Latin Rock
tagStarted 1968Peak 1969-1976Last big hit still activeFrom Latin AmericaSung in Spanish
Located in 2 routes
Electric blues-rock guitar welded to Afro-Cuban and Latin percussion - congas, timbales, claves - over a Hammond-organ bed. Defined by Santana's San Francisco fusion: long modal solos, montuno vamps and a relentless polyrhythmic groove. Warm, sun-baked fuzz tone with the clave pulse always audible beneath the improvisation.
History
Crystallized in late-1960s San Francisco when Carlos Santana fused Tito Puente's mambo and Afro-Cuban percussion with Bay Area blues-rock, exploding at Woodstock in 1969. East-LA and SF bands - Malo, El Chicano, Azteca, Tierra - extended the template through the 1970s. It later re-fused with Latin pop on Santana's 1999 'Supernatural', proving the sound's durability.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano_rock
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chicano
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas_(album)
- https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/803937983/beyond-santana-malo-and-the-forgotten-wave-of-70s-latin-rock-bands