I'm extremely proud of being Latin; it's a big part of my life. It's not something I outwardly promote, just like I don't outwardly promote that I have green eyes and blonde hair. It's a part of who I am. I love the richness of the culture I grew up within.
Latin music is universal.
Growing up in Caracas, Venezuela, the ubiquitous music is salsa, cumbia, merengue, a little bit of samba.
Being a hotbed of international travel, of course Panama's music is as diverse as its population. Throughout the '60s and '70s, it wasn't uncommon to hear intricate mixtures of calypso, jazz and cumbia throughout the isthmus.
What really swings is the music of the United States, Cuba, the Caribbean and vicinity, and, of course, Brazil. The rest is all waltzes.
To all the musicians, to the Academy, with all due respect, reggaeton is part of our Latin culture. And its representing as much as any other genre at the worldwide level.
Mexican music runs through my veins. I loved it. Growing up, my father didn't allow us to listen to English music at home. That's all I heard. I had no choice.
I did Bronislaw Kaper's tune. He wrote "On Green Dolphin Street." I mean, I did all those ballads, all them ballads from South America. All those tunes - the guitar concerto on Sketches Of Spain. All those are Spanish melodies. Some of them we made up ourselves.
In Latin America, people want you to write beautiful melodies and words. But there are also songs that do well because they show the reality of life.
Everyone my age probably grew up listening to the 'perreos' of Plan B.
The tango is really a combination of many cultures, though it eventually became the national music of Argentina.
I really liked the Mariachi singing in Westerns.
Some people's parents listened to the Beatles... but my family is Alquimia, Celia Cruz, and Carlos Vives - this old, rich Colombian music. I loved hearing that while I was growing up.
For me, I love Marc Anthony a lot. He's one of my dad's favorite artists, and I listened to him a lot growing up.
I've always wanted to work with Mana. I've been a fan of them since I started singing reggaeton in 1992.
With 'Timbiriche', I toured Brazil and a lot of Latin America.
Juanes is one of the legendary, iconic Colombian artists. Growing up in Colombia, you can't really not have him on your radar. His songs are everywhere, and there's a statue of him. He's pretty big for Latin America, and for Colombia especially.
Colombia changed the way I write and sing.
Reggaeton is something else - it is part of pop culture. It is something very big that I don't believe will ever die.
I spent my last year of high school in Latin America, and there's a edge of salsa under all of my rhythms.
I know all the Latin-American rhythms quite well, but I don't play them exactly like they do in their own country - I add my personal touch.
I'm a sucker for any band named after a work of literature. Los de Abajo take their name from Mariano Azuela's famous novel 'The Underdogs,' and that says a lot about who they are and the music they make.
I started in a band called 'Timbiriche', we toured the world when I was 8; I have 23 albums.
Cumbia is a beautiful rhythm. It's a music that has indigenous, African and European components. It's played in all of America - from Argentina to the U.S. It has mutated and been nurtured by everyone who comes across it.
I grew up listening to popular music. My father was a Peruvian folk singer. He played the guitar at home. He sang songs with a waltzing rhythm, yet you can still hear the Spanish influences. I accompanied him to his performances.
