Salsa is dead, reggaeton is dead: Long live the rolling Afro-Latin music thread 2009

Awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v08gaerPTQY

(This is not what I was looking for, but I want this to be my new barber shop. Wrong city though.)

"No Se" is just so good. I suppose it is too static for the dance-floor, but it's a great listen (and its function is as an album closer, so it makes a certain amount of sense the way it winds down). I think its the way they build layers of vocals that is particularly key here. In addition to the main vocal line, I can hear three distinct lines of background vocals, and then it shifts into the rapped portion and that all drops away, and it keeps moving. When I said it's static I just meant it doesn't really keep maintaining a mounting tension like the classic idea of a salsa song, but it definitely keeps flowing, and there are shifts in tension, it just doesn't go for a higher and higher plateau (which I'm sensitive to, because I've seen some harsh criticisms of other salsa on the basis of that).

Re Choco Otra, yes I heard her 2009 release, her voice has never really done it for me and I didn't think much of this years CD.

Someone sent me a report of a recent show with La Excelencia, Son de la Loma and El Canario which made interesting reading;

At the last minute I decided to join Harry Sepulveda to Hostos to see La Excelencia who was one of the three bands performing last night, put together by Jose Rivera (politician). Son de la Loma and Jose Alberto El Canario also performed.

SON DE LA LOMA

This'll be short because I want to be as diplomatic as possible about their performance.
Not good. I won't accept a band that has tenure within this industry to go up on stage and give a performance that reminded me of first time nervous third graders performing in front of a large audience.

LA EXCELENCIA

Crisp, articulate, tight, deliciously loud (except for a short part where the soundman didn't pump the volume to some mics), entertaining and passionate, La Excelencia gave their sincere love to its audience and the audience riciprocated. I have always made it my business to scan the audience's reactions at concerts/performances, no matter where, and there is only one word that I can describe for the audience's reaction to La Excelencia: Stunned. During La Excelencia's powerful performance, the audience did not stir but attentively soaked in the important messages belted out by Edwin and Gilbert when they sang. They were especially attentive to UNIDAD and almost by the end of the excitingly performed A~NA pa' mi Tambor, this audience had fully succumbed voluntarily to La Excelencia's original groove, especially when Edwin genuflected, showing the meaning of this tune. When La Excelencia attempted to finish AN~A with a rumba abierta (a-la calle) by bringing the congas almost on top of the laps of the first row and rockin' it, the audience was fully theirs! I imagine she could not contain herself at this point because the unexpected surprise of the evening that I have to write about was given to La Excelencia by one very cocky, somewhat vain(ish) performer who I'm betting my neck on, had asked, no wait, demanded that Jose Rivera escort her on stage in order to usurp the performance like an uninvited professional thief in the night stealing The Louvre's Mona Lisa. "Oh no she didn't!", I instantly heard myself say loudly! Harry Sepulveda and I were shocked!

Univited, Choco Orta had Jose Rivera escort her on stage to grab the quinto from Jose Cofresi (who graciously, but surprisingly, backed up to let her do her thang). OK, folks, there are ways of doing things con cache...she didn't do it con cache, IMHO. Girl, take your SHORT solo, show the peeps what ya got, give back the congas (and the show, please) to it's rightful owner, loudly announce your gratitude to the band and get the f*ck off the stage! No. What does this petite fireball do? She grabs the mic, and proceeds to want to sing the rumba! Well, it was at this point, and obvious, that La Excelencia had enough and showed her manners. Yup. You guessed it. They took their instruments and finished their performance by walking off the stage and leaving her with no remedio but to think quick on her feet: Instead, she sang Happy Birthday to Jose Rivera (with a PISSED OFF face, I might add)! "Did you see her face?!!" Harry Sepulveda asked me. This was the funniest (and the highlight, for me) part of the show. I believe that the audience understood that Choco Orta rudely interrupted, that by the look of the faces on the guys of La Excelencia, she got up there in a very cocky way, uninvited. She created her embarrassment. ?Quien la mando?! All ended well because she did NOT steal anything last night from La Excelencia. People loved La Excelencia.

JOSE ALBERTO "EL CANARIO"

WOW! This man is in shape! Always dressed to the nines, his voice last night was steady, sharp, loud, on queue, everything...and the band was not bad either! Did they know these charts, or what?! I didn't recognize ANY of the band members. Jose Alberto performed a medley of his older tunes and had that house rockin'. I loved that as soon as he finished a tune he segued into another. Outstanding. He finished with "Sen~ora" and even improvised an invite to Choco Orta who had, by that time, gone. He improvised that "she's left the building because she had another 'compromiso' to go to". I don't think so.

La Excelencia are IMHO the best live band playing salsa right now. You should definitely get their 2009 CD. They have a live CD / DVD coming out in 2010 filmed during their 2009 tour, check this out;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw1hP8v-NgI

I'm off to Spain for Christmas, check you in 2010.

That's too bad she would behave that way. Maybe the attitude expressed by Choco Orta in that incident has had something to do with holding her career back over the years. Then again, maybe lots of others just agree with you about her voice. If I have any issue with her singing, I don't think it's so much her voice as the fact that she leans to far toward consistently belting the songs out, but she doesn't go so far in that direction that it bothers me the way it does with La India.

I hope I get to see La Excelencia live at some point. A live CD sounds like a good idea, if they are really that good live (though sometimes that doesn't always translate to recordings, for whatever reason).

Honestly, you're planting some doubts in my head about Orta's singing, but mostly because I am not 100% crazy about it. I do keep saying (to paraphrase what I said upthread): well, it's not like there is much competition at this point. So I already have a little bit of a feeling of her being second-best or something, but still I ended up enjoying this CD more than I expected. (Was not into "Ay Jose" but that's just because of all the spoken bits which are boring to me as a non-Spanish speaker.)

that barbershop clip!

Yeah, I want to go there for my haircuts.

*

There are a lot of interesting developments right now in contemporary Cuban music's position in the US. The Cuban artists Los Van Van, Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso, and Charanga Habanera are all going to be touring the US soon. I probably would only be interested in checking out Pupy, of those three, but the timberos are very excited. Tiempo Libre was on dancing with stars, and it seems like more is happening with Cuban expats in Miami (though I can't say I always watch that closely). Why I cheerlead for this music when I dislike so much of it, I'm not sure, but it's part of the extended salsa family (plus little by little I'm finding more of it to like).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hArhNG17qwA

The new La 33 seems to be out.

& about.

BANNAKUMBI “Un Nuevo Día” (Kumbi)

This song is on Ben Ratliff of the NY Times Best song list for 2009. It did not make his album list. I posted the NY Times lists over on that other long thread of magazine and website lists

Jon Caramanica of the NY Times listed Luis Enrique's pop ballad "Yo No Se Manana" on his song list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QW--gGbDSI

I just listened to the new La 33 album and I still don't see why such a big deal is made of them. They are okay. They have a stripped down sound that, yes, does echo the 70s, but they seem kind of amateurish, and I don't get where the energy makes up for it. I'm not so much thinking amateurish in purely technical terms either, but also amateurish in terms of creating something. There is just too much regurgitation of the familiar, I think, in their music.

re: persona ideal - i'm pretty much down for any adolescentes track, but it's funny how i've gotten used to people referencing it as "me tengo que ir" and always draw a blank when it's referenced by the real name.

re: mas salsa que tu - i just found out about them when recently before i posted as they'd myspace'd me recently, maybe something is in the works. but yesss at the shots of waist + feet in regard to the dancing, i just hate that the clips are way too choppy and not nearly long enough in comparison to the shots of the narrative.

re: dominican barbershop pt. 3 - ha, pt. 1 in which they do bachata has been in one of my playlists for ages - TSpoonER is one of my go-to youtube users for latin dancing clips, lots of salsa on2. i recognize troy and jorjet in that clip, renowned dancers and teachers on the scene.

oscar d'leon had a heart attack in caracas this weekend, is recovering.

but it's funny how i've gotten used to people referencing it as "me tengo que ir" and always draw a blank when it's referenced by the real name.

That's certainly easier to remember (if you know the song). Not knowing Spanish, I think I originally imagined "que ir" as "caribe," the sort of thing which doesn't help when trying to ID songs heard in clubs.

Have you heard the Adolescent's album? It seems like they haven't put out anything major in a while, so it's interesting that this is getting good grades (from the few people I see commenting on it).

not sure which album you're referring to, but the two that i have in constant rotation are ('95s?) "reclamando nuestro espacio" (has anhelo and hoy aprendi on it) and a recent, possibly unofficial compilation "lo nuevo y lo mejor" which has most of "buscame" on it, has se acabo el amor, me nego, persona ideal, aquel lugar.

i'm not the best judge of salsa through, only having gotten into it about 2 years ago. i've just been burning through whatever i come across on my download feeds. i only got sick of large doses of victor manuelle / overly vocal stuff this past year, (might even have been referencing him earlier in this thread).

Sellos de mi ADN: http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23836.10?Ptcnc4D6;;17139

Isn't that new, or is it partially a compilation?

I don't necessarily mind vocalist-oriented salsa at all, myself.

oh, yeah i recall checking that out a few months back but wasn't feeling it, should probably give it another chance. i don't recall how well amiga mia holds up to orquesta la fuga's version, assuming they're the same, i'm wondering.

I don't know.

(Don't know the song.)

I do kind of like these guys. Maybe I need to see them live (easier said than done):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDfLY8o-Bc

A version of this appears on the album.

(the new album)

I think that song might be more fun to sing/sing along with than to listen to, in general. (See Eddie Murphy.)

Bannakumbi: goddam, this album! So amazing. Not just one of the best salsa albums I've heard lately, blah blah blah, but one of the best albums I've heard lately, one of the best of the decade.

dunno if it was mentioned but the bannakumbi's "un nuevo dia" single made a top 2k9 list in the nyt, for ben ratliff

curmudgeon posted about that (first on another thread but then I thought he mentioned it here too). And I do semi-apologize for going on about it without actually saying anything new, but the album really does seem that good to me.

I'm not sure what semi-apologize really means, not a whole lot probably.

just came across it recently, i'm into it.

Ned Sublette e-mailed that Ángel Díaz (1921-2009), who died on December 22 a few hours shy of his 88th birthday, was a founder of the filin (or feeling) movement of romantic song in Cuba.

x-post. My copy of Bannakumbi and of the Tito Curet Alonso with various performers 2 cd Fania comp finally arrived from Desgarga. I am enjoying the Bannakumbi and will have to listen more.

That combination should provide lots of good listening. I'd be interested in more specific comments on the Bannakumbi album.

I nominated this Omega song in ILM's 2009 poll, mostly just as a representative merengue mambo track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQ9ITdQYN0

I like Omega's overall sound. I'm not sure it would hold my attention for a whole album. IMO, this new wave of street merengue, whatever you want to call it, is way more appealing than the nu-cumbia that has gotten more crossover attention, but it tends to be just as connected to hip-hop/R&B/non-Latin pop, etc. Nina had linked to an earlier Omega song, somewhere upthread, and of course I mostly know about the existence of this sound thanks to her. There is this collection which seems like a good beginner's guide (which is what I need):

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23517.10?Ptcnc4D6;;22163

or this one that casts a broader genre net:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23814.10?Ptcnc4D6;;22166

I'd like to stop to marvel once again that merengue has existed as a popular dance music form since the mid-19th century. I don't know whether or not it dropped away for any extended periods of time, but that's still impressive. I'd be very interested in reading a book-length history of this music (spanning its entire life), but I don't think there are any in English.

This is a little late, but for those wanting to check out some Puerto Rican Christmas music:

http://kpfa.org/archive/id/57236

It starts confusingly with the tail end of another program.

curmudgeon, you nominated La Revolucion on the poll thread, but you've never once said anything about it here. I wish you would talk about stuff you like (that's relevant to this thread)!

I'm listening to the Choco Orta album again and I definitely like her voice. The weaks put about the album seem to me to be the arrangements that are overly stuffy/nostalgic at times (though not too extreme), the way the coro has the same degree of stridency in every song, and some of the choices of material to cover (well, "Ay José" in particular). But overall I think this is a really solid album, and Choco Orta shines on it.

I'd like to hear her do a whole album of boleros. The bolero "Con Mil Desengaños" is a standout cut for me.

re: bannakumbi
doubt i have anything to say that hasn't been already, but it is really well put together as a full album rather than just a couple of hot singles thrown together when you have the time to listen to it through (despite the anti-full album crowd) - the transitions, fading, ambient sounds in the background, the muffled heartbeat at the start of loco, all a nice touch. keeps making me think of the afghan whigs' "black love" in this context.

IMO, this new wave of street merengue, whatever you want to call it, is way more appealing than the nu-cumbia that has gotten more crossover attention, but it tends to be just as connected to hip-hop/R&B/non-Latin pop, etc

disclaimer: generally not a fan of nu-cumbia

but i'd argue nu-cumbia hasn't gotten too much crossover attention either, that mambo de la calle and nu-cumbia are on opposite sides of said crossover... nu-cumbia still comes off as a bunch of indie rock nerds turned danceheads making more dubstep (as apparently there is never enough dubstep?), and seems to stick with that crowd. you don't hear it out in dance clubs vs someone's dj night with no dancing and much head-nods. street merengue at least makes it to mainstream (albeit latin) radio (sony bmg's distributing omega), and the dancefloor, although it hasn't particularly made any rounds in the intellectualized dance music circles yet, give it time of course.

More dubstep sub-genres, please!

I agree, of course, about Un Nuevo Dia. It works extremely well as an album. Just listening to their myspace, one might get the impression that about half the album is going to sound like the title track and "No Se," but actually there's much more variety than that, and it all balances out. It is on the short side, but I'll take a relatively short album with such high-quality material over bloated mediocrity.

re: planet record's merengue urbano v1 2k9

i'm actually digging soundchek's comp of the same name a lot more - p.r.'s has a lot of standard stuff you'd probably hear out than soundchek's (although as mentioned above p.r.'s is more of a beginner's guide). there's some artist crossover but when there is, soundchek's choice is always a better track. one in particular i'm into is "hippo big" by fulanito (going as "dose rock"), out of washington heights - first track on his myspace. doesn't have the rave/electro thing going on as much as some good hip-hop mc'ing over it. never heard of this guy before but he seems to have been around before in a group named fulanito (seems to be solo now, his name being rafael fulanito vargas). used to be known for house + merengue.

I'm not too much into Fulanito, especially their newer stuff. I like some individual tracks a lot, but their albums are seriously uneven. I think Americanizao might have the best hit to miss ratio, of their albums, but I haven't dug into EPs and remixes if they get into that much.

Their re-make of "Sabado en la Noche" from their last album is excellent, but that was already a hit in its original form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJoojuhOKlQ

This is another one I like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5W2xVvlIhc

and this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXRgE7QP-dA&feature=related

yeah, think i may be more into what he might be doing with his new solo? act than the old stuff.

wisin y yandel allegedly broken up (which i am totally fine with)

wisin y yandel allegedly broken up

The question is, will they continue to perform and make music together?

I am actually a fan, of the last two or three albums anyway (never heard the early early stuff), but my wife always laughs when their videos come on and insists they're secretly a couple.

unperson, I hope they make better music as solo acts than they have been making lately as a duo. unperson, when you say you've never heard their early stuff, how far back are we talking? Does early include P'al Mundo in your mind, or are you thinking of before that album (which I'm mostly unfamiliar with)? Because that's the one that's a benchmark for me, in terms of quality (not that I have actually heard everything on it, or not straight through anyway--but I just finally got around to ordering a copy in the past few days). I also like what I've heard from Los Vaqueros, but I think it's been really spotty since then, and not because I don't think they should change, but because I don't like the changes they've been making, or just simply whatever it is they have been doing. I know you disagree.

fauxmarc, okay, I guess I need to actually click on the link you posted and check out the new stuff.

I came on board with Pa'l Mundo, and not even the initial release, but the two-disc-plus-DVD deluxe edition, which I think was a year later. I've never heard anything from before that except for maybe a track or two on the Mas Flow compilations.

Rhumba!!! (@ 2:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgLWFNcRb9A

Afro-Latin Music Thread 2010: La Resurrección (salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton, cumbia, etc.)