Feliciano José

José Feliciano grew up during a period of major social and cultural change in Puerto Rico and the United States. After the Second World War, large numbers of Puerto Ricans migrated to New York City in search of work and greater economic opportunity. Feliciano’s family became part of this migration when they moved from Puerto Rico to New York while he was still a child.<br><br>During the 1950s and 1960s American popular music was being transformed by rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz and the folk revival. New York, and especially Greenwich Village, became an important meeting place for musicians from different cultural traditions. Feliciano developed his style within this environment, combining the Puerto Rican and Latin music of his childhood with the blues, jazz, folk and rock that surrounded him in the United States.<br><br>The 1960s were also marked by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and intense debates about American identity. Against this background, Feliciano’s unconventional performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1968 World Series became more than a musical event: it challenged traditional expectations about how a national symbol could be interpreted. At a time when Latin musicians had limited visibility in mainstream English-language popular culture, his international success also helped broaden the place of Latino artists in the American music industry.