There s a big immigrant community that you have to break into different categories. San Jose skews more toward regional Mexican bands like Banda el Recodo, Los Tucanes, Los Rieleros. San Francisco is more into Central American music more salsa and cumbia. And I think more people throughout the area are starting to turn to Mexican rock groups like Man . They might not understand the words, but they re starting to get into it.
Latin explosion is a misnomer.
Livin La Vida Loca that just happened to bring it to the forefront. Without a doubt, Ricky s talented, but he s not the definition of Latin music. He was never a force in Spanish language music. Before him, there were people like Carlos Santana and Gloria Estefan, but they never achieved superstardom singing in Spanish like today s big Latin stars. Singers like Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias and Luis Miguel are superstars in English and Spanish.