I enjoyed Tommy's book; it was very well written and insightful.crazyboyms wrote:Interesting!
Read Tommy's book as well, have lots of respect for him
Yeah, that's a point. But if this is actually the reason... :dohGo JLo wrote:I think because he is from Spain...and its like Europe for the US and Latino community ,there Latino is more a race or ethnic group of South America than the word meaning...ImIntoJLo wrote:Why they didn't mention Enrique in the articles, does he have some feud with Mottola or something lol? It's so weird, he is one of the most successful Latinos all-time in this business.
Which is ironic , because Spain is even more Latino cuz Latino is something that is natural to people who speak languages derived from Latin (Spain says hello!)
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i'm excited for this it looks good. To bad I just got rid of HBO..will wait for it to appear online
Maybe he was just to busy?ImIntoJLo wrote:Yeah, that's a point. But if this is actually the reason... :dohGo JLo wrote:I think because he is from Spain...and its like Europe for the US and Latino community ,there Latino is more a race or ethnic group of South America than the word meaning...ImIntoJLo wrote:Why they didn't mention Enrique in the articles, does he have some feud with Mottola or something lol? It's so weird, he is one of the most successful Latinos all-time in this business.
Which is ironic , because Spain is even more Latino cuz Latino is something that is natural to people who speak languages derived from Latin (Spain says hello!)
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Thalia was not a part of this Latin Boom !!! sorry Tommy I know its your wife but Get Real man :ROFL:
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In fact... there you have what Mottola did with the waste of I'm Real Remix and I'm gonna be alright video productions... :coffee
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Who is Thalia? She's not known in the UK I don't think she's had here??rafaelsalguero wrote:Thalia was not a part of this Latin Boom !!! sorry Tommy I know its your wife but Get Real man :ROFL:
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Is beat in "I want You" the same beat as in Ariana Grande's "The Way"
sample of both songs here :oops:Dan#jlofan wrote:Is beat in "I want You" the same beat as in Ariana Grande's "The Way"
There was a premiere of the documentary at New York’s Hudson Theater and a after-party last night. Jennifer didn't attend it. Some pics:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -York.html
http://www.popsugar.com/latina/Tommy-Mo ... o-39056445
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -York.html
http://www.popsugar.com/latina/Tommy-Mo ... o-39056445
Tonight!
A review about it:
HBO's 'The Latin Explosion' Sizzles...Then Fizzles
by Julio Ricardo Varela
There was something incredibly meta about catching an advanced screening of HBO’s “The Latin Explosion” and noticing a very happy Pitbull in the VIP audience watching Pitbull being interviewed on a large screen at New York’s Hudson Theater last week. Mr. Worldwide was not the only star at the screening—George Lopez, Thalía, Gloria Estefan and Rita Moreno were among the many VIPs who attended and who represented “the new American power brokers in the world of entertainment, business, politics and the arts.”
To say that I was skeptical about the documentary, created by Tommy Mottola (Thalía’s husband), was an understatement. I guess I had seen too many projects falling into the same genre: Latinos are huge! Latinos are amazing! Latinos are taking over the world! Let’s interview JLO, Sofía and Eva! I went into the screening expecting yet another contrived production.
However, within the first few minutes, I was pleasantly surprised.
Soon enough, I was hooked.
The premise of the documentary’s central thesis is simple: use music to tell the history of Latinos’ growing influence and numbers in the United States. The musical history side held its own for the most part, but it was the intention to go beyond the music that ultimately still makes “The Latin Explosion” yet another demographic-driven marketing documentary about a topic that keeps getting overplayed.
Before explaining why the documentary doesn’t fully deliver, it’s best to focus on what it did best—tell the history of Latino America (still a new, evolving and at times, uncomfortable label to many) through music. This is the theory: How the mambo craze of the 30s and 40s set the stage for a “Latin explosion” that eventually led to acceptance of Latinos into the U.S. mainstream and the creation of “A New America.”
The film had me at the beginning with iconic figures such as Pérez Prado and Benny Moré. And before you know it, narrator John Leguizamo had us connecting the dots to Desi Arnaz’s “Babalú” and an emotional speech Arnaz gave as his wife Lucille Ball and emcee Ed Sullivan watched. The Hudson Theater viewers felt Arnaz’s immigrant story and instantly resonated with it. Yes, Arnaz was doing things in the 1950s that had captured the soul of the U.S. television landscape, but to some the white Arnaz was just co-opting Afro-Cuban traditions. “The Latin Explosion” would never “go there,” and I wasn’t expecting that it would, but still you are left to wonder: what if, for instance, Benny Moré had played Ricky Ricardo? Would we be telling a different story? Would the country have been ready for “The Latin Explosion” in the 1950s as they now seem ready for it with Romeo Santos?
After Arnaz, Rita Moreno took center stage, along with West Side Story. The impact of that film and her Oscar-winning speech (it was brief) is still felt to this day. A lot of what Moreno shared in the documentary was very similar to what she had told Latino USA earlier, yet it was fantastic to see Moreno on film. That is always a good thing.
It is here where the documentary could have easily been criticized for its East Coast Cuban and Puerto Rican urban biases, but the sudden pivot to the 60s and how so many rock n’ roll singers (Sam the Sham, Question Mark and Cannibal) had to hide their Mexican American roots to perform was perhaps one of the film’s most poignant and intriguing parts.
The creative choice to hat-tip this little-known fact was the right decision. However, the decision to not spend more time on this topic was not. The documentary should have given these bands their due, just like it did with José Feliciano, Carlos Santana and the Fania All-Stars. Such a glossing over was a disappointment.
The Feliciano segment was excellent and so was the Santana one. Once the film explored the cultural 70s phenomenon that was Cheech and Chong, the continued focus on musical history seemed promising. Celia Cruz with Fania was as fun as you can get.
Add Miami Sound Machine and Ricky Martin’s historic 1999 Grammy performance, and then follow up with Selena, Shakira, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Santos, and suddenly you think this whole music history theory makes absolute sense.
That is, until the documentary overreaches. Instead of focusing on even more pioneers (how are Ruben Blades and Juan Luis Guerra not included?), the documentary bakes up a conclusion that lacks originality. Musical prowess leads to political power? Marco Rubio, Sonia Sotomayor and Julián Castro are the byproducts of “Livin’ la Vida Loca?” The film stretched a bit too far in the end, leaving the viewer confused and discombobulated. It felt too packaged and too stale. Instead of highlighting the new unheard voices of Latino America (and there were several in the Hudson Theater crowd), HBO and the film’s producers rolled out the same voices we have been hearing for years.
“We’re a very loyal culture, that’s why products want us so bad because we’re loyal consumers,” Pitbull told us in the film.
No, gracias.
Maybe that mainstream consumer narrative is good for the masses, but for me, I will always choose Question Mark (Rudy Martinez) over Pitbull. Question Mark’s world has always seemed more authentic, and “The Latin Explosion” should have focused more on those musical stories, instead of giving us the same tale of an overdone theme we have heard too many times now.
http://latinousa.org/2015/11/16/hbos-th ... n-fizzles/
HBO's 'The Latin Explosion' Sizzles...Then Fizzles
by Julio Ricardo Varela
There was something incredibly meta about catching an advanced screening of HBO’s “The Latin Explosion” and noticing a very happy Pitbull in the VIP audience watching Pitbull being interviewed on a large screen at New York’s Hudson Theater last week. Mr. Worldwide was not the only star at the screening—George Lopez, Thalía, Gloria Estefan and Rita Moreno were among the many VIPs who attended and who represented “the new American power brokers in the world of entertainment, business, politics and the arts.”
To say that I was skeptical about the documentary, created by Tommy Mottola (Thalía’s husband), was an understatement. I guess I had seen too many projects falling into the same genre: Latinos are huge! Latinos are amazing! Latinos are taking over the world! Let’s interview JLO, Sofía and Eva! I went into the screening expecting yet another contrived production.
However, within the first few minutes, I was pleasantly surprised.
Soon enough, I was hooked.
The premise of the documentary’s central thesis is simple: use music to tell the history of Latinos’ growing influence and numbers in the United States. The musical history side held its own for the most part, but it was the intention to go beyond the music that ultimately still makes “The Latin Explosion” yet another demographic-driven marketing documentary about a topic that keeps getting overplayed.
Before explaining why the documentary doesn’t fully deliver, it’s best to focus on what it did best—tell the history of Latino America (still a new, evolving and at times, uncomfortable label to many) through music. This is the theory: How the mambo craze of the 30s and 40s set the stage for a “Latin explosion” that eventually led to acceptance of Latinos into the U.S. mainstream and the creation of “A New America.”
The film had me at the beginning with iconic figures such as Pérez Prado and Benny Moré. And before you know it, narrator John Leguizamo had us connecting the dots to Desi Arnaz’s “Babalú” and an emotional speech Arnaz gave as his wife Lucille Ball and emcee Ed Sullivan watched. The Hudson Theater viewers felt Arnaz’s immigrant story and instantly resonated with it. Yes, Arnaz was doing things in the 1950s that had captured the soul of the U.S. television landscape, but to some the white Arnaz was just co-opting Afro-Cuban traditions. “The Latin Explosion” would never “go there,” and I wasn’t expecting that it would, but still you are left to wonder: what if, for instance, Benny Moré had played Ricky Ricardo? Would we be telling a different story? Would the country have been ready for “The Latin Explosion” in the 1950s as they now seem ready for it with Romeo Santos?
After Arnaz, Rita Moreno took center stage, along with West Side Story. The impact of that film and her Oscar-winning speech (it was brief) is still felt to this day. A lot of what Moreno shared in the documentary was very similar to what she had told Latino USA earlier, yet it was fantastic to see Moreno on film. That is always a good thing.
It is here where the documentary could have easily been criticized for its East Coast Cuban and Puerto Rican urban biases, but the sudden pivot to the 60s and how so many rock n’ roll singers (Sam the Sham, Question Mark and Cannibal) had to hide their Mexican American roots to perform was perhaps one of the film’s most poignant and intriguing parts.
The creative choice to hat-tip this little-known fact was the right decision. However, the decision to not spend more time on this topic was not. The documentary should have given these bands their due, just like it did with José Feliciano, Carlos Santana and the Fania All-Stars. Such a glossing over was a disappointment.
The Feliciano segment was excellent and so was the Santana one. Once the film explored the cultural 70s phenomenon that was Cheech and Chong, the continued focus on musical history seemed promising. Celia Cruz with Fania was as fun as you can get.
Add Miami Sound Machine and Ricky Martin’s historic 1999 Grammy performance, and then follow up with Selena, Shakira, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Santos, and suddenly you think this whole music history theory makes absolute sense.
That is, until the documentary overreaches. Instead of focusing on even more pioneers (how are Ruben Blades and Juan Luis Guerra not included?), the documentary bakes up a conclusion that lacks originality. Musical prowess leads to political power? Marco Rubio, Sonia Sotomayor and Julián Castro are the byproducts of “Livin’ la Vida Loca?” The film stretched a bit too far in the end, leaving the viewer confused and discombobulated. It felt too packaged and too stale. Instead of highlighting the new unheard voices of Latino America (and there were several in the Hudson Theater crowd), HBO and the film’s producers rolled out the same voices we have been hearing for years.
“We’re a very loyal culture, that’s why products want us so bad because we’re loyal consumers,” Pitbull told us in the film.
No, gracias.
Maybe that mainstream consumer narrative is good for the masses, but for me, I will always choose Question Mark (Rudy Martinez) over Pitbull. Question Mark’s world has always seemed more authentic, and “The Latin Explosion” should have focused more on those musical stories, instead of giving us the same tale of an overdone theme we have heard too many times now.
http://latinousa.org/2015/11/16/hbos-th ... n-fizzles/
I really don't agree with the review in some parts... especially about the politics one. How is "overreaching" the fact that society is affected and grows on all fronts based firstly on small changes which are mostly cultural in the beginning? In order to change a nation's opinion on something you first have to reach its most basic instincts and music is always the first to make that breakthrough for bigger changes to follow. Political and social dynamics don't change overnight and downplaying the importance of a cultural phenomenon because it is "overdone" for you personally as an author is borderline stupid. And how on earth is it overdone when the change Latinos want isn't still all there?! Not to mention that this documentary had a much broader target audience than what the author had in mind...
DtothaLO wrote:no princess royce and no paulina rubia :p
Of course not lol Paulina Rubio was never relevant to non Spanish speaking North Americans and Prince Royce just became really known. Just because there Latino doesn't mean they get to jump on to this documentary. Also I agree about Thalia too, she has had a very long successful career but only with Spanish speaking people, so that doesn't qualify her really to be part of the Latin Boom.
From Billboard:
HBO's 'The Latin Explosion' Highlights A Musical History Still Packed With Surprises
By Leila Cobo
HBO’s Tommy Mottola-produced documentary, The Latin Explosion: A New America, kicks off with the music --and facts: In 1950, 1 in 50 Americans were Latino. In 2050 it will be 1 in 3, “the most significant demographic shift in U.S. history,” according to the John Leguizamo-narrated doc.
The attention-grabbing headlines, coupled with truly great footage and insightful interviews with a string of stars -- from Rita Moreno to Pitbull -- keep you riveted to this documentary.
Even if you thought you knew all about Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s struggles to get their music played on mainstream radio or have heard every inspirational quote from Pitbull, there is a poignancy and an earnest honesty in the numerous interviews, which also include sitdowns with Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, a superb Rita Moreno, Jose Feliciano, Shakira and Ricky Martin, among others.
What The Latin Explosion does not have is a significant enough Mexican representation. There is mention of how several acts had to hide their Mexican heritage, and we do get to see a young Santana and Ritchie Valens. But the doc definitely veers more East Coast than West.
The Latin Explosion charts the rise of Latin music in the U.S. from the 1940s and 1950s of Machito, Dámaso Perez Prado and Desi Arnaz to Romeo Santos’ sold-out Yankee Stadiums today.
“It chronicles a very important moment in the history of Latin music and we wanted be a part of it,” said Ruben Leyva, Sony’s svp of business development for the Latin region. The label is releasing the soundtrack to the documentary and co-hosted a screening Tuesday night in Las Vegas as part of Latin Grammy week, with starts like Victor Manuelle, Il Volo and Wisin in attendance.
“It wasn’t easy for a Latin act to break into the business. As a music executive I absolutely see a big change today.”
The Latin Explosion includes eye-opening segments with the likes of Jose Feliciano covering “Light My Fire,” or Desi Arnaz, singing in Spanish on broadcast television, something that would literally take decades to accomplish again.
“It’s a great opportunity to show a mass audience that all those big Latin music hits they’ve heard all these years represent a culture and a great number of people who made it possible. It’s not an accident.”
Mottola himself hosted an earlier screening in New York last week where guests included Pitbull, Rita Moreno and the Estefans.
Needless to say, The Latin Explosion doesn’t capture everything and everyone; Enrique Iglesias, for example, is absent. “The New America” part of the special -- with its focus on politics and representations -- is almost an afterthought, and an unnecessary one.
The Latin Explosion doesn’t need justification beyond the music and the artists.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... ocumentary
HBO's 'The Latin Explosion' Highlights A Musical History Still Packed With Surprises
By Leila Cobo
HBO’s Tommy Mottola-produced documentary, The Latin Explosion: A New America, kicks off with the music --and facts: In 1950, 1 in 50 Americans were Latino. In 2050 it will be 1 in 3, “the most significant demographic shift in U.S. history,” according to the John Leguizamo-narrated doc.
The attention-grabbing headlines, coupled with truly great footage and insightful interviews with a string of stars -- from Rita Moreno to Pitbull -- keep you riveted to this documentary.
Even if you thought you knew all about Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s struggles to get their music played on mainstream radio or have heard every inspirational quote from Pitbull, there is a poignancy and an earnest honesty in the numerous interviews, which also include sitdowns with Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, a superb Rita Moreno, Jose Feliciano, Shakira and Ricky Martin, among others.
What The Latin Explosion does not have is a significant enough Mexican representation. There is mention of how several acts had to hide their Mexican heritage, and we do get to see a young Santana and Ritchie Valens. But the doc definitely veers more East Coast than West.
The Latin Explosion charts the rise of Latin music in the U.S. from the 1940s and 1950s of Machito, Dámaso Perez Prado and Desi Arnaz to Romeo Santos’ sold-out Yankee Stadiums today.
“It chronicles a very important moment in the history of Latin music and we wanted be a part of it,” said Ruben Leyva, Sony’s svp of business development for the Latin region. The label is releasing the soundtrack to the documentary and co-hosted a screening Tuesday night in Las Vegas as part of Latin Grammy week, with starts like Victor Manuelle, Il Volo and Wisin in attendance.
“It wasn’t easy for a Latin act to break into the business. As a music executive I absolutely see a big change today.”
The Latin Explosion includes eye-opening segments with the likes of Jose Feliciano covering “Light My Fire,” or Desi Arnaz, singing in Spanish on broadcast television, something that would literally take decades to accomplish again.
“It’s a great opportunity to show a mass audience that all those big Latin music hits they’ve heard all these years represent a culture and a great number of people who made it possible. It’s not an accident.”
Mottola himself hosted an earlier screening in New York last week where guests included Pitbull, Rita Moreno and the Estefans.
Needless to say, The Latin Explosion doesn’t capture everything and everyone; Enrique Iglesias, for example, is absent. “The New America” part of the special -- with its focus on politics and representations -- is almost an afterthought, and an unnecessary one.
The Latin Explosion doesn’t need justification beyond the music and the artists.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... ocumentary
