In February 2020, just before COVID hit, there was a gig at Blue Kahunas featuring local Brazilian band Sambraza. Everyone knew it would be a big night and you needed to get there early to get in at all.
Just after 8pm, when the gig started, the queue was snaking out the door and down Hunter Street.
Two hours later there were people dancing on the floor and on the benches, smiling and drenched in sweat. A packed house moved and shook like everyone was on an island in the Caribbean.
The beat and the movement didn't feel like Newcastle. It didn't feel like Australia.
The Latin American community is thriving in Newcastle. Initiatives like Dance on Newy, Your Spanish School and the Facebook group "Latinos Viviendo in Newcastle" are helping to connect people to the Latin American community, but some Latinos have called Newcastle home for many years.
Joao Mendes is a Brazilian who lives in Newcastle and sings and play guitar in the band Sambraza.
He's lived here for 14 years and he and his partner (also Brazilian) have watched the city change. Before Sambraza, he played cover songs in local pubs, and slowly things evolved. It was Barcito on Beaumont Street where Sambraza came to be.
"Back then it wasn't even Sambraza, some of the guys were playing with me, and the community started coming. That started to turn into samba and Brazilian music," Joao says.
"Two Australians were playing with me at first and then it became more Brazilian. The more they started playing with me, we got to a point where we were like 'We've got to give a name to this'."
Barcito was an Argentinian bar owned by an Argentinian/Australian couple who sold the business before COVID.
Sambaza has now been playing around town for at least five years. The band members change, but most are Brazilians living in Newcastle, with the exception of Gareth the Canadian saxophonist.
As Joao has played across the city, he has watched more and more Australians and Latin people join the community. He knows the music of his mother country well - he's been playing samba since he was a young teenager. He describes it as "upbeat and dancey".
"If you hear samba, you gotta move your body," he says.
In February 2021 there was a lull in COVID cases and Latin Beats came to the Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle. Latin Beats are a Colombian couple who put on several gigs before moving from Newcastle up to Queensland. The Great Northern was packed with people of every skin colour, speaking with every accent.
When you looked around the crowded dance floor, the reggaeton music pulsed through the crowd. Once again, a vibe was happening which was completely different to what one might typically imagine Newcastle to be.
Christian CM is originally from Chile. He arrived in Newcastle more than a decade ago and has worked for a mining company that moved him around the state. He was living in Wollongong in 2017 when a different Newcastle-based company asked him if he wanted to return.
"Lucky for me it was still in the same town because I really like Newcastle," Christian says.
He doesn't consider himself a professional DJ, but he has all the gear and happily uses it if the community wants it. He enjoyed working with Latin Beats and sharing the work load of putting on big parties.
Christian started DJing in 2014 at La Casita, another Latin cafe on Beaumont Street. It was owned by a Mexican man named Rene.
"We had some freaking good parties. We finish at midnight, we just shut the doors and keep partying until 3am as private functions," Christian says.
"People just needed a place to party and drink and listen to Latino music; that's how it started. The guy was like 'Let's do this' and it was so much fun."
Christian has been organising Latin parties in Newcastle for a long time, not to make money, but because it had to be done.
"Christian is the king of Latinos - he's been here forever," jokes Luisa Perez Mujica, who arrived in Newcastle five years ago.
Originally from Mexico City, she moved to Australia 10 years ago, getting her PhD in Albury-Wodonga.
She moved to Newcastle for work and now she never wants to leave.
She's the salsa instructor and director of Dance On Newy, which she founded with her Australian husband Daniel and Brazilian friend Kellen. The school offers dance classes ranging from salsa to bachata to tango, all by instructors based in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.
"Australians in Albury had never listened to salsa. When I moved to Albury there was a rock n roll community," she says.
"I've taught (dance) in Mexico. When I first taught to non-Latinos, a lot of things were more like intuitive knowledge. My Dad would play salsa on my mother's belly when she was pregnant. This is my community, my culture."
She found quite a contrast when she moved to Newcastle, as there's been a salsa community here for many years.
"It's very vibrant. When I came, I just found them. One thing led to another, and we're just teaching again," she says.
"We're finding the Latin dancing community is not the same as the Latino community. You don't find many Latinos in the Latin dancing community that are constant, they come for a couple of times."
Luisa knows multi-generations of Latinos live in Newcastle, but also the community is growing. She mentions the change in immigration rules which has made it easier for people to apply for regional residencies.
She found fewer Latinos at salsa than she expected, but now she hosts Salsa Tuesdays at The Wickham Park Hotel (often with the assistance of Christian.) She wants everyone from Newcastle to get in on the fun.
"What we're trying to do here at the Wicko is to break that boundary. You're not expected to know how to salsa to dance," she says.
Latin American cultures often share the Spanish language, but it's more than that as well. Along with hosting dance nights, Luisa organises Latino gatherings, from Mexican Independence Day to Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
"We share get-togethers that includes food music and dancing. It's not like party hard, get smashed. We get together, we're loud, we interrupt," she says.
"We're family orientated. It's not uncommon for our events to start really early and finish very late and then the celebration is a 12-hour thing."
On November 5 Luisa hosted a Dia De Los Muertos party where everyone was invited, not just Mexicans, not just Latinos, but everyone.
Guests mingled throughout the day and evening at Luisa and Daniel's home in Mayfield. They spoke both English and Spanish. Individuals, families, young and old, ate and drank.
Everyone was welcome to bring something to the "ofrenda" (the offering) for those who have passed on. People typically bring photos, food, drinks and other things to remember the dearly departed.
The idea behind the ofrenda is that both those who have passed on and those who are alive join the party together.
The living present things the dead will enjoy, and trails of marigold flowers (cempazuchitl in Aztec language) direct the dead to the shrine. It is not meant to be day of sadness or mourning, but a day of celebration.
People ate and drank near the ofrenda all day. Later in the evening Luisa brought out the brioche, pan de muerto (bread of the dead) which took her hours to bake.
The tops of the bread are decorated in the shape of an X with a round mound in the centre, the head. They're meant to be like sprawled dead bodies, a traditional Aztec offering. The bread was sweet and lovely, especially served alongside the Mexican hot chocolate.
Sandy Alarcon was there to celebrate with Luisa. Originally from Colombia, Sandy has lived in Newcastle for the past three years with her husband Diego. She met Luisa during COVID and found she was influential in connecting others with the Latino community.
"She is a big leader. She says let's have a meeting, celebrate," Sandy says.
Sandy's friend, Carolina Vera, is also at the gathering, also from Colombia. Like Sandy, she's been here three years. She and her Colombian husband Christian used to live in Mildura, until their sponsorship ended. She's happier here than in Mildura.
"We never had any contact with Latin community. We never could speak Spanish with anyone apart from Christian. When we were looking for a place, we were looking for a community. We wanted to live near the ocean and a community," Carolina says.
She said Luisa's s Latin parties bring people together and help build the culture.
"I want to be part of the change. So I'm happy to support Luisa with whatever she needs," Carolina says.
Later in the evening someone pulled out a karaoke machine and everyone took turns on the mic. Selena's Bidi Bidi Bom Bom got everybody moving.
Luisa sat alongside Maria Jose Sanchez Barajas and Goya Torres (both also from Mexico) and the three explained in more depth the traditions of Dia De Los Muertos (karaoke is not a traditional activity). They spoke of their memories writing and reading Calaverita literaria (or literary Calavera) when they were young. It is irreverent, rhyming epitaphs, written for the living as though they were dead during Dia De Los Muertos.
Luisa's home was full of people from the local Latin community. Cruz Vazquez Borges was there, originally from Cuba. He teaches dance on the Central Coast, 365XDance.
Estela Martinez from Spain is there as well. Estela taught Spanish in the UK before moving to Australia. She's now lived in Newcastle for seven years. She teaches Spanish full time for both adults and children through her business, Your Spanish Classes. She observes more Spanish-speaking people in Newcastle than ever before, and more people wanting to learn Spanish too.
"I feel the Spanish from Spain community is quite smaller than the Latin one. They are not hanging out together a lot. I think Spanish people are coming more often to bigger cities," she says.
She feels the Latin community is big in Newcastle, and it's growing.
"I think the language is one of the biggest things. And, as well, the culture. Latins love music, parties dancing; it's something that you have in your blood," she says.
Of course you cannot paint every single Latin American culture and country (or any country) with the same brush, even when there are similarities. The fact that Brazilians speak Portuguese, for example, influences how Brazilians connect.
"Even though the languages are similar, when they start talking it's completely different," Joao says.
"I'm pretty attached to the Brazilian culture."
Joao notes how the Brazilians play "foot volley" on the beaches here (volleyball with your foot), an activity that started in Brazil. He notes the Facebook group Latinos Viviendo in Newcastle (which Christian is one of the administrators for) as a good place to connect with all Latinos.
There is a common thread of party, dance, food and community when you speak to Latinos about the culture here, but just as important is welcoming and sharing this culture with everyone.
"What I don't want is segregated. Just the Latinos hanging with each other," Luisa says.
"There's a lot of things that we can provide and bring to Newcastle community. My personal goal is that we show our true selves and be like 'This is who we are', and not being ghettoised. It's not like 'Let them have their parties'."
She has dreams of seeing this community get bigger and even more welcoming, and she mentions the many different ways people can experience a range of Latin American culture in Newcastle, from eating kumache (plant-based Venezuelan food) at the markets to just coming to the Wicko on a Tuesday night for a dance.
Christian agrees that the Latino community is getting bigger, and he can see who comes and goes via the Facebook group. It's not just for Latinos though, it's for anyone in Newcastle who speaks Spanish or likes the culture.
"It works in our favour, we promote events there, we've got it there whatever for," he says.
From the parties to the dance floor to the food to the language, there are opportunities like never before to connect and learn about the Latin American culture in Newcastle. People like Jaoa, Christian, Luisa, and many more are changing this city, building community and making it better. Viva la cultura latina!
