New York (AP) – The remake of the “West Side Story” by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg has recently started in German cinemas. The love story between Tony and Maria – members of rival youth gangs – is legendary.
Also because it sheds light on the conflict between Americans and Latin American immigrants. On the occasion of the film, Arte has added the French documentary “Nueva York – The New York of the Latinos” to its program. You can see it on Friday at 9:50 p.m.
The immigrants were considered second class people, living side by side with the Black Community in the Bronx and Harlem neighborhoods. Dance and music are opportunities to fall back on your own traditions and still integrate yourself into your new home. The Latinos, who mainly come from Puerto Rico and Cuba, do not want to give up their own culture entirely. On the contrary, they manage to establish their music and dance in US pop culture.
Salsa is born, a spirited mixture of different musical styles. Salsa bands like the Fania All-Stars with Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Ray Barretto and Willie Colón had their heyday. Salsa music triggered a musical revolution, salsa bands created an independent counterculture to rock ‘n’ roll of the white working class and the soul of African American people.
The composer Leonard Bernstein processed the history of the Hispanics in 1957 in his Broadway musical “West Side Story”, the first and so far only film adaptation of which from 1961 was awarded ten Oscars. To this day, the musical shapes the image that many people have of Latin American culture in the USA.
The director Sergio G. Mondelo allows musicians and journalists to have their say in his documentary from 2020 and shows archival material that has hardly been known until now. “Nueva York – The New York of the Latinos” shows how music developed in the diaspora, what social power it developed and how it became part of contemporary pop culture – including stars like Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.
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