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PHOTOS: Traveling exhibit looks at Latinos' influence in American pop music
Influenced by their conjunto musician grandfather, Selena and Chicana punks of the 1970s and 1980s, Nina and Phannie Diaz and Jenn Alva represent the millennial voice of Tejanas and Chicanas. Their San-Antonio based band is called "Girl in a Coma."
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Michael Rubenstein/Blackheart Records Group
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Salsa legend Celia Cruz along with pop stars Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan at the first broadcast of the Latin Grammys in 2000.
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Courtesy of Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Entertainment
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Born in 1916, bandleader Dámaso Pérez Prado moved from his native Cuba to Mexico City in 1948. He toured the U.S with his dramatic big band and popularized the mambo internationally.
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Courtesy of Horwinski Printing Co.
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Miami, Florida - home of the Conga line - has been significantly influenced by major waves of Cuban migration.
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Courtesy of Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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Selena Quintanilla was Tejano music's biggest star. Her recordings sold well in Mexico as well as the U.S. In 1995, she was murdered just before the release of her first album in her native language - English.
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Courtesy of Arlene Richie/Media Sources
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Los Lobos is one of the most commercially successful Mexican American bands to blend Mexican R&B, Tex-Mex and punk.
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Drew Reynolds
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A new exhibit that debuted this weekend at California State University Los Angeles invites visitors to crank up a juke box and dance to some of their favorite music inspired by Latino artists.
Michelle Habell-Pallan curated "American Sabor" — a free traveling exhibition by the Smithsonian Museum.
"Everybody knows the story of rock n' roll - country and western got together with the blues and had a baby and named it rock n' roll," she said. "But there's another piece to that story. And it was the instruments and the rhythms brought to that party by Latino communities — and that mix is the sound of rock n' roll."
Take for instance the song "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians. Habell-Pallan says the 1966 riff is inspired by Tejano music.
96 Tears by ? and The Mysterians
Or think about the Doors and their song "Break on Through."
"That's actually kind of built on a mambo rhythm," Habell-Pallan said. "And Ray Manzarek's parents were mambo freaks, so he heard mambo growing up through his life and transferred that rhythm into The Doors."
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Break On Through (To The Other Side) by the Doors
The exhibit looks at music from the 1940s to today and is separated into five sections, broken down by geography — including New York and, of course, Los Angeles.
Visitors can also view concert posters, and short films of artists."American Sabor" is at Cal State Los Angeles through February.
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