Latin Music Was Proudly Featured At L.A. PRIDE with Diana Reyes' Inspired Performance

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Of all of the languages I decided to study in high school and college, I chose French. Being born and raised in a city with such a large latino community, the logical choice should have been Spanish, right? I supposed I wasn’t too logical back in my younger days. I still kick myself in the keister because of it.

The funny thing is, even though the language is foreign to me, I’m a very big fan of latin music. From the musical styles of salsa to reggaeton, to recording artists like Shakira and Maná, there’s something inherent in the melodies of Latin American music that draws me to it even if I can’t understand a word that’s being sung. When I do translate lyrics and find out what story the lyrics tell, sometimes the music gets elevated to whole other level: Maná’s “En El Muelle De San Blás” is probably on my top 10 lists of saddest songs ever.

L.A. PRIDE dedicated a stage at its music festival to Latin Music, and one of its featured performers was Diana Reyes: a Mexico-based singer whose music has topped charts around the world. Her sound is rooted in duranguense, a musical style that is popular in Mexican-American communities, noted for its fast and heavy rhythms and use of a tuba baseline.

From what I’ve researched, the duranguense musical style is a genre that is typically dominated by male artists. Having Ms. Reye’s as a featured performer at L.A. PRIDE, whether intentional or not, was a very symbolic gesture emphasizing the notion that stereotypes and expectations are meant to be broken. Here’s a woman, performing “male” music at a LGBTQ festival.

Though I could not understand the verbal exchanges she had with the audience, I could tell by the looks on her fans’ faces that she was inspiring and moving them with her performance. Unlike me, fans were singing along, word for word, song for song, and Ms. Reyes was leading the way, bringing together the Latin LGBTQ crowd together with their native tongue.

Follow Diana Reyes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.