Throughout history, a wide variety of immigrant groups have emigrated to the area of Washington Heights. Each group brought with them a style of music native to their home country. These traditional sounds connected immigrants of the same nationality, while also excluding the other groups and creating closely-knit ethnic enclaves. The music of first generation immigrants to the Heights included the Irish folk music of the early 1900s, the Eastern European Klezmer music between 1930-1950, and later the salsa music of Puerto Ricans and Cubans who were all coming to New York in the mid 1900s.
Modern artists are blending these strong cultural identities. Click on an artist below to see how their music is changing old cultural perceptions in Washington Heights.
Photo courtesy of jessiemae.com
Photo courtesy of the-juke.com
