Nueva ola

The nueva ola (Spanish for "new wave") was a cultural phenomenon that took place in several Hispanic American countries between the late 1950s and the mid-to-late 1960s, linked to the spread of new musical styles aimed at young people—such as pop, rock and roll and the twist—which "constituted the fundamental channels for the transformation of consumption, leisure, and youth fashions" of the time. It was a regional manifestation of a phenomenon occurring in much of the Western world: the emergence of a new market segment made up of young people with their own habits and shared codes that set them apart from their parents' generation. In countries such as Argentina, young people were introduced to rock and roll music through films like Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Rock Around the Clock (1956)—both featuring music by Bill Haley & His Comets—and quickly adopted it as one of the traits identifying them as an independent social group, along with the use of blue jeans (locally "vaqueros"). The nueva ola was not a homogeneous musical style but encompassed a wide range of genres, including rock and roll, pop, surf rock, romantic ballads and even Latin American music such as bolero and cumbia, constituting a musical scene in which artists, record buyers, record labels, and mass media interacted.