LAWD ITO: (Non-English language spoken).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
So much of music can be inspired by an artist's roots.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAWD ITO SONG, "AGUANILE")
SIMON: Lawd Ito drew on his Puerto Rican heritage to write this song, "Aguanile."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
SIMON: He entered the song in the NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. While the song didn't win, its energy and rhythm stayed with us.
ITO: A lot of my earliest memories of music, they all go back to when I grew up in New York City in the Bronx. My family was definitely very musical. There was always salsa. There was always merengue, all the Latin music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
So the song "Aguanile," the one that everyone kind of, like, knows that is popularized in Latin culture is the one by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
When we hear the word, the term Aguanile, that's where we get it from. Aguanile is actually from, like, Yoruban culture. It essentially means aguan, which is to cleanse, and ile, which is, like, the homes, like the cleansing of the home.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
I wrote my song "Aguanile" a little bit after Hurricane Maria. My take on Aguanile was trying to show a type of spiritual empowerment towards Puerto Rican people going through what they went through in those times of destruction and distress.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
I wanted to kind of tap into both parts of my roots, the African and the Indigenous part of my culture. The African part obviously comes from the musical styles of bomba, which is the Afro Caribbean style of music in Puerto Rico, where the slaves that were brought in during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, they were kind of using bomba to basically communicate with each other during the harsh slavery that they were experiencing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
Growing up, I never felt Puerto Rican enough. So this was kind of a song that I wanted to write where I could not only prove - I mean, I shouldn't have to prove that I'm Puerto Rican enough. It's in my DNA, right? But I think musically, it was a way for me to kind of, you know, have a voice for myself. And then, hopefully, when people listen to this song, they can kind of take a step towards learning more about their culture. Or if they're already kind of, like, a part of it, they can kind of relate to exactly what I'm talking about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish).
SIMON: That's Lawd Ito on his song "Aguanile," one of NPR's Tiny Desk Contest entries.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AGUANILE")
ITO: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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