13 June 25 - July 1, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | The sound of music For Black Music Month, Miami musicians trace the Black roots of EDM, salsa, and funk. BY ELISABETH CAMPBELL B lack Music Month is an annual celebration in June that honors the contributions and cultural impact of African diasporic mu- sic in the US. From some of the first songs sung on American soil to nearly ev- ery track now playing on streaming services, there is an unbroken vein that ties the Black experience over four centuries to the sounds shaping global culture today. Since the beginning of European coloniza- tion, music has been made to preserve the Af- rican culture in ways language could not. Slave owners made intentional efforts to pre- vent communication by separating speakers of the same language, crippling efforts to cre- ate community out of shared cultural history. “For the slaves, the only way that they could really have any recreational time, or even just pass the time, was music,” says Mi- ami-based vocalist Antonio Aracena. “It was using your body as an instrument. That’s like your foot tapping, your clapping; it’s going to be your syncopated rhythms.” There are several conventional genres (rap, soul, hip-hop, etc.) associated with Black musical traditions. But what happens when you broaden the definition of Black music to include genres derivative of those very first rhythms? Here, New Times and lo- cal Miami musicians look at the origins of some of the most popular genres tied — per- haps surprisingly for some — to the African diasporic sound. It’s nearly impossible to separate the his- tory of funk from bands like Wild Cherry (“Play that funky music, white boy”) or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But James Brown, the so-called “Father of Funk,” began pioneering this genre during the mid-1960s. Funk empha- sizes rhythm over melody with complex, interlocking, syncopated basslines inspired by the early days of the transatlantic slave trade. It combines elements of jazz, blues, and their love child, 1940s-50s R&B, with the new-wave technology of electric instruments (think: the bass guitar) to create these short, sharp rhythms that focus on the space between notes rather than the notes themselves. “In any good R&B singer, you can either hear the Pentecostal Church or the imitation of the Pentecostal Church, literally the basis of almost all hip-hop samples,” says Aracena. “When you evolve from R&B to funk, you just blend all the super soulful gospel and make it more accessible to a wider range of audiences. That’s what helped a lot of Black musicians be commercialized in a way that touched white audiences.” In the 1960s, white bands inspired by this new musical form began to emerge. The Righteous Brothers were the first band to be described as “blue-eyed soul,” a term report- edly coined by Philadelphia radio DJ Georgie Woods. From there, you get the AWB (or Av- erage White Band) that originated in Scot- land in 1974. Eventually, these genres, like most genres do, separate and get their own labels. As is the case with soul and funk, music from different eras join to create something new altogether. Disco originated in the late 1960s as a vi- brant dance music genre, particularly in Afri- can-American, Latino, Italian-American, and LGBTQ+ communities in cities like New York. The term disco, derived from the French “discothèque,” refers specifically to designated “dance clubs” that played re- corded music as opposed to featuring live bands. This concept of a dedicated dance venue became central to disco culture, and from that centrality arose the genre of EDM. “You can hear a lot of the Motown, funk, and R&B samples in EDM Music, the same sounds that rap and hip-hop also sample,” ex- plains Aracena. “They both came about at the same time, relatively speaking, but have two different histories completely.” EDM, in parallel to funk, began with the invention of electronic instruments, particularly within the percussion family. Once again, we return to that emphasis on syncopated rhythms, this time utilized for their danceability. Now, EDM has branched into several genres, including house, techno, and dance-pop. When brought up today, it’s impossible to escape names like Daft Punk, Avicii, and Calvin Harris — all white EDM artists. And the beat goes on, à la the 1970s R&B group, the Whispers. As with EDM, the story begins in New York. Salsa music began in the Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican traditions, but didn’t become popular until Johnny Pacheco co-founded Fania Records, the label that popularized salsa worldwide. Pacheco, a Dominican mu- sician, arranger, composer, and bandleader, brought together the top Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians in New York, and under the umbrella of “salsa,” they encompassed this syncopated, rhythm-heavy genre. “Salsa blended a lot of the Caribbean rhythms that we already know and love with call-and-response and American jazz,” says Aracena. Additionally, while salsa was emerg- ing in New York, many Cuban musicians would play alongside Black jazz musicians and be influenced by their style. Salsa’s core rhythm, the clave, and its per- cussive instruments (congas, bongos, tim- bales, etc.) come from African drumming traditions. Salsa was further adopted during the Black Power Movement of the 1960s-70s, when it became a tool for cultural expression and political activism. These polyrhythms and danceable melodies were the direct re- sult of Afro-Cuban culture, born from Carib- bean roots and shaped by Black resilience. As Black music continues to evolve, new genres are being created across the Americas. One example is the Afrofusion genre (or, as local Miami musician Martin Carodine de- scribes it, “Black fusion”), which creates a cross-cultural, genre-bending sound. Martin is part of a Miami-based band called Black Nimbus with his brother, Mack Carodine, and their friend, Mar Sanchez. “If you think about the origins of American music, and the music that’s really popular and heavy in our hearts today — especially as Black people — it all comes from Negro spirituals and slave songs, which then developed into jazz,” Martin tells New Times. “From there, you get R&B, hip hop, soul, everything kind of stems out. What we want to do is grab all those pieces and then fuse them back into something that includes all the Black musical art forms.” Rhythm, in its own way, is one of the most natural musical extensions of the human ex- perience. For Sanchez, the formation of a beat is almost “primitive.” “I think it’s really beautiful to see all the ways that the music of the diaspora is inter- preted in different parts of the world,” says Sanchez. “If we talk about like a tumbao bass line, or like a samba bass line, it’s really cool to see the way that it’s interpreted.” Black music has been a profound influence on global music culture, fostering change with its rich history and innovative sounds. At its core, however, it all ties back to the rhythm. “The groove is what makes you move,” shares Mack. There isn’t much more to say. [email protected] ▼ Music From left to right: Martin Carodine, Mar Sanchez, and Mack Carodine. Photo by Elisabeth Campbell “I THINK IT’S REALLY BEAUTIFUL TO SEE ALL THE WAYS THAT THE MUSIC OF THE DIASPORA IS INTERPRETED IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD.”
