cocolo

What it means

1. 1.

   Originally, a black English-speaking migrant from the Lesser Antilles — the sugar-mill workers who settled around San Pedro de Macorís from the late nineteenth century, and their descendants, whose guloya dance troupes are now UNESCO-listed heritage.

2. 2.

   A devoted fan of a music genre, above all salsa: 'cocolo de la salsa'. In this sense it is worn with pride and has no ethnic content at all.

Examples with translations

• Mi abuelo era cocolo, de lo' que vinieron a lo' ingenio'.

  My grandfather was a cocolo, one of the ones who came over to work the sugar mills.

• Ese e' cocolo puro, se sabe toa' la' de Héctor Lavoe.

  He's a die-hard salsa head — he knows every Héctor Lavoe track.

Where it comes from

Of uncertain origin; the most cited proposal is a deformation of Tortola, the island many of the migrants came through. Used disparagingly for most of the twentieth century, it has been substantially reclaimed, but as an ethnic label in the mouth of an outsider it can still land badly. The music sense is unambiguously neutral.

First attested: late 19th century