8'x12', 3-flat screen LCDs
Digitized VHS on 3 channel DVD, 30 Minutes
Caramelo explores the music compositions and legacy of Perez Prado. He was the first Latin American musical artist to " cross over" globally with his musical innovation, " The Mambo". This style of music began in the late 1940's in Latin American and exploded in the 1950's to 1960's worldwide. Prado continued to explore and expand the vision of Mambo by experimenting with Dengue Mambo( Urban Sounds) and Mambo Rock(Psychedelic/Hard Rock). Prado also had a trademark yell, "Dilo" and " Caramelo" which functioned as a "cue" for his orchestra to end, begin, pause and change tempos within the performed song. The " Caramelo" video examines the relationship of Perez Prado's live "Cut and Paste" sound techniques as a form of visual " scratching". The video footage of Prado is sampled from a signature yell, "Caramelo" and then is sped up 400 percent and fragmented into 3 ?2 second loops. The sample is from the song "Amelia and Tijuana" of the 1963 Mexican film, El Dengue Del Amor.
This work is part of the permanent collection of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art