The Tide Was Always High

" The Tide Was Always High will redefine the way people think and write about the music and history of Los Angeles. Positioning LA as a Latin American city, this collection of essays and original interviews reveals new geographic, visual, and sonic understandings of the link between Los Angeles and the world Latin@s have made."—Gaye Theresa Johnson, author of Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity: Music, Race, and Spatial Entitlement in Los Angeles

"This eye-opening and singularly important collection establishes a new understanding of the importance of the city of Los Angeles in hemispheric and global culture while remapping the history of Latin music to reveal previously understudied currents of collaboration and cross-pollination."—George Lipsitz, author of Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music






In 1980, the celebrated new wave band Blondie headed to Los Angeles to record a new album, and along with it, the cover "The Tide Is High" originally written by Jamaican legend John Holt. With percussion by Peruvian drummer and veteran L.A. session musician "Alex" Acuna and horns and violins that were pure L.A. mariachi by way of Mexico, "The Tide Is High" demonstrates just one example of the ways in which the music of Los Angeles and Latin America have been intertwined since the birth of the city in the 18th century. The Tide Was Always High gathers together essays, interviews, and analysis from leading academics, artists, journalists, and iconic Latin American musicians to explore the vibrant connections between Los Angeles and Latin America. Published in conjunction with the Getty's Pacific Standard Time LA/LA, the book shows how Latin American musicians and music have helped shape the city's culture, from Hollywood film sets to recording studios, from vaudeville theaters to Sunset Strip nightclubs, and from Carmen Miranda to Perez Prado and Juan Garcia Esquivel.