As well as being a research center for The New York Public Library, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is also a constituent member of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  As such, we are part of the Boro-Linc project, bringing performances and projects from the Lincoln Center campus to the other boroughs.  This spring, we partnered with the Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education in the Hunts Point section.  For the next three months, visitors and students at the after-school program or the Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists can see and hear an LPA off-site exhibition on Latino popular music in the early sound eras.  It is at 928 Simpson Street, four blocks from the Simpson St. 2 train.  casitamaria.org

Latino and Caribbean popular music genres of the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries can be found throughout LPA’s research and circulating collections.  One of our last exhibitions before the 1999-2001 renovations was part of a tri-lingual project documenting popular music throughout the region as techno versions of popular genres (soca, zouk, etc.) were outstripping their acoustic rivals. Like many of our projects, it was suggested by public service staff reflecting the needs of the public. 

Two years ago, we hosted “American Sabor,” a project of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service based on an exhibition developed by the Experience Music Project and the University of Washington.  “Sabor” focused on 1940—the present in the six major North American markets. For more on Sabor, please see americansabor.org.  To augment it, we developed a prequel exhibit on Latino popular music 1900-1939.  Most of that exhibit is now on view in the bi-lingual exhibition at Casita Maria.  It gave me a change to revisit some of the rare artifacts that document this prolific period in which social dance, recordings, radio and early sound film brought music from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Columbia, and Argentina into mass markets of the north. 

Among the unique collections here are the catalogues and supplements that record companies created and distributed to stores.  The major record companies promoted these genres and ensembles very early in the 20^th century and, by the 1910s, were printing catalogues targeted at Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico with detailed listings, prices, associated dances, and photo-engraved illustrations.  The photo-enlargements that we are showing are clear enough that one can see the exact instrumentation for the ensembles.   We can verify from the Victor supplement for Puerto Rico, for example. that the Orquesta Tizol had strings as well as reed, brass and percussion sections.   

I hope that you can visit Casita Maria.  But meanwhile, I’m sharing my list of re-mastered commercial recordings that give you a great range of the dance music and songs.