ABSTRACT
Gerald Wilson’s “Viva Tirado,” originally composed by the Los Angeles bandleader in 1962, unexpectedly turned into a global hit beginning in 1970. It wasn’t Wilson’s original that found new life but rather a transformative remake by El Chicano, who turned their funk-inflected cover into a massive national hit that then drew subsequent interest from artists across Europe, Central and South America, Asia, etc. A generation later and the El Chicano version of “Viva Tirado” became central in the burgeoning Chicano hip-hop movement when it was sampled on Kid Frost’s breakout 1990 hit “La Raza.” And then, 20 years after that, “Viva Tirado” was heard once again, this time with a banda makeover, on Akwid’s bilingual rap track “Esto Es Pa Mis Paisas.” In each iteration, “Viva Tirado” has helped propel a cross-cultural dialogue, oftentimes between African American and Latinx communities, that was created in its original 1962 inception and still holds sway 50 years later. This essay traces this remarkable history and this conversation it seems to continually return to.
