A Cultural Rebirth
Bobby describes a sense of loss when discussing his memories of the South Bronx. He explains that during his upbringing in the South Bronx, everyone was familiar with famous Latin musicians, - “The black community, the white community, the Latino community. Everybody. Heads of state, every reporter in New York City, every writer in the New York Times.” However, Bobby states, today “A Puerto Rican kid in the South Bronx, who’s 16 years old is going to you, Tito who? That’s the sad thing.” Bobby explains that this leads to a lack of self-worth among younger generations because they are no longer exposed to the cultural legacies once prevalent in the South Bronx. In “Geographies of Displacement: Latina/os, Oral History, and the Politics of Gentrification in San Francisco’s Mission District,” Nancy Raquel Mirabal explains the methods through which this sense of loss is manifested, stating, “For the collective memory of a space to be reconstituted, there needs to be a mutual forgetting of what came before the constructions of new buildings, restaurants, and businesses” (17). However, communal efforts throughout the South Bronx are working to sustain the cultural heritage of the South Bronx.
Bobby Sanabria is currently the co-Artistic Director at the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC). For Bobby, the BMHC is about “regaining that sense of loss and shedding light on this great history that kept us together in the neighborhoods..there’s a majestic history here and they [the youth] should be proud, they should know about it.” Bobby explains that the guiding principle at the BMHC is, “Give the people what they want but give them something that they need. You wanna see hip hop here? Okay. We’ll give you some hip hop but we’re gonna have a panel discussion on it. So you can learn it. Wanna salsa? Great. But we’re gonna show you a documentary about salsa.” The center provides a place where the cultural heritage of the community is celebrated and passed down to younger generations to provide a source of inspiration, empowerment and an intergenerational identity for the next cohort of innovators and creatives flourishing in the South Bronx. Furthermore, the BMHC works to restore a sense of community centered on music, which the South Bronx once experienced through the neighborhood concerts of Sanabria’s childhood. The BMHC holds street fairs, “live music performances, readings, film screenings, educational art programs, art installations and music history trolley tours of the neighborhood.” The organization is part of a larger, collaborative effort meant to empower the voice of residents and the stories embedded in the community. This can be seen through the programs that the BMHC hosts “in partnership with many Bronx and city-wide organizations, including El Maestro Cultural Center, Casita Maria, Bronx River Arts Center, BX Arts Factory, 5 Boro Storytelling, City Lore, Garifuna Coalition, 52 People for Progress, Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, Bronx Documentary Center, and Los Pleneros de la 21” (BMHC).