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

yeah, just caught rolo's email. not really into jowell and randy but may check it out anyway.

I've never been to Ibiza. I've seen reggaeton at H20, the Patriot Center, and El Boqueron II.

Rumbera, I kinda love Tito's lightweight-going-hard-like-the-big-boys thing. When he does that, at least. His croonier stuff does dissolve into mush, I give you that.

Thanks. Man all these forums,platforms etc handle youtube differently and I just cant remember how to format the links.

Ok, lets try this again.

Hector and Tito when they were trying to be hard. Gata Celosa

From La Reconquista aka the yelling album. For those who dont speak spanish, this is a song seducing a woman. I realized a lot of people arent aware of the proper emotional tone of the songs becasue they hear the music and vocals but dont know the lyrics. Well, its a song to a hot chick and then segues into a song about heartbreak.

Hector pops in for a few with Trebol Clan

IMO Hector's verse on this one is the best of the song Noche de Entierro @ 1:06
"maria lola vete soy perrito viente cuartro siete"

and he does a good job on what I see as the predecessor to NDE, Mayor Que Yo

He comes in at about 3:04

Noche de Travesura, yet another kickass bachaton

Hector on Vamos Pa La Calle

Classic Hector & Tito

Tito belting out my favorite reggaeton power ballad, Te Encontrare. Very heavily modified vocals tho.That section from 1:02 to 1:14, specifically 1:12 is what makes the song.

Tito and Olga Tanon- He totally needs a deeper voice to offset his, even if its a woman's voice.
In keeping with her being older and having the deeper voice, I love how he assumes the submissive position when he approaches her to dance, even slapping his own ass!! I havent heard this sort of merengue in years, I've missed it.

OOps, Mayor Que Yo with Hector's verse.

thanks! will get on project hector at some point

Joe Cuba R.I.P. (Father of Boogaloo/Bang! Bang! Push! Push!)

RIP Joe Cuba thread

NY Times Article about Fania songwriter Tite and how 5 years after his death a compilation of his songs is out and doing well

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/arts/music/18tite.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

He never did give up that day job, laboring in the Postal Service in Puerto Rico for more than 30 years, mainly as a clerk. But in the recording studio the biggest names in salsa, from Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe to Celia Cruz and La Lupe, all deferred to Catalino Curet Alonso, the man — known to all as Tite (pronounced “TEE-tay”) — who seemed to be able to write hits for them at will.

That was a great article. I was going to link to it with the xhuxk-like title I Have Never Heard Of This Latino Tunesmith Named Tite Until Today Even Though He Wrote Two Of My Favorite Songs: "Anacoana" and "Puro Teatro."

Yea that would be clever, and the 6 people (if it's that many) who post on this thread might chime in. Oh well.

I did start a thread (consisting mostly of my own posts) when he died:

Tite Curet Alonso--RIP

That new New York Times article is quite good, you're right. Packs a lot in there.

(It's a little sad this thread is dominated by discussion of past greats like Joe Cuba and Tite Curet, or past pretty-good songs from ten years ago, just in the sense that I wish there were more currently that I could get excited about.

im with ya RS, would be nice if salsa hadnt died
fortunately i like new bachata and there is some kick ass mambo merengue being made in the D.R.

Well feel free to post some links to videos and such, if there are any available. (Linking to downloads is pretty much still discouraged here, I think.) Or at least name some names. I don't remember seeing you talking about much recent bachata or merengue on your blog, so I'm wondering what you have in mind.

Also, what the hell is "mambo merengue"?

I'm still not as definite as you are about the whole "salsa is dead" thing. I understand what you mean by it, and I mostly agree, but not entirely. Or maybe I just don't agree that saying salsa is dead is the best way to express it. After all, you liked Back to da Barrio and that came out after you had declared salsa dead. Granted, I would have to agree that that was an exception. But 2006 was not a bad year for salsa, with some of the stuff from Salsaton and also the Guayacan Orquesta album (though I don't think you liked that as much as I did) and Arroz con Habichuela. I know, I know, you make an except for El Gran Combo and ask who is going to replace them--and the correct answer probably is: nobody. But I don't think you can conclusively write the genre off as dead. Merengue is older than salsa and somehow it's still going. Somehow merengue has been able to reinvent itself repeatedly in a way that's kept it alive on a street level, I guess.

And if you aren't going to post this link, I will.

Here's an extensive list of Tite Curet Alonso's songwriting credits:

http://www.herencialatina.com/Cachao/Canciones_Tite/Cancionero_Tite.htm

Wow. I only made it to the Bs. Is that the same "Brujeria" that's the title track of the Mark Dimond album?

I'm not sure.

Not a good sign for salsa in DC (although the club in question is not ideal and music starts so late there)

After 9 years and 9 months no more Thursday salsa nights at Zanzibar:

My dearest friends,

I received word Friday that Zanzibar management is canceling Thursday Salsa Nights. It has been a losing proposition and they were left with no other choice than to stop the loss. I will hold special events there from time to time and inform all well in advance.

I will be very happy if you will join me for the last hurrah this Thursday night at Zanzibar. DJ’s Bruno & Carlos “El Cacique” will close out the great era. Please spread the word since there are only a few days to inform as many as possible. You can help me in expressing appreciation to all the fabulous DJs and dance performers that have entertained us and brought us joy. ...-Eileen Torres

i'd never made it out (rarely get down to sw or se these days), but was under the impression it was one of the best nights out for dancing in the city proper... I'd like to see the night's at Station 9 (the old Cada Vez) on U street pick up but Wednesdays are awkward.

I'm guessing that the hardcore salsa crowd they were attracting is getting older and less interested in going out late on a Thursday night than a younger crowd who may enjoy Thursday nights out. Just a few years ago H20 managed to get old and young out on Friday nights for salsa, maybe at Cecilia's out in Arlington that's still do-able.

Merengue, IMO, never got "listenable". Merengue has pretty much one mood- FIESTA!!!! So I think that has helped it keep its edge or relevance to the dancers. Same with bachata, its still street and low class and ghetto.
The epitome of what made salsa die(IMO) is that Tito Nieves Fabricando whatevers song.
WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???
Salsa got all Kenny G.

Merengue MAMBO??

http://www.dr1.com/forums/general-stuff/71021-merengue-de-calle-mambo.html
http://www.listindiario.com/app/article.aspx?id=43647

Let me see if I can post a link here, me and this board dont always get along well.....

I always hesitate to post some stuff as I realize many people like street music but not the culture or people that spawn it.
I wont lie, I have some class issues myself, but I enjoy merengue and salsa and perreo. And I dont like the music but gasp in horror at the dancing. I do kinda sorta get irritated with people, perhaps white-ish people, who like the music but then see something like the above video and get all uptight and stuff and complain about the vulgarity of it.
Or u know, they talk shit about the way people dance and dress.

I kinda take it personally.

Its like, dont listen to STREET music if STREET bothers you. Paul Robeson this aint.

Anyway...
Nothing nasty here.....

I never can resist this song-

When this song came out everyone was like OMG-you'd have to understand the lyrics. He says he is pure dominican and lists some (stereo)typical traits- riding a bike all over town talking with hands etc

I love this song

Tulile

Guilty Pleasure

Someone mentioned salsa in the comments of the above video and it reminded me- wtf does salsa have to do with this?? Why the hell does everyone compare merengue to salsa and criticize it based on it not being salsa? Kinda why I almost never say Im a "latin music" fan, I say I like "salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton".

Imagine someone looking for good "white music" and getting miffed when they go to a club that plays Shania Twain because they wanted to hear The Beatles.Or crying about their crappy gospel cd because they like 50 cent, and figured they'd try some more of that "black music".

Im cranky and will come up with a nice big fat essay later, for now enjoy the merengue and it aint supposed to sound like salsa or bachata or reggaeton or cumbia or whatever. So you know....

Maybe I will take the plunge and listen to some merengue on Dominican Independence Day on Friday.

white-ish people etc.

Get your hate speech off my thread!

I don't think too many people who post to this board are all bent of shape by vulgar things. I'm probably more bent out of shape by some of it than most, it depends. And I'm just not street, and that's the way it is.

Dominican Indpendence day is this Friday? Hmmm, maybe there will be some free music I can go hear this weekend. I subscribe to a Yahoo ABQ (or New Mexico?) salsa/merengue list but it's dead.

And this first track you posted sounds pretty good to me. I am not watching the video so far. I feel slelf-conscious sometimes sitting in the library watching videos where anyone can look over my shoulder. Instead I am very non-vulgarly checking out the body of the woman across from me, in red.

And seriously, please do promote the newer Dominican music you like, whether on this thread or on your blog. It's certainly not too easy to find out about in English language print or blogs or whatever. (I guess maybe I could make the effort to search out discussion forums dealing with it.)

(I almost posted that to the Leucocyte thread.)

I find that getting all analytical about what I consider acceptable or comfortable or whatever just makes it more difficult for me to immerse myself in dance in a way that is enjoyable (and comfortable) to me.

Have you all seen this letter to Obama pleading for a lifting of the cultural blockade on Cuba:

http://www.cubaresearch.info/cubaletter2009

(Note: this is really just meant for artists and cultural something or others, but not activists per se or men and women in the street.)

The organization behind it is based in New Mexico: http://www.cubaresearch.info/whoweare

nice

Nina, I like most of this stuff you linked to, so far. I'm not sure why you were being so pre-emptively defensive about it (of course, you might not have had me in mind in particular to begin with).

Nina, where might I find your blog?

I especially like that second Tulile song.

x-post: Nina's blog:

http://lamusicalatina.wordpress.com/

RS- I was just generally cranky and should have shut up and just posted. But I was reading the news and comments on other sites and stuff and found it irritating. Just some free floating ire.

why cant i find that damned quiscalle cd on youtube for you guys

I can never remember what I've posted where, sorry if I repeat myself.
This is from my Im Cranky and It Shows playlist->

i wish i didnt listen to this song ever

"pa ponerte, pa ponerte bien bellaca"

I like the 2nd part of this video best:

Ole School Perreo

Arcangel has turned into Prince

i love voltio, i want him to be my personal hypeman

also: plan b, trebol clan, and ñejo are the only ones out of that pool of artists that always end up on a regueton comp that i feel really have any merit and more often than not surprise me with some good beats. i try and give arcangel a chance especially as he seems to be particularly blowing up lately but i think there's only one song of his i've ever been really into.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101140904

Joe Cuba and Reggaeton and so forth

good article, i can't really think of any other npr music piece i've taken note of but it touches on all of those areas so briefly, it almost implies (unintentionally i'm sure) "and that's about it on that subject." but i suppose npr is by nature, sound bites.

I remember the author of that piece, Felix Contreras, from somewhere--either I read something else he wrote, heard him on public radio, or saw him speak at a Smithsonian event, or maybe all of the above.

Gipsy-Kings-a-tón: second track: http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23504.10?cSNdPitY;;415. (Yeah, I like the Gipsy Kings a little, but come on Cuba, you can do better than this.)

Some of this newest cluster of reggaeton songs posted I probably wouldn't like at all if I hadn't gotten so hooked into the basic rhythm.

3 De La Habana: definitely a contender for worst Cuban release of 2009. Maybe it's just some kind of very advanced Cuban camp I'm not getting.

Barretto's Indestrcutible con bonus tracks: http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23490.10?cSNdPitY;;510

I'm not a huge Barretto fan (don't bother asking why since I don't think I can explain though I suspect it has something to do with his particular way of using jazz elements in his music), but "Indestructible" itself is most likely my favorite song of his. I've heard some live versions I like even more than the original album version.

(Incidentally I'm suddenly hyperactive on ILM today (as though it were, say, mid-2003 again) because I'm planning on changing my routines a bit (a lot, hopefully) next week, and this is sort of a last indulgent hurrah.)

That's the album he did after his band quit and he did like James Brown and hired a bunch of new guys to show that he was the star and could do it with any band, no?

There is a Roberto Rodriguez, trumpet, listed on those credits, not to be confused with the bass player Bobby Rodriguez. This Roberto Rodriguez seems to be the father of a percussionist name Roberto Juan Rodriguez. Not to be confused with the piano player Robert Rodriguez who has played with Roy Haynes and Ignacio Berroa among others, whose dad was named Roberto Rodriguez. I guess it's a common name, but still.

I don't remember (if I ever knew) the details about Indestructible but somehow that sounds right. Or do you want the Bobby Jindal version? Well, I was in the studio with Ray and. . .