Chente Ydrach teaches me about Puerto Rico
On February 19, 2019, my first day as a professional interpreter, I arrived at the prison nervous but eager. The walk through the metal detectors, mechanical iron doors and stone-faced armed guards had me feeling on edge, but the lawyer I was with was a veteran public defender and his familiarity with the place gave me some peace of mind. When we sat down with our first client of the day, the initial questions that I had to interpret were simple and familiar: What's your name? How old are you? Where were you born? But soon the conversation turned more complex and legalistic: Do you want to take this county offer or 701 the case to your back judge? As I struggled through the conversation, I made a mental note to study more legal terminology. In addition to the English legalese, the Spanish felt unfamiliar as well. All of the clients that I saw that day were from Puerto Rico and I quickly realized how little exposure I had to that accent despite Puerto Ricans being the largest Spanish-speaking population in Philadelphia. There were words and expressions that I had never heard before, and I had to ask over and over for people to repeat themselves when I didn't understand their pronunciation. I left the jail feeling like dumb and embarrassed, wondering if I was in over my head.
I considered quitting but something inside me told me that if I studied and practiced, I could be really good at this. I committed to teaching myself criminal procedure and legal vocabulary and to familiarizing myself with the different accents that I would be hearing. As I mentioned, most of the Spanish-speakers in Philadelphia are from Puerto Rico and that is reflected in the clientele of the public defenders office as well. Puerto Rican Spanish is full of words and phrases that are not used in other dialects and a website called the Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, basically a dictionary of terms that are unique to Puerto Rican Spanish, defined in standard Spanish, became an indispensable resource. But I also wanted to practice listening to the accent: the sounds of the letters, the speed and rhythm of the sentences. A quick internet search brought me to the YouTube channel of a comedian and interviewer named Chente Ydrach.
Ydrach's channel is a fascinating kaleidoscope of Puerto Rican youth culture. He mostly interviews musical artists from what is often called el género urbano (the urban genre) or simply, el género, which loosely refers to reggaeton, hip-hop, rap, trap and other related sounds. But scrolling through the hundreds of interviews that he's done over the last 10 years, you'll see musicians of all styles as well as actors, writers, TV and radio personalities, social media influencers, porn stars, strippers, entrepreneurs and fellow comedians, the majority of them from Puerto Rico. Sometimes he just sits down with his friends or girlfriend to joke and talk about new music and current events on the island. Chente is well-regarded enough within Puerto Rican music to have landed interviews with big names like Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin but his conversations with newer and lesser known artists feel just as important to him. He clearly has a sincere love and appreciation for music as well as natural talent as an interviewer and entertainer. His style is funny, reflecting his background as a comedian, but he treats his guests and the subjects that they talk about with genuine curiosity and respect.
Taken all together, Ydrach's interviews illustrate the extent and depth of creative energy in Puerto Rico. For an island of some 3.2 million people, the amount of art and music that is produced there is astounding. The same can be said for the Caribbean generally, and the massive influence that it’s had on popular music around the world. The numerous Puerto Rican recording artists that achieve international success, often crossing language barriers, grow from the fertile soil of a place where music is an essential and omnipresent part of the culture. Chente Ydrach showcases and celebrates the wealth of talent and creativity that the island generates.
Before I began working at the public defenders office, I knew probably only slightly more than the average white American about Puerto Rican history and culture. I knew that Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony that had become a US colony, and I had a general sense that the current colonial relationship was racist and exploitative. Over the last several years, I have learned much more about the US's immoral and violent control of the island, as well as the inspiring resistance to it, both on and off the island. For anyone looking to learn more about the political relationship between the US and Puerto Rico, I recommend War Against All Puerto Ricans by Denis Nelson, Harvest of Empire by Juan González and How to Hide and Empire by Daniel Immerwahr. But if you are interested in Puerto Rico's current creative landscape, let Chente Ydrach teach you something.
(Below is a clip from Chente’s interview with author Pablito Wilson. The subtitles are mine.)
