"Go and Make Disciples": Evangelization, Conversion Narratives, and Salvation in Puerto Rican Protestant Evangelical Salsa Music.

Abstract

ABSTRACT

“Go and Make Disciples”: Evangelization, Conversion Narratives, and Salvation in Puerto Rican Protestant Evangelical Salsa Music

by

Luis A. Vazquez

Chair: Matthew J. Countryman

Since the origin and development of salsa music in the 1960s, religious themes have been present in the discography of this music genre. One of the religions to have a major impact on Puerto Rican salsa music culture is Protestant evangelicalism. From the 1970s onward, numerous secular salsa artists have testified converting to this faith tradition. The conversions of these musicians have led to the development of the evangelical salsa movement. As a result, these musicians have created unique ways of merging musical practices with religious faith in their urban evangelical salsa music ministries. Yet, this musical and religious phenomenon has not been given ample scholarly treatment in academic circles. Go and Make Disciples is an analysis of the Puerto Rican Protestant evangelical salsa movement. Through the use of an interdisciplinary methodology, I examine the major themes, artists, and practices of this musical expression. My use of interviews examines the motives behind the conversion of evangelical salsa musicians to Protestant evangelicalism. I use musical analysis to understand the role of record covers, music arrangements, sound, and song texts in the evangelistic mission of evangelical salsa ministries. Supplementing these methods is my use of ethnography to study the act of evangelization as it takes place in live evangelical salsa events. As such, I analyze the role of the sonero (salsa singer) in the evangelization of the music audience. Go and Make Disciples argues that Puerto Rican evangelical salsa music developed as music of evangelization as a result of the marginalization of salsa musicians from the Protestant evangelical community. Rather than abandon their faith, the musicians’ response was the development of a salsa music expression that combined evangelical faith with the 1970s “heavy” salsa tradition. As music of evangelization, evangelical salsa’s primary audience is non-believers judged to be in need of eternal salvation. Evangelical salseros address their perceived need of redemption via songs of salvation and the transformation of salsa music practices into methods of evangelization.