Photograph by Diego Knight

Rosarito mayor Araceli Brown Figueredo talks to reporters outside of the Papas & Beer concert venue in Rosarito.

On August 15, some reggaeton music fans and partyrs rejoiced, when the ElImparcial.com news outlet across the border posted a story reading in part: “In Rosarito, a massive event organized by the Papas & Beer beach club is already planned, which will be held on September 5 and will have at least a capacity of 1500 people.”

Reggaeton record producer Z-Boi lives by the beachfront venue which is about 20 miles south of the border fence.

“We can’t have the people come into our city and spread the coronavirus. We are doing so good right now.”

According to a government report, the beachfront city that’s between Tijuana and Ensenada, has significantly lower COVID-19 numbers compared to its neighboring municipalities. Rosarito has had 16 deaths and 239 positive cases attributed to the Coronavirus, as this story goes to print.

The unlikely voice of caution — reggaeton performer and producer, Z-boi.

“Although the health traffic light is still red,” continued the news report, “[government officials] assured us that they already have the approval of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sustainable Economy and Tourism. The officials explained that rapid tests of COVID-19 will be carried out on the attendees.”

“They actually believe they can get rapid testing on 1500 people that’s going to be accurate and make this event safe,” commented Renee on Facebook. “They’ve already suggested that these rapid tests are far from accurate; they take at least 15 minutes, and how in the world do you think you’re going to administer them to 1500 people in a timely fashion to allow entry and exclude negatives with an untrustworthy test sounds like a disaster in the making.”

Manny M. from Chula Vista has attended reggaeton concerts in Rosarito and Tijuana in the past. “Papas & Beer usually holds 5000 people, so with 1500, we’ll be spread apart. And, to be honest, I’ll happily pay the extra $20 and wait in line for hours, so they can test me before entering the club.”

“I think we should wait a bit more,” Z-Boi opined, “I’d love to play our reggaeton music there next year, if we have a vaccine available by then.”

Z-Boi is featured in “Bailalo” and “Lo Lacura,” two regaetton songs he helped produce for Baja Posse.

Reggaeton is the fusion of Spanish rap, hip-hop, Caribbean, and Latin music. It originated in Puerto Rico dance halls in the early 1990s, and spread throughout the island and into the U.S. mainland via bootleg cassettes, many of them featuring rapping by Daddy Yankee, “the king of reggaeton.”

Some Baja musicians say Z-Boi’s trilingual rap tracks from the 1980s, could be precursors to reggaeton. The style is based on the dembow rhythm usually composed of a snare drum, kick drum, palito, timbal, and an occasional high-hat cymbal. Z-Boi said he plays some of these instruments on his new tracks.

Per the ElImparcial.com follow up report, on August 21, “the Mayor of Rosarito, Araceli Brown Figueredo, said that the permits have not yet been granted by the state government nor by the city council for the September 4 and 5 concert.”