Latin alt-rock showcase

The biggest names in Latin music may come from the well-defined worlds of polished pop, tropical salsa and the accordion-infused rhythms of Mexican regional.

But even though they still have trouble penetrating the radio waves, the edgy sounds of Spanish rock, electronica, hip-hop and ska are filling concert halls from Santa Ana to Santiago.

Organizers of the Latin Alternative Music Conference, which wrapped up in Los Angeles this weekend, say faulty research and reliance on established artists has many record labels and marketing companies overlooking not just a hot trend, but some great music.

“Latinos are many different things. That’s why it’s so hard to talk to us, and to market to us,” says Tomas Cookman, music promoter and co-founder of the conference, known as the LAMC, which is in its fifth year.

“Mexicans are Mexicans. Colombians are Colombian. And yes, there are certain issues that unite us. … Latin alternative has wide appeal.”

The conference has emerged as the top showcase for up-and-coming acts. This year’s conference featured performances by singer Andrea Echeverri of the Grammy-winning Colombian group Aterciopelados, as well as Latin-alt veterans Los Lobos and a long list of newer names.

The conference “is the big event for Latin alternative,” says Leila Cobo, who is Latin America/Miami bureau chief for Billboard magazine. “You’ve certainly seen people who’ve started in those showcases become important acts and that’s a very cool thing.”

Past performers include such heavyweights of the genre as Mexico City innovators Cafe Tacuba and world traveler Manu Chao. Then there’s Julieta Venegas, a petite accordion maestra with a power-chord voice who grew up in Tijuana and Southern California and this year is a multiple Grammy nominee.

This year, Mexico alt-rocker Ely Guerra made a repeat performance, along with Echeverri, at a free concert at the Santa Monica Pier showcasing women of rock en espanol.

Guerra’s first LAMC performance drew media acclaim that has continued to pay off, she said recently during a break from a tour along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Latin rock “is growing and we must continue to go for it, and continue taking advantage of this opportunity that Spanish is a language that today, in the whole world, has an important position,” Guerra said.

The LAMC, however, is not limited to purely Spanish-language artists.

Kemo, a Los Angeles rapper who hit success with his former band Delinquent Habits, mixes Spanish, English and Spanglish slang. Though he’s seen his records sell in the hundreds of thousands, and the band’s songs have been featured in commercials, Kemo says commercial radio remains elusive for Latin alternative music.

“It’s neither here nor there, it’s almost like the marketing geniuses don’t know what to do with it,” he says. “They’re still trying to figure it out how to bottle it up and put it out there.”

Instead, the labels and radio programmers continue to focus on the established and regionally defined genres of pop, salsa, and norteno/banda. Latin-alt artists such as Manu Chao or La Ley, meanwhile, are selling out stadiums across Latin America.

Cobo, of Billboard magazine, says the movement has yet to take commercial hold because only a few acts have come out with the type of catchy, semi-pop singles which allow them to cross over.

“I do think the movement as a whole has yet to find, what would be the word, its breaking point,” she says.

Latin alternative “certainly gets the critical acclaim, and eventually commercial is bound to follow,” she says. “It’s just taken longer than anyone thought.”