In Los Angeles, communities mix and mingle, collide and compound—and songs hold the DNA of their cultural traditions. Earmarked (so to say) for weddings, birthdays, and holiday celebrations, recycled and remixed for newer generations, a community’s playlists include artists that sing across decades and borders, synthesizing new Angeleno culture in unexpected ways. Stitched together, they form Los Angeles’ jukebox, and mirror its kaleidoscopic culture.

What does a diaspora move to, and what moves a diaspora? Which songs resonate with Belizeans from South L.A., South Indians from Cerritos, Arab Americans from Anaheim? Which Sublime song do zacatecanos in SoCal know all the lyrics to? Is Cher queen supreme in the Armenian communities of Glendale? And is Celine Dion fated to live on and on in every diaspora’s heart? The answers are in the music.