10 Songs That Have Defined the Americas

In 1973, Spanish singer Nino Bravo released “América, América.”

An instant hit in Spain and Latin America, the song described the continents as the Garden of Eden. This single repeated ideas that had been around for centuries, echoing colonial chronicles that portrayed the Americas as a paradise.

In a similar way, Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” (1986) created a version of a heavenly Latin American island. The song, full of stereotypical representations of the continents and their people, conflated Latin America with Spain (she even took on the role of a flamenco dancer in the music video).

Beginning in the late 1960s, protest music emerged throughout musical genres in Latin America. Following this trend, since the 1970s, several “salseros” have commented on social issues by evoking Latin American history. In “Anacaona” (1971), Puerto Rican vocalist Cheo Feliciano told the story of a Taino princess who chose to be hanged rather than become the concubine of a conquistador. In “La Rebelión” (1986), Colombian singer Joe Arroyo sang about an enslaved couple from the 17th century who rebelled against their Spanish owner.

Punk, rap, hip-hop, and reggaeton have also addressed sociopolitical topics and the history of the Americas. In 1995, East LA band Aztlan Underground wrote “My Blood Is Red,” a protest anthem that rails against the atrocities committed during the American conquest.

“The descendants of the ultimate dysfunctionalism, a blueprint for the colonized, seven generations of psycho, of illness, of people without heads, without an identity, without a direction, without an understanding, and without a connection,” the track relates. “They begin to recover, recognize their identity and connection to these roots.”

In 2022, the Puerto Rican singer Residente released “This is Not America,” which highlighted the fact that “America” refers not only to the US but to the American continents. The song opens with these words (translated from Spanish): “We are here, listen, we are here. For a while, when you arrived, the footprints of our shoes were already here.”

This selection of songs from the 1960s to the present includes pop, salsa, reggaeton, hip-hop, and punk rock. Each track reveals how musicians and composers have contributed to the many reinventions of the Americas, sometimes repeating stereotypes and other times challenging them, bringing new sounds, lyrics, and genres to create a rich universe of music.

Listen to the Playlist

Reinventing the Américas: Construct. Erase. Repeat. was on view at the Getty Research Institute from August 23–December 31, 2022.