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Whether Hispanic sounds will ever compete on the charts with pop is questionable. "I don't see Latin music ever being mainstream," says Frank Flores, general manager of the Latino station WJIT in New York City. "Our influence will seep into the mainstream, but it's still going to be Spanish music." Some Latin musicians are worried that every step toward Anglo society is a step away from their culture's roots; one player's progressivism is another's sellout. "The Latin market is our bread and butter, and we can't ignore them," says Raul Alfonso of Hansel y Raul, a straight-ahead salsa band that is trying to broaden its appeal with an upcoming record in English. But pop music has always been an indiscriminate buccaneer, hijacking European, American and African treasure alike, mutating it and selling it around the world. Now it may be the Hispanics' turn. In the global village called the U.S., Latin pop's opportunity is as equal as anybody's.