美国国家公共电台 NPR Year In Review: Latino Culture In The Arts In 2017

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

2017 was a great year for Latino popular culture and the arts. There was the hit song "Despacito" by Puerto Ricans Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESPACITO")

LUIS FONSI AND DADDY YANKEE: (Singing) Para que te acuerdes si no estas conmigo - despacito.

KING: There was Disney-Pixar's "Coco" - a movie, yes, but also a love letter to Mexican culture, art and music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WORLD ES MI FAMILIA")

ANTHONY GONZALEZ AND ANTONIO SOL: (Singing) For this music is my language, and the world es mi familia.

KING: We've got with us LA Times culture writer Carolina Miranda. She's in our studios at NPR West in Culver City, Calif.

Hi, Carolina.

CAROLINA MIRANDA: Hi, thank you for having me.

KING: All right, let's start out with this juggernaut of a song, "Despacito." It was everywhere. I didn't mind at all. I love it. What makes this song so good?

MIRANDA: Strangely addictive¹ - you know, it's that new school of reggaeton that is much more pop-inflected and slowed down. Reggaeton really started off as a mix of reggae and dancehall kind of music with Latin beats, and I think "Despacito," which means slowly - it's a song you can kind of chill to. And, you know, to a record 4.5 billion views on YouTube...

KING: My gosh.

MIRANDA: It's managed to pull in a record of the year and song of the year Grammy nominations², which is a very big deal for a song that is all entirely³ in Spanish language. This is only the third time in U.S. history that Spanish-language songs have hit the No. 1 on Billboard's top 100. The last song was la "Macarena" by Los Del Rio in 1996. You remember that little ditty?

KING: I - oh, my gosh. It's still in the back of my mind. But I wonder - the version that a lot of English-language speakers heard was the version with Justin Bieber, right?

MIRANDA: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESPACITO (REMIX)")

JUSTIN BIEBER: (Singing) Make me want to savor⁴ every moment slowly, slowly.

KING: Was that considered, like, a watering down of the original?

MIRANDA: I don't think so. You know, a lot of these songs, you know, feature teams of artists coming together. I think what you're starting to see is English-language singers are going, hey, there's this huge market in Latin America, and there's this huge cultural phenomenon, and I want to be a part of it. And that's why you see the other big reggaeton hit "Mi Gente," which is the J Balvin and Willy William song that featured a spot by Beyonce.

KING: Let's talk about "Coco," a movie that people don't just love, they adore. It took in $71 million over Thanksgiving weekend - 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What makes this movie so special?

MIRANDA: You know, it's a number of things. First of all, the animation⁵ is just brilliant. But I also think it's a film about Mexican Day of the Dead that doesn't try to overexplain the concept for the purposes of a U.S. audience. I think it assumes a certain level of cultural savviness from its audience, a certain level of smartness. You just have a heartwarming story about a boy who wants to sing and who finds a way to do that while becoming connected to his family's roots.

KING: 2017 was a year where there were some really ugly political realities for Latinos in this country. President Trump⁶ has said disparaging⁷ things about Latinos - about immigrants, in particular. He's threatened to build a wall to keep people out. What do you think it means that there's this overlap⁸ where the culture seems so ascendant, and at the same time, the political reality is really kind of ugly in a lot of ways?

MIRANDA: It's a couple of things. One - it's culture to - responding to the moment. And I also think it's just this reality of demographics. You know, there's more than 50 million Latinos in the United States. We represent the largest ethnic⁹ minority in the United States, so I feel like the culture is there. We are experiencing this ugly political moment, but I feel that the culture's kind of reacting to it and doing what culture also does, which is to show the points of connection that we have.

KING: Carolina Miranda covers arts and culture for The LA Times. Carolina, thank you so much.

MIRANDA: Thank you for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MI GENTE")

J BALVIN: (Singing) Y donde esta mi gente?

WILLY WILLIAM: (Singing) Mais fais bouger la tete.

1 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

2 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 savor   

vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味

参考例句：

• The soup has a savor of onion.这汤有洋葱味。
• His humorous remarks added a savor to our conversation.他幽默的话语给谈话增添了风趣。

5 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网

8 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。