Some history here: Enslaved Africans were brought hundreds of years ago to Veracruz, Mexico. 'It was a beat, it was a sound, that landed on the shores of Veracruz.' He did lots of research for the film, and thinks it's a reference to something he calls 'umbamba,' from Africa.

While the song is familiar to most Americans today, Valdez says the meaning of its title remains a mystery. 'If there is one song that represents the Americas, it is this one song,' says Luis Valdez, the director of La Bamba. In 1987, his life and death became the subject of a film, also called La Bamba, which featured a new version of the song by Los Lobos. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson, in a plane crash in Iowa on Feb. Valens was just 17 years old when he died, along with Buddy Holly and J.P. It was the most enduring hit in a short career. As the story goes, 1950s rock star Ritchie Valens - that 17-year-old kid from the the San Fernando valley - probably grew up hearing the Andres Huesca version of the old Mexican folk song, which was popularized during the golden age of Mexican cinema around the 1940s.His own recording, released in 1958, was actually a B-side - but it became a surprise hit, climbing to No. African-Americans, immigrants, Hispanics, brave people - dancing and laughing at them.'Īs right as 'La Bamba' is for these times, it's got a long history. Here was a group of white supremacists, spouting hate - and on the other side, 'we had a thousand people show up.

'Think about that,' Irwin says, recalling the moment. These people don't deserve our anger, they deserve our ridicule.' Pointing out a bobbing head in the news footage, he added, 'Even one of the Nazis can't help but dance along.' And he doesn't get punched - someone just starts playing 'La Bamba.' That is the greatest protest ever. 'A white supremacist gets up to give a speech. Here's how Trevor Noah, on that Monday's episode of The Daily Show, described what happened next:

'And he starts talking about rounding up 'all you degenerate whores.' 'Īnd so, Irwin says, he decided to try something - a particular song, cranked over the speakers. And Angry Santa is a KKK guy, unabashed,' he explains.

Irwin is a lawyer in Knoxville who refers to himself as a 'tree-hugging, sixth-generation East Tennessean.' He's been to a lot of protests in his time, and says he recognized some of the people on the other side that day. 'I'm afraid we may have damaged their hearing.' 'It was loud,' says Chris Irwin, one of the organizers.

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