From Latin Tinge to Latin Takeover

The history and impact of Latin music in the United States

What exactly does "Latin music" mean, and how has it evolved in the United States from an exotic sound that influenced American musicians to niche music made by and for the  Spanish-language immigrant population, to an important bilingual American music genre and industry? 

Tito Puente Celia Cruz, Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana and more perform "America the Beautiful"

1930 Don Aizpiazú and his Havana Casino orchestra perform "El Manisero" in concert in New York. The song, an adaption of a street seller's cry, which becomes widely known by its title in English, "The Peanut Vendor," is the first major Latin hit song in the United States. 

1940 Brazilian Carmen Miranda stars in her first Hollywood film,  Down Argentine Way.  Many Americans confusion about whether or not Argentina is actually in Brazil continues today.

1941 Cuban conguero Chano Pozo debuts with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra. Together they wrote the piece that heralded the beginning of Latin jazz.

1950s The mambo sweeps the U.S.

1962 Bossa Nova comes to Carnegie Hall, with a concert that featured Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and other artists from Rio's new wave. Two years later, Gilberto and American jazz musician Stan Getz release "The Girl From Ipanema," sung by Astrud Gilberto.