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

Pretty bonkers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/arts/music/28sobs.html?ref=music

I wonder if Unperson saw this Natalie Lafourcade gig?

Unfortunately, no. I didn't find out about it until the morning of, and the idea of an acoustic gig didn't appeal to me much. Had she brought her full band I'd probably have made the effort.

I don't think I am up for salsa with a punk attitude. I like the fact that the bar for technical competence in this genre is set fairly high.

I would be if it meant something that sounded like the very early Willie Colón/Héctor Lavoe albums from '69/'70, or the early stuff by Fruko y sus Tesos. Those were instrumentally pretty raw, and sonically primitive, but they've got awesome levels of energy.

Agreed. I do like the early Willie Colón stuff, even though he was still pretty raw as you say, and Fruko. Maybe if we speak in terms of energy rather than attitude, I am more sympathetic to what marcosmarcos was saying (as if "energy" and "attitude" aren't both pretty vague). On the other hand, I'm not necessarily going to be excted by an imitation of those earlier sounds.

To go back to the Juliana videos that nobody has commented on whatsoever, on repeated listens "Estupido" sounds a lot less average to me than it did at first. There's a lot packed into the vocal lines, some twists and turns in the melody. (I swear it sounds Greek at one point.) I also like the way the vocal line grows unexpectedly longer and longer (half-spoken) at certain points. And I think her voice and singing are excellent. I do realize that this sort of merengue can be an acquired taste. (The highly mannered backing vocals can be annoying at times, but I'm mostly used to them at this point; though I still don't get why they sound that way.)

I'm listening to La 33 now and...it's okay. I don't hate it, but I don't hear anything revolutionary or "punk" about what they do. The production's not overly slick, which is nice, but it's gonna take a couple of listens for me to decide whether there's anything special about them.

Hopefully this will work outside the UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qbzxv/The_Big_3_Palladium_Orchestra_at_the_Barbican/

But I can't believe the cut out Arsenio.....

La Excelencia will be up this time next week

Nope, that's UK only.

But maybe someone will put it on youtube sooner or later.

Also if these Colombian bands want to do a boogaloo re-hash ("Heeeeey"), they better be really exceptional, because I'm just not that into boogaloo, though it can have its moments. (And yes, I like some Fruko y Sus Tesos boogaloo covers from the last ten or fifteen years, but they really are exceptional, still. Or at least they have been within the last fifteen years.)

Which reminds me I had been planning on starting the new year with a best salsa albums of the last decade post, but Marco's mix reminded me of how much stuff I haven't heard lately; but I might do it anyway just to potentially start a conversation or inspire people to check some things out.

I'm trying to pretend there are actual debates on this thread.

For the benefit of those who have not checked out Bannakumbi, or have only checked out what's on their myspace, here's a song they didn't include in there (which I never linked to on last year's rolling thread):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TEbpw1SG7g

Still far and away my favorite recent young salsa band (even if maybe it's unfair to compare since they have veteran percussionist Luisito Quintero performing with them on Un Nuevo Dia), with my favorite salsa album of the last decade.

Warning: whoever posted it added an annoying introduction identifying his channel or whatever.

More on Los Van Van in Miami

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/v-print/story/1456425.html

Posted on Sun, Jan. 31, 2010
More fans than foes come for Van Van
BY CHRISTINA VEIGA AND JORDAN LEVIN
cve✧✧✧@MiamiHer✧✧✧.c✧✧

Popular Cuban dance band Los Van Van returned to Miami on
Sunday, greeted by enthusiastic fans and angry protesters.

The last time Los Van Van performed in Miami in 1999, protesters
outnumbered concertgoers, and rocks and bottles flew.

This time, 350 to 400 showed up to demonstrate, and almost 4,000
showed up for the show at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami. The
only things hurled were a few insults. There were no arrests, Miami police
said.
Protesters, who associate the band with the Castro regime,
crammed together on the sidewalks, waving flags, holding signs and screaming
into megaphones as cars full of concertgoers streamed past.

``We're hurt, so we cry out,'' said Juan Antunez, 66, of
Kendall, who said he came to Florida in 1961 and served in the U.S. Army
during the Cuban Missile Crisis the next year.

``If these were Jewish people, they would be outraged if someone
from the Nazi regime came here to do art,'' he said. ``There is no art in a
communist regime.''

Concertgoers opened their car windows, smiling mockingly and
shouting at the demonstrators. Some blasted Los Van Van music from their car
stereos.

Outside, Ivan Sanchez, 68, held up a white poster board with a
message condemning local officials for allowing Los Van Van to perform at
the Knight Center, which is a public venue. He made a case against the
argument that the performance would facilitate cultural exchange.
``They say it's a cultural exchange, but who's going to Cuba?''
asked Sanchez, who lives in Miami. ``It's a one-sided exchange.''

Magda Miranda, who came to Miami from Cuba five years ago,
strode past the signs declaring her a ``traitor'' and ``communist.'' As she
headed toward the concert hall, she pumped her fists in the air.

``I'm for Van Van,'' she said. ``I don't care about Fidel. I
don't care about anyone. ``Viva Van Van.''

Inside the Knight Center, the close to 4,000 concertgoers were
as excited as music-lovers at any other show.

Mike Barry, 33, a Cuban émigré who also attended the 1999 show,
shrugged at the difference between then and now. ``It's not like last
time.'' he said. ``I think the community has changed a lot.''

His friend Joe Rose, 44, a U.S.-born Cuban American, said he was
purely a fan of Van Van's music.

``It's great music,'' he said. ``I respect the way [the
protesters] think, but they've got to respect the way I think, too. I bet
the people out there have Van Van CDs, too. Their music is that good.''
Debbie Ohanian, who produced the 1999 Van Van concert, said she
was not disturbed by the sight of the 350 to 400 protesters this time, as
opposed to 3,000 at the first show. ``In 10 years there'll be 30
protesters,'' she said.

Just the same, police maintained a vigilant presence outside the
Knight Center. It took concertgoers about 15 minutes to make their way
through security.

The band took the stage at 7:30 p.m. They made no speeches, and
launched directly into their first song, their latest hit, Arrazando.

Los Van Van was to return to Cuba from Miami after its two-show
Florida tour; they played in Key West on Thursday. A more-extensive U.S.
tour is planned for this spring.

Salsa band Sonora Carruseles are coming to DC (Maryland actually-El Boqueron II in Rockville), opening for a vallenato singer Felipe Pelaez. Any of you folks know more about these folks than I do (I read Wiki entries and stuff)? If Wiki is to be believed, Sonora is a Columbian band now based in Miami.

They are a very well-know Colombian salsa band. Kind of uneven, probably worth going to see. I have never seen them live myself, but I'd be interested in checking them out. I'd bet they put on a good show. I'm sure you've heard some of their songs. Like you may recognize this Pete Rodriguez cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7gb5KiRl8Y

Or "Ave Maria Lola" (click on play button at top of search results):

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=ave+maria+lola+sonora+carruseles&aq=0&aqi=g1&oq=ave+maria+lola+sono&fp=bf9afa9aa437c51f

I didn't know they were in Miami.

Got the new Fania Joe Cuba compilation last night. Two CDs, 34 tracks, really beautifully remastered.

x-post

I like their "En Buenaventura" a lot as well.

That sounds good. I doubt I need a complete collection of Joe Cuba albums, so that might work for me, although I want pretty much anything Cheo Feliciano sang on.

I like their "En Buenaventura" a lot as well

which is not the usual light boogaloo stuff they do and has a sound closer to classic (but late) Fruko y Sus Tesos or Joe Arroyo, I would say.

I can't really emphasize how ubiquitous "Micaela" and "Ave Maria Lola" were in clubs and maybe even more so in dance classes (or free lessons in clubs).

in the late 90s and maybe the first couple years of the last decade

That Joe Cuba comp might work for me. Meanwhile in the pop world Aventura is still on top of the Latin singles chart:

http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100#/charts/latin-songs

I'm torn between "I should really obviously get this" since it looks like it could be the archival salsa release of the year (on the hand) and "I should really obviously not be spending any money on CDs since I'm kind of on the broke side and the economy is about as unstable as its ever been in my lifetime (not to mention that I have eight CDs on the way alredy)."

However, let's at least eyeball this:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23559.10?oAS4EmQN;;463

Another consideration in favor of buying it is how ridiculously the Fania catalog is now going in and out of easy availability. I never expended copies of all those remasters to dry up so quickly at major sites like cduniverse.

I don't remember hearing Ismael Quintana (who is probably best known for his work with Eddie Palmieri, especially on the original La Perfecta recordings*) with the Fania All Stars, but maybe I've just missed it.

*I know this will not be news to some of you. Just throwing it out for those who don't know or who have forgotten.

Yeah, I'll second that recommendation. That disc is pretty hot.

BTW, physical CDs may be hard to come by, but a huge proportion of the Fania catalog is available digitally from Fania.com.

The San Juan concert is a great recording, one of the highlights is the heavy 3 minute percussion work out at the start of Ponte Duro (a track which is strangely missing from the Descarga write up).

There's another new young band making a stir out of Spain hot on the heels of La Sucrusal SA. Bloque 53's CD La Ruta De La Salsa is very tasty, it has a New Swing Sextet feel to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWwPBbJFiG4

BTW, physical CDs may be hard to come by, but a huge proportion of the Fania catalog is available digitally from Fania.com.

I just have a mental block about paying for downloads. It still bugs me, in principle, that I have to provide my own physical storage if I do that.

Bloque 53 sounds okay (I did check their myspace as well). I still wish that more of these bands were doing something a bit newer sounding. I think I'm just fussier these days because I haven't been going out dancing, so simply having some new music that is good enough to dance to isn't enough to satisfy me.

Ned Sublette has written about a March event New Yorkers may be interested in:

you can also play in a charanga in the music department at UNC Chapel Hill. After singing my brains out at Regulator, I got to have a beer with David García, who leads the aforementioned charanga (something all music departments should have) and is the author of Arsenio Rodríguez and the Transnational Flows of Latin Popular Music. Somebody should have done a biography of Arsenio long ago, but it’s not too late to praise the guy who finally did it, so I got to toast David’s achievement on the occasion of our first-ever meeting. He'll be in New York to participate in a panel attached to what should be a splendid concert: "Arsenio Rodríguez in the Bronx," by the re-energized Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorquino, March 20 at Hostos Community College.

And in DC Saturday Feb. 27th:

WPFW dj Jim Byers leads a panel discussion with music from 2 to 4 at the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum on the history of DC Latin music clubs and the interaction between African-American and Hispanic musicians –they will retrace the history of diversity in Latin dance nightlife in Washington, from WUST Radio Music Hall and The Casbah — D.C.'s home of the mambo on U Street — to the Zanzibar on the Waterfront. The band Verny Varela Project performs.

Can we include cumbia in this thread ?
There is quite a revival that has been happening at least over here in sf/la...
This band is excellent.

http://www.myspace.com/buyepongo

Meanwhile Miguel Zenon is melding latin-jazz with Puerto Rican Plena. There are some youtube videos and here's a recent interview. I like plena, have not made up my mind on Zenon's version

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/02/miguel_zenon_on_perfecting_a_m.html

Can we include cumbia in this thread ?

Absolutely. It's in the title, it just doesn't get talked about because I guess nobody contributing here actually knows much about it (or if they do, they don't have much to say about it). But don't be discouraged if I don't respond to postings about nu-cumbia type stuff, because I'm not into what I've heard of it.

(Anyway, the first track on that myspace doesn't sound at all like what I mean by nu-cumbia.

And it's not that I'm against doing something new with cumbia, I just find some of that Club Zizek stuff loses the feel the very feeling that attracts me to cumbia to begin with.)

apparently the communist revolutionary armed forces of columbia paid $150K to artists in the dominican republic and elsewhere to record a professional propaganda cd of merengue

FARC spent http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8335-farc-produce-music-cd-to-allure-supporters.html50,000 recording catchy CD to improve image

EL BAILE DEL GUERRILLERO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKoE3Kw9xk

fixed link to article

Benefit at Zanzibar in DC tonight for salsa dance instructor and promoter Eileen Torres who badly broke her ankle in December and has lots of medical expenses from surgery and such. Virtually every local DC dj will be doing some spinning tonight and most of the area dance instructors will be hosting.

Because there ain't no other place to talk about it, I'm gonna come in here and mention that the new Maldita Vecindad album, Circular Colectivo (already out in many places, out next month in the U.S.), is awesome and pretty much picks up right where Circo left off. If you are an old fuck like me who loved the first generation of Latin alternative rock/ska/funk/punk/etc., you should get it.

May have to check that out.

I finally saw Richmond, Virginia's Bio Ritmo today. They were part of the free WPFW dj Jim Byers led program at the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum on the history of dancing to the mambo in DC--in particular--African-Americans in DC who discovered the sound way back when. Some cool old footage of dancers. I really need to take dance lessons. I tried but it wasn't exactly impressive. Bio Ritmo were excellent. The event was in a small room that only holds around 75 people. As the museum is in the poorest part of DC, and is not right on a Metro, very few uh, palefaced blue-eyed dancers or music fans were there (other than me, my friend and a few others). Their loss.

the new Maldita Vecindad album, Circular Colectivo (already out in many places, out next month in the U.S.), is awesome and pretty much picks up right where Circo left off

I never clicked with the original, though maybe I just heard it at the wrong time.

Bio Ritmo side project Miramar does nice boleros and such on the sampler I got.

van van documentary a hit

http://www.twominutenews.com/2010/world/us-world/baby-rasta-shot-and-seriosly-injured-4316.html

Police further informed that more than one hundred shots were fired since there were countless bullet casings discovered at the scene and the singer reportedly received bullets all over his body i.e. the abdomen, back, right leg and right arm.

So this wasn't just a random mugging or something. . .

New Grupo Fantasma album coming soon. Guests include Larry Harlow and x-Minute Puppets guitarist Curt Kirkwood (together for the first time?):

http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/115597-grupo-fantasma-to-release-el-existential-on-may-11th-2010-a.html

I still think Sonidos Gold was one of the best albums of 2008.

(2010 continues to seem like it's going to end up being an especially good year for music, not particular the music normally discussed on this thread, but music (or at least popular music) in general.)

I didn't really expect Grupo Fantasma to put anything out this year.

e-mail press release I received :

The LOS TRES TOUR features Marco Antonio Solis, Joan Sebastian and Alejandro Fernandez in one of the most exciting couplings of Latin music in years. The three superstars will be featured on the cover of an upcoming issue of People en Español.

Not my thing, I do not think. I know I do not like Solis, do the others do melodramatic ballads as well.

a good live clip of antony santos doing voy pa'lla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oFG_EQo5Kw

Latest Ivy Queen news:

http://www.examiner.com/latin-music-entertainment-in-los-angeles/ivy-queen-s-sex-being-questioned-again

I think this is a new Wisin & Yandel track (from their forthcoming Los Vaqueros: El Regreso). Didn't they just break up a year ago, or something like that hahaha?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti8Zb7fHt0

Still in their new generic club dance vein, I'd say.

Another high-budget, thoughtfully crafted video there.

I don't know, that track kinda sucks compared with some of the stuff on their last couple of albums.

I like Frankie Vazquez, but I wish he would direct his talents toward something other than recreating the mambo golden age. Anyway new album from Mambo Legends Orchestra (which is some sort of version of the same Tito Puente legends or whatever that he's been singing with for while):

http://www.myspace.com/mambolegendsorchestra

Afro-Latin Music Thread 2011: danzon, son, bolero, plena, vallenato, candombe, mambo de calle, tribal guarachero, etc.