Hispanic Heritage Month 2025: The Importance of Music in Expressing Hispanic Heritage
- Michael Lazarus
- Oct 14
- 7 min read
Guest Editorial by Michael Lazarus, President of Ocho Music Group, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month 2025
During my process of designing and producing a release for my production library, I sometimes wonder about the biological foundations of musicality. Are there any cultures without music? Maybe, but they certainly won’t be human. All cultures have their own musical heritage, as music functions as a collective memory, preserving cultural identity through shared traditions, stories, and values.
Ultimately, it is a connective and recognizable force between generations that keeps a common distinctiveness, a legacy. There are many genres of music I listen to that tie me to where I’m from.
Since music is so inherent, so fundamental to cultural identity, then without a doubt it is especially important when expressing the intangible heritage of a group, be it through festive events, performances, oral traditions and customs. In this context, is music more important to countries and societies in the Caribbean, Central and South America as compared to other places? Based on my experiences in the world of musical performance (gigs and concerts), recording, mixing, mastering and producing music –and comparing them from living here in the US and my native island of Puerto Rico– I’d place a good bet on “yes.”
Let’s remain on general ground, mainly to make it easier to later recognize the specific reasons why this may be so, as there are so many cultural similarities between US popular culture and Latin American culture (to use an example). Let us also compare the two from a musical perspective, because once we briefly point out the similarities, and move those aside, then we’ll see what stays. After all, this article will be mostly consumed by composers and producers – the folks who make production music – and those who apply it: music directors, music supervisors, music editors, those who work in clearance or legal, and audio post production.
With such a specialized readership in mind, I’ll engage a “lighting round” of bullet points to start making the case, in no particular order:
In Latin America, music and dance play a role in representing diversity and both regional and national identities. We don’t need to get into the pairing of each country with its indigenous genres (Bomba & Plena for Puerto Rico, Corridos for Mexico, Tango for Argentina, etc.) because the same can be said for the US. The club music of New York is different from that of Detroit, New Orleans music is different from that of Kansas City, the country sound of Texas is different compared to California.
In Latin America, music continues to play a key role in political activism and social movements. The same can be said in the US. I just saw the 40th Anniversary show of Farm Aid, and there was no lack of anti-establishment and political protest songs performed.
In Latin America, music is important in ceremonies and coming-of-age traditions. The same can be said in the US. Both cultures involve an important level of musical involvement in places of worship. Latin Americans celebrate the famous “Quinceanera's” for their daughters when they turn 15 and begin to assume more adult responsibilities, what the US calls a “Sweet Sixteen” party.
Getting my drift? The importance of music and its role in expressing heritage, its importance to the inner workings of society, transcends regions and language.
But hang on a minute, we’ve hit on a very important word here – language – and this dangerously sets us on the edge of familiar territory again, so if the US speaks mostly English, and Latin America mostly Spanish, then the music essentially reflects differences that are totally obvious, and we can get into another boring comparison of popular Latin artists versus US artists and their impact of the streaming platforms and YouTube.
We don’t need to go there. But there are over 68 million Spanish speaking folks in the US that make up almost 20% of the population and it’s set to increase to 25% in the next decades. So what? Spanish speaking folks are the fastest growing ethnic segment of the US. So what? Latin music super fans spend +30% more on music-related activities than other music super fans in the U.S. So what?
What is the real importance of music in expressing Hispanic Heritage? How does this relate to a composer creating a work of underscore, or exporting an instrumental alternate mix, or breaking out stems for their new release on APM? How is this important when I’m pitching my playlists for a music supervisor or editor?
In the context of music as a NONVERBAL means of communication, taking the specific case of instrumental music, the importance of Latin music and its role in engaging the heritage of each country / region is its approach to expression and the musical archetype it uses to make the audience move and feel. Latin music emotes in a very different way while using the very same instruments employed in American popular music. Yes, the same instruments used by, say, Earth, Wind, and Fire. There are Latin genres that employ creole and indigenous instruments, just like there are American folkloric music styles, but the musical fundamentals and concepts of Latin music are shared, regardless of the instrumentation and region. In my view, it is because of this that Latin music is way more accessible. It’s not like flipping channels late at night and stumbling on music from India or China. There’s something there that’s more relatable, and way closer to home.
Let’s use another example again of what it is NOT by presenting these questions:
If I make an Atlanta influenced hip-hop beat, or an EDM beat, and I put Norwegian lyrics over it, is it Norwegian music?
If I put Spanish music over the same beat, is it Latin music now?
What happens when you export the instrumental, is the track “Latin?” Is it regionally marked?
Musically speaking, no. Will non-Latin folks be transported into a Latin vibe that supports the visuals? Nope. Is it marked emotionally in such a way that Latin Americans will resonate with the scene. Probably not.
A quick tangent is in order to offer some perspective. In an interview I saw with Jackie Chan, he questioned why American movies are so obsessed with car chases. At that moment it did occur to me that, well, I had seen an inordinate amount of car chases on screen. Another moment like that happens every third week of January in Anaheim, at the NAMM Show, where the American obsession with the electric guitar is inescapable. You are probably thinking that a great way to score an intense car chase is with your newly minted PRS / Ibanez / Fender / Gibson guitar with a Marshall stack modeler to get some power and grit against heavy up-tempo drums. Join the club. Another familiar tack, In Becoming Led Zeppelin, halfway through the documentary, bassist John Paul Jones talks about his affinity and affection for Bonham’s right foot. Why would he say this? Mostly because in American popular music, the bass and kick drum tend to play in the same places within the beat, where the bass adds pitch to each kick drum hit. The kick and bass are “locked” and “tight.”
In my view, this is opposite to the core expression of Latin music. If you were to transcribe all the different rhythms from each Latin country, and adapt them to a drumset performance, you will find that all the beats kind of “limp,” as they are half of a polyrhythm completed by the bass, or another low drum. Only then will your mind hear the “complete” rhythm in a more downbeat-oriented fashion. You will hear that the kick plays in counterpoint to the bass line, for example, popping out where the bass isn’t playing, like two people having a conversation, and no one is speaking when the other speaks. And the beats will arise in patterns of two, four or eight bars, much more sophisticated than the repeating one bar patterns commonly used in (night) club, techno and house music. These tendencies come from the very roots of Latin music, inextricably intertwined with the rhythmic traditions of Africa. In “western” music there is a tendency to play the melody in the higher frequencies and a repeating ostinato pattern in the lower frequencies (bass).
This is inverted for African music, where the lower frequency drums play the melody, while the high-pitched drums subdivide and play repeated metronomic patterns to keep time.
That said, there are other paradigms within Latin music where the African component is not the dominant part, for example with Regional Mexican music. In Mexico – the most populous Spanish speaking country by a factor of 2.5X compared to the next most populous (Colombia) – the Eastern European musical influence, and strong use of accordion and heavy brass, is due to the 19th century immigration of German, Czech and Polish people to northern Mexico and Texas.
Music is important when expressing the heritage of Latin America because of the particular routes it uses to make you feel. In Latin music, many African rhythmic traditions are applied to Western instruments to manipulate pitch and time in a particular way and convey something about life that cannot be wholly expressed by verbal communication. I sincerely hope this article changes what to listen to, and how to dig Latin music, especially while watching your favorite TV show.
About Michael Lazarus
Michael Lazarus is the President & CoFounder of OCHO MUSIC GROUP, Michael Lazarus is a 2X Latin Grammy® Award Winning Mix & Mastering Engineer, Bassist and Producer based in Northern California. He is currently producing a seminal work in the evolution of the electric 5-string bass – Bajistas de 100% IMPACTO – with Cuban duo Zona Franka (each track features a guest bassist). Impacto is an energetic, pan-american music genre inspired and based on the rhythmic traditions of Caribbean (mostly Cuban & Puertorican), and South American music (mostly Venezuelan & Colombian) delivered with an organic, large ensemble, North American R&B style instrumentation. The record will be available on APM in early 2026.
About Ocho Music Group
Ocho Music Group LLC brings you a boutique, premier Latin Music catalog crafted by real artists using live instruments. Our collection provides authentic source music and geographically inspired underscores, delivering the true essence of each location. Featuring award-winning musicians and specialists from the U.S., Caribbean, Central, and South America, each regionally marked track is meticulously designed for authenticity. Whether you need vibrant rhythms, deep cultural textures, or cinematic Latin scores, our catalog offers the perfect sound to elevate your project. Listen to their library here.