Latin music trends in the era of Los Zeros

Latin music trends in the era of Los Zeros

It's getting late in the decade, and we don't even have a proper name for it. There is a strong sense of how we think of pop music history in terms of "the '70s," "the '80s" and even "the '90s," and Latin music has its parallel moments -- think the Fania All-Stars, Julio Iglesias, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Juan Luis Guerra, the Buena Vista Social Club and, finally, Daddy Yankee. It's time we locate contemporary Latin music trends in something called "Los Zeros."

What characterizes the era of Los Zeros? One trend, urban pop, has its roots in the '90s, when rap and dancehall en Español laid the groundwork for reggaeton.

The influence of '70s and '80s styles such as reggae and post-disco R&B crept gradually into Latin music until a new hybrid of polyrhythmic Caribbean beats and slow-jam aesthetics created the urban pop sound.

Now, what once seemed separate genres -- hard-core reggaeton, romantic pop, salsa, merengue, cumbia and bachata are all part of a new fusion.

Artists once pigeonholed as underground rappers are now international pop musicians, and the likes of Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Andy Montanez and Julieta Venegas are all collaborating with urban fusionistas.

The super-twangy guitar and hopping dance that helped bachata burst onto the scene has also been co-opted into a funky teen pop where New York-based crooners turn up the guitar amps and ride the electric wave of a Dominican Invasion.

A new roots movement is also one of Los Zeros' strongest trends. Puerto Rican bomba and plena acts are multiplying rapidly, pioneered by bands such as Yerba Buena, Los Pleneros del 21 and Viento de Agua. Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, a Colombian roots band steeped in the ancient arts of puya, bullarengue, gaita and cumbia, won a Latin Grammy this year and groups such as La Cumbiamba Eneye are the rage of Jackson Heights and beyond.