Friend,

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! As we celebrate the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans, I wanted to make sure you know about how you can highlight music by Latino recording artists that has shaped the soundtrack of your life.

I'm currently leading the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in collecting suggestions of songs and albums recorded by Latinos for my annual list of nominations to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

The National Recording Registry preserves recorded sound that has had significant cultural, historical, or aesthetical impact on American life. Latinos make up nearly 20% of the country’s population, but less than five percent of the titles on the registry come from Latino artists. With your help, we can change that.

Last fall, we collected hundreds of suggestions from folks around the country about the music that matters most to them, which we narrowed down to a list of 33 nominations. Two of our nominations, Irene Cara’s “Flashdance…What A Feeling” and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” were selected for induction earlier this year.

This year, we’re hoping to have even more of our nominations inducted – and I want to hear your thoughts on what should be on our list. The deadline to submit suggestions for my nomination list is Monday, September 25, at 10:59 CT, and songs or albums must be at least ten years old to qualify. To send in your suggestions, click here.

I’m looking forward to putting together a genre- and generation-spanning playlist of the Latino artists who have made their mark on America through their work.

Thank you,

Joaquin Castro
Member of Congress