Igor Emmanuel Carnauba
Igor Carnauba carries a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at UNIJORGE in Brazil and is a former intern of NURI. He also holds a master’s degree in Ethnic and Minority Policy at ELTE - Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.
By questioning the nationality of reggaeton as a music genre and bringing the background towards its existence, this article aims to understand the way Latinos have been integrating in Europe through a rhythm that conserves most part of its core characteristics.
Introduction
The concept of Europe may be difficult to define due to current debates about its aspects in contemporary discourse. Academic scholars can analyse the continent from many perspectives: geographical, historical, political, economic and/or cultural aspects; all of them taken in consideration when analysing the existing cultural differences in the European context. When developing an analysis of a specific subject within the so-called Old Continent, it is vital to understand how the viewpoints are correlated, allowing a multidisciplinary approach related to a more extensive study of the interplay between the phenomena and European intricacies.
As a cultural movement that has been catching significant attention, reggaeton is the phenomenon that will be further studied in this paper inside the complex European framework. The particularities between this genre of music and Europe are seeked to be explored, enlightened by how reggaeton, born in a different cultural context, has found relevance inside the Old Continent. Bringing a historical perspective of both the rhythm and highlighting its background in Europe will expose how reggaeton serves as a cultural bridge, uniting communities all over the continent and making Latins feel like home while living abroad.
If the concept of ethnic follows the one from the dictionary as “a member of a minority group who retains the customs, language or social views of the group", it is possible to have a clear view of the influence of reggaeton in Europe. This article will analyse how reggaeton, despite some changes to readapt into the reality of globalisation, could keep old characteristics and bring the Latin essence in the continent. That is how the theme is connected to 'ethnic', once the music kept its strongest characteristics, such as language and structure, when it arrived in Europe through the Latin community.
This paper, when bringing into light the question regarding the European nationality of the reggaeton, aims to deepen the role of reggaeton music as a born-international genre of music and how the rhythm arrived and settled in Europe. This approach is necessary in order to further discuss how reggaeton has been supporting the Latin community in Europe to adapt in a new reality abroad and how this music is presented in European culture. As next step, the article aims to detail how reggaeton integrated into European culture, influencing local societal dynamics towards Latinos.
What makes reggaeton an international phenomena, anyway?
Reggaeton is a music style from the Caribbean region that got famous among young people in Latin America during the nineties. It has a hybrid characteristic: its origins come from some beats such as reggae, the dancehall from Jamaica and hip hop. Besides, the singers insert some English words in the lyrics even though the songs are basically written in Spanish. English and Spanish are one of the most spoken languages in the world. Therefore, once language is part of culture, it was easy for reggaeton to spread internationally, including in Europe. After all, English and Spanish are not only one of the most spoken/learned languages in the world, but also native languages of European countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Malta and Gibraltar. Once language is also part of cultural aspects of a place, we can say that Spanish and English are considered as characteristics of Europe.
According to some research, the reggaeton is the first rhythm to be considered as “transnational music” as it is, and that can be told not only due to its rapid spread all over the world, but also because it has no definite place of origin. Due to its core characteristics, it is not possible to affirm from which country reggaeton originally is, as social scientists are in doubt if the rhythm is originally from Panama, Puerto Rico or Jamaica. Its primary mix makes it to be part of the globalisation flux even before being a local phenomenon. It is valid to say that the bilingual and interchangeable music styles that remind the Latin beat may also reinforce its cross-boundary effect, since reggae, techno music and songs in English and Spanish have different demand and background depending on the Caribbean county.
The reggaeton music style can be considered as a phenomenon because it carries some international identity that was not firstly planned. The mix of beats that gave birth to reggaeton provided the rhythm to accumulate different characteristics, and that was how reggaeton ended up getting stronger to be recognized beyond borders. That global merit took place in 2004, when the Puerto Rican Daddy Yankee released “Gasolina". The "boom-ck-boom-chick" got worldwide, alongside with the Latin music industry and cultural identity. The reggaeton then achieved what any other Latin musical forms did not. Nobody could avoid a song as Gasolina: the beat can resemble pop and American rap, the Spanish language from the lyrics is spoken in an entire continent, in the US and Europe. This song became a reggaeton anthem by many people and practically all first songs from the rhythm would be inspired in this one.
The reggaeton presence in a globalised Europe
The reggaeton presence in Europe is not only remembered by the hit “Gasolina”. It has just started at that point. Nowadays, we can notice top reggaeton hits in basically all countries in the European Union. The numbers from the writer Plantinga can prove that Latin imposition abroad.
The article published at Towards Data Science analysed the amount of days that the following songs took to reach top charts in European countries: “Dura - Daddy Yankee”, “X - Nicky Jam”, “Felices los 4 - Maluma” and “Mi Gente - J Balvin”. If you exclude Portugal and Spain from the list, which are the two most reggaeton consumer countries in Europe, it takes nine days on average so the Latin music reaches top hits in places like Sweden, Austria, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Since Europe is a multicultural place in many aspects, and reggaeton is a music style that was not born in its territory, we cannot skip globalisation as an influence on European cultural formation. Griffin sees globalisation as related to cultural aspects in a way the “core”, denomination related to Western-Europe and Anglo-America, imposes influences on “periphery”, the name for the large range of other cultural aspects outside of the core concept. However, when we study about the reggaeton itself, we can check the opposite effect if we consider Central America as away from the “core”. How can Latin music work in the opposite way of the global culture acquisition flow?
By analysing most of the top reggaeton hits in late 2010s, we can notice that they take less than one day after their release to strongly arrive in top lists in Portugal and Spain, which are considered western European countries. Right after songs reach those core areas, it is stronger to penetrate other areas away from the considered central places. Consequently, in this case, the flow would be periphery - core - periphery. Besides, Hudson does not forget about the relation between tourism, music and production of place, in which he argues that local people can sometimes consume culture from what backpackers normally do. That is when local and global themes coexist in world music and reggaeton can find some space in touristic spots in the rest of the European continent.
The analysis of the presence of the reggaeton into the European culture
The music industry is vastly expanding due to globalisation and technology. Reggaeton is a rhythm that travels through the continent not only due to the Spanish western influence but also due to the travel and migration flux. Furthermore, we cannot forget that reggaeton was born to be international, just like Europe is multicultural. The reggaeton beat has origins in hip hop and nowadays it carries out a techno vibe that is more common to European ears than reggae music, for example. People can dance reggaeton in clubs and they can actually sing part of it even without understanding exactly what is being said in the lyrics.
Even though reggaeton music went through some changes related to its beat, videoclip production and lyrics due to its professionalisation, this music has not lost its hybrid first characteristic from the periphery. Therefore, it can be considered as ethnic because of that. Globalisation came along with the technology, which helped a democratisation in world music. The reggaeton then can be heard in European cities like Madrid and Berlin, where lots of Latin migrants constantly arrive. Wherever it is played, it has the potential to unite Latinos by music. All nationalities from the American continent meet in parks and clubs where the Latin hit is played. The reggaeton then has the power to gather the Latin crew and make them strong and part of a community away from their home country. It is also important to mention that reggaeton is able to facilitate the integration of Latinos into European society, as reggaeton gets more common to Europeans and so does the people who consume this music style.
Finally, in terms of countries, after Spain and Portugal, Italy is the one who most adapts reggaeton songs into top charts. After those three nations, we can notice the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden as big reggaeton consumers. The numbers reaffirm that even though reggaeton is mostly heard in countries in which official languages are Latin, people can actually follow the beat instead of the content of the lyrics once Western Europe appreciates culture.
Conclusion
The conclusion of this article is that the reggaeton has the same characteristics as Europe in an academic way: both are marked by multiculturalism and enable a wide array of viewpoints that sometimes can contradict each other. Aside from academia, the similarities between reggaeton and Western Europe can even become more apparent. Latin hits communicate in Spanish and in English (both official languages from European countries), transcending linguistic barriers. The reggaeton was born to have its big influence in Europe, even if that was not the first intention of the first singers, or even if the music style has also adapted their reality related to beat and lyrics to continue on being heard by western Europeans. Once reggaeton had the power to conquer the "core", the considered periphery is also involved by the "boom-ck-boom-chick", uniting listeners across Europe in a shared musical experience.
By keeping its characteristics, Latinos feel like being themselves when they hear reggaeton abroad and they carry the same vibe that is connected to back home. Of course, it is easier and less strange to hear this beat in Spain than in any other country in Europe, since the majority of reggaeton hits are fully in Spanish. However, we can always notice reggaeton songs in top charts in every single country in the continent. The top-chart numbers show that the rhythm will never be completely strange inside European territory, explained by how it reaches the continent first in the West, then in other places.
The Latin ethnic movement in Europe is certainly fortified by the reggaeton presence: it promotes a union sense into this big and diverse community. The reggaetoneros are making their parts in matters of internal recognition of Latin people as part of the atmosphere. Finally, we can conclude that the reggaeton is naturalised European, since it was a rhythm that migrated to Europe as any other person: they adapt a little bit, but they never lose their origins and traditions.
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