le-le“
Loíza Aldea, Loíza, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
La salsa begins with the “Diana,” the call to prayer that asks for spiritual connection before we dance,
because by tradition, dance is how we pray.
“E-le, le-le, le-le-le-le“
La Marina, Matanzas, Cuba 🇨🇺
Rumba is what the first Africans in Cuba did, as soon as their hands were free.
“Dirikirikiriki, Dirikirikiriki, Dirikirikiriki, Di, Dikiri”
Capotillo 42, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 🇩🇴
Dem bow is the sound of the streets in La República Dominicana.
“Ay, ay, Ay-ay“
San Juan de Ulúa, Veracruz, Mexico 🇲🇽
“Canta y no llores.”
“Aí aí aí“
San Basilio de Palenque, Bolívar, Colombia 🇨🇴
“Ajai, al son de los tambores”
“Bim Bom, Bim Bim, Bom Bom“
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
“O meu coração pediu assim, só”
“I like to be in América“
San Juan Hill, New York City 🇺🇸 🇵🇷 🇮🇱
“Okay, buy me in America, Everything free in America
For a small fee in America”
¡ A-G-U-A-N-I-L-É !
El Barrio, Loisaida, Bushwick, y El Bronx 🇵🇷
“Aguanilé” is a healing prayer to Ogun.
Who answers the call? The community responds!
¿Oye Cómo Va?
We are Indigenous, European, African, Arab, Jewish, Asian, and everything in between.
“¿Oye cómo va? Mi ritmo, bueno pa’ bailar, mulata.”
Hey, how’s it going? My rhythm is good for dancing, Latina.
“Andando, andando, andando…”
(Walking, walking, walking…)
“Yo me tiro pa’l solar”
(I throw myself into the field)
Dios te bendiga
(God bless you)
¡Ashé!
Gracias pa’ venir
Kíko Keith
“E-le-le, le-le-le, A-la-la, la-la-la-a…”