The National Recording Registry's best Spanish language songs (and what it's missing)

Alt.Latino

NPR

Music

4.5 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Library of Congress' National Recording Registry is more than just a collection of music and sound — it's a reflection of who we are as a country. In April, two new Spanish language songs were added to the registry: Juan Gabriel's "Amor Eterno" and Héctor Lavoe's "El Cantante."

This week on Alt.Latino, Felix and Ana take the opportunity to dive into the Spanish language songs that have made it into the historic collection, as well as share their dream picks for what should be chosen next.

Songs featured in this episode:

•Héctor Lavoe, "El Cantante"
•Juan Gabriel, "Amor Eterno (En Vivo [En el Palacio de Bellas Artes])"
•Buena Vista Social Club, "Chan Chan"
•Buena Vista Social Club, "Orgullecida"
•Buena Vista Social Club, "El Carretero"
•Santana, "Oye Como Va"
•Lydia Mendoza, "Mal Hombre (Cold-Hearted Man)"
•Dizzy Gillespie feat. Chano Pozo, "Manteca"
•Ivy Queen, "Quiero Bailar"
•Jose Feliciano, "El Reloj"
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Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler, with editorial support from Hazel Cills. Our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from Yarl and Pamela Mohn, thanking the people who make public radio great every day and also those who listen.
0:10.6	What we're going to do today is we're going to kind of have a playlist from the Library of Congress, and it's called the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
0:22.0	And let me explain, okay, let me get a little nerdy about this.
0:25.5	No, because the Library of Congress, like the Smithsonian here in the United States,
0:30.0	they're a collection of our cultural heritage, collectively.
0:34.4	It's the world's largest library.
0:36.5	It's used for research purposes, people from all over the world,
0:39.3	either register online or in the old days used to come here, actually, to Washington, D.C., to their facilities.
0:45.3	And the sound recording registry is a reflection really of who we are as a country,
0:50.3	who we listen to, what we sound like, how we celebrate, how we grieve, and how we just
0:55.6	exist. That's why I think this list is important. It's like an audio version of this
1:00.5	entire country. It's a sound recording archive. So there are speeches, sounds, other bits of
1:05.6	historic audio, and of course, lots of music. And every year, they add more to the registry,
1:11.1	and it's a recognition, like I said, of our collective cultural heritage.
1:14.5	And the 25 that they included this year, include everything from Abba to Notorious BIG,
1:19.8	to jazz musicians Benny Goodman and Lee Morgan.
1:22.2	And this year, they also added two Spanish language tracks.
1:25.2	You're raising your hand.
1:26.1	You and the front on the front desk.
1:27.2	Yes, go ahead.
1:27.6	Me?
1:28.4	Me?
	...

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