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

Near the bottom of his April 3rd posting. They may be Panamanian dancehall reggae artists and not reggaeton.

Re the reggaeton book, while Wayne is certainly holding it in his hand in a photo, when I went to Amazon it said it was not available yet.

RS, I like that Grupo Fantasma cd too, just haven't listened to it in awhile.

Weird. Why haven't you made any comment about it (aside from mentioning that Prince likes it) in the time I've been bringing it up? Apparently for a lot of people it's just very average. I think it's above average.

I thought I did, but maybe not. Maybe cuz it's a 2008 cd, I thought I said something about them back then. I wrote a Washington City Paper preview item for 'em a little while back, and years ago when they had a slightly different membership I reviewed their free show at the Kennedy Center for the Washington Post. Back then I posted this on a thread:

Haikunym, interesting you should just mention cumbia and its relation to ska and polka as I just saw the Laredo, Texas formed,Austin-based mostly all Mexican-American Grupo Fantasma do a nice set of mostly all cumbia(although the singing was just ok). They told me afterwards that they're into old-school Colombian cumbia as well as cumbia they've heard in a few surviving dive bars across the borders which they say are attended largely by dancers and hookers.

Like Bio Ritmo, they've been trying in DC to reach a crossover Anglo audience, playing rock clubs like Black Cat rather than Latin clubs.

What do you think of the singing on Sonidos Gold? I think it's pretty solid. The rest of the music is strong enough to carry it, anyway. The vocals aren't exactly spectacular, but I like them.

I think because they do funk, cumbia, Santana style stuff, and salsa and have backed Prince, and do lots of gigs aimed at English-speakers, they get ignored or dismissed by some purists no matter how good they sound. Now I've never been crazy about their vocals, but they're better on Sonidos Gold then I remember them in the past. I think they're a good party band. Others may sincerely think they're just average.

I heard one song from the new Jimmy Bosch album last night,“Mujeres Manda,” featuring Johana Castaneda. I was not impressed with either the track overall or her vocals.

I also heard a cut from the new album by Choco Orta album, but I didn't even regonize it as such until it was announced. It didn't make much of an impression, but judging from the samples here, I might want to buy this anyway:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/Ahora-Mismo/Choco-Orta/e/094922112156/?itm=1

(Otherwise, KUNM's salsa show (which isn't really just salsa, more like the range of what we (theoretically) discuss on this thread) often plays way too much timba for my taste and I often end up turning it off long before it ends.)

Well, Grupo Fantasma are somewhat peripheral to salsa per se, but on this album anyway they seem pretty solidly rooted in cumbia. I haven't heard any of their earlier albums. I do think the salsa tracks are good though. I think the end result of their mixing different styles of music is not the mish-mash some might expect.

Based on the stingy audio clips I've heard, I do think there are going to be at least a couple songs I like on the new Jimmy Bosch CD.

So at long last you're calling off your Jimmy Bosch fatwah?

I've always liked a song here and there by him. (Of course, the same is true for the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Los Soneros del Barrio.) I think he's overrated, but I think pretty much every new "salsa dura" outfit out of NYC is overrated (if only in NYC salsa circles).

I've got a good feeling about this Choco Orta CD, based on these brief clips I'm hearing. I think it will be solid, maybe nothing exceptional, but solid, and since there are hardly any decent soneras around right now, that itself makes it exceptional. I think she hasn't gotten the opportunities she deserves.

Just checked out some Youtube videos of her. She's got a brassy voice, nothing sweet and ethereal about it. So even when she's singing a romantic ballad there's a powerful weight to her tone.

So I did not make it out to "greatest salsa dj in the world" Henry Knowles out in Bethesda, MD last night.

I am also gonna miss on Sunday the 19th "dance lessons from 4-5 pm followed by a Salsa Sabios presentation by Nancy Alonso of WPFW on the life and career of Puerto Rico’s most prolific salsa composer, Tite Curet Alonso from 5-6 pm. A CD with some of his greatest hits will be given to the first 20 people to participate in the Salsa Sabios session. You must rsvp to receive a CD. Open dancing is from 6-10 pm. ...at The Meeting Place Restaurant, 1707 L St. NW DC"

Some good stuff I've found poking around on emusic (esp. the first one):

Plena Libre- Evolucion
http://www.emusic.com/album/-Evolucion-MP3-Download/11261940.html

La India Canela - Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic
http://www.emusic.com/album/La-India-Canela-Merengue-T%C3%ADpico-from-the-Dominican-Republic-MP3-Download/11182175.html

Various - Quisqueya en el Hudson: Dominican Music in New York
http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Smithsonian-Folkways-Quisqueya-en-el-Hudson-Dominican-Music-in-New-Yor-MP3-Download/10887688.html

Joaquin Diaz - Merengue Alegre
http://www.emusic.com/album/Joaquin-Diaz-Merengue-Alegre-MP3-Download/10898317.html

Plena Libre are fun. I saw 'em at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in DC once. Not sure I can explain what plena and bomba music is in relation to other Latin salsa/tropical styles, but I know I like it.

I saw Plena Libre once at the Painted Bride in Philadelphia and they put on a very lively show.

Plena and bomba are both specifically Puerto Rican. Bomba is pretty African-rooted and I think plena is has more of a Spanish influence, and maybe has more North Africa by way of Spain. Beyond that I start talking gibberish. Maybe I already have. Perhaps Nina can say more if I can coax her to visit this thread.

A little OT: I caught some flamenco performances (dance with live musicians playing) at Albuquerque's Founders Day this past Saturday. I'm not there yet, but I could see myself getting into it at some point. My mind was echoing with the vocal lines and rhythms as I walked home. I think seeing the music with the dance would make it easier for me to get a handle on it, although I still don't quite understand how the performances unfold. (There was also some Navajo dancing, some mariachi, and some New Mexican music, which is basically close to Mexican, to my ears.)

You're gradually becoming a local out there!

Speaking of live music, I missed Dominican sonero Raulin Rosendo this past weekend and naturally there were no reviews in the Washington Post or blogs. I read that he's supposed to be very charismatic live.

Gonna miss the battle of the 2 reggaetonish club shows on Thursday--Voltio at Terra Mare, and Pitbull at Ibiza. Mayvbe Fauxmarc will come back down from NY and see one of 'em.

I like the songs from Latin popster Ximena Sarinana that I've heard on myspace. She sounds like Julieta Venegas to me, but some are comparing her to both Fiona Apple and Nora Jones. She's at the 930 Club in DC tonight.

i'd check out voltio if it wasn't in arlington, and i can't really get behind pitbull lately... i wouldn't mind not hearing calle ocho ever again

anyone familiar with this board:

http://pulsemusic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=latin

En Ingles

I was in Dublin and Belfast this past weekend, and it really weirded me out that there was as far as I could tell absolutely zero Latin cultural presence - I mean, there wasn't even a Taco Bell. It was a pretty massive culture shock for me after living in a Colombian-dominated town in NJ for so long.

In other news, I got the Fania "Masterworks" reissue of Eddie Palmieri's Vamonos Pa'l Monte in the mail yesterday, and it comes with four bonus tracks, three of which are previously unreleased studio jams, each one more than 10 minutes long ("VP Blues," the first of them, is 14 minutes long, with some crazy-ass organ soloing from Charlie Palmieri). If you don't already have this album in some version, this is the one to get.

too late, already own

there's gotta be something of at least a salsa scene going on in scotland somewhere, in miami picked up putumayos's "salsa around the world" from 2003 and there was a track by "salsa celtica" on it, in spanish, pretty lush

Yea, many Europeans love salsa, but its probably not obvious as there aren't many Hispanic immigrants from the Americas going there.

Fauxmarc, on another item, I guess they didn't want to compete with Pitbull at Ibiza, so the Voltio show at Terra Mare in Va has been moved to Thursday May 14th. Thursdays, alas, rarely work for me.

Billboard Latin Music Awards Thursday night April 23, in association with a seminar/conference thing they're holding in Florida.

Comment on their website:

ALOT OF THESE PEOPLE ARE FROM SPAIN WHICH EQUALS EUROPEAN WHICH EQUALS WHITE!! AND THE REST ARE WHITE HISPANICS WHO EVENTUALLY ALL COME FROM EUROPE WHICH EQUALS WHITE!! WHERE ARE THE BLACK AND INDIAN HISPANIC WHICH ARE THE MAJORITY OF THE SO CALLED LATIN AMERICAN WORLD WHY IS THE LATIN GRAMMYS FULL OF THESE RICH WHITE EURO SPANIARDS

La Mulata Rumbera has a new more comprehensive blog (and she didn't even tell me it was up yet):

http://arrozconbeans.com/

Thanks.

I forgot to watch those Billboard Awards on Telemundo the other night:

2009 Billboard Latin Music Awards Nominees & * Winners

HOT LATIN SONGS

Hot Latin Song Of The Year
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"No Me Doy Por Vencido" Luis Fonsi
"Donde Están Corazon" Enrique Iglesias
"Si No Te Hubieras Ido" Mana

Hot Latin Songs Artist Of The Year
* Enrique Iglesias
Flex
Vicente Fernandez
Juanes

Hot Latin Song Of The Year, Male
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Para Siempre" Vicente Fernandez
"No Me Doy Por Vencido" Luis Fonsi
"Donde Están Corazon" Enrique Iglesias

Hot Latin Song Of The Year, Female
* "Dime" Ivy Queen
"Culpable O Inocente" Jenni Rivera
"Inolvidable" Jenni Rivera
"El Presente" Julieta Venegas

Hot Latin Song Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Si No Te Hubieras Ido" Mana
"Dame Tu Amor" Alacranes Musical
"Hasta El Dia De Hoy" Los Dareyes De La Sierra
"La Cumbia Del Rio" Los Pikadientes De Caborca

Hot Latin Song Of The Year, Debut
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Hasta El Dia De Hoy" Los Dareyes De La Sierra
"La Cumbia Del Rio" Los Pikadientes De Caborca
"Amantes Escondidos" German Montero

TOP LATIN ALBUMS

Latin Album Of The Year
* "95/08" Enrique Iglesias
"Te Quiero" Flex
"Arde El Cielo" Mana
"Kings Of Bachata: Sold Out At Madison Square Garden" Aventura

Top Latin Albums Artist Of The Year
* Vicente Fernandez
Flex
Enrique Iglesias
Marco Antonio Solis

Top Latin Album Of The Year, Male
* "95/08" Enrique Iglesias
"Te Quiero" Flex
"Una Noche En Madrid: Marco Antonio Solis En Vivo" Marco Antonio Solis
"Talento De Barrio (Soundtrack)" Daddy Yankee

Top Latin Album Of The Year, Female
* "Jenni" Jenni Rivera"
"Real…En Vivo" Ednita Nazario
"Insatisfecha" Diana Reyes
"Julieta Venegas: MTV Unplugged" Julieta Venegas

Top Latin Album Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Kings Of Bachata: Sold Out At Madison Square Garden" Aventura
"Arde El Cielo" Mana
"Si Tu Te Vas" Los Temerarios
"Tu Inspiracion" Alacranes Musical

Top Latin Album Of The Year, Debut
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Wisin Y Yandel Presentan La Mente Maestra" DJ Nesty
"Vamonos Pa'l Rio" La Pikadientes De Caborca
"Con Banda" Los Dareyes De La Sierra

LATIN POP

Latin Pop Airplay Song Of The Year, Male
* "Donde Estan Corazon" Enrique Iglesias
"Te Quiero" Flex
"No Me Doy Por Vencido" Luis Fonsi
"Gotas De Agua Dulce" Juanes

Latin Pop Airplay Song Of The Year, Female
* "Cinco Minutos" Gloria Trevi
"Donde Estara Mi Primavera" Myriam Hernandez
"El Presente" Julieta Venegas
"Ahora Entendi" Yuridia

Latin Pop Airplay Song Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Si No Te Hubieras Ido" Mana
"Cada Que…" Belanova
"No Te Quiero Nada" Ha*Ash
"Inolvidable" Reik

Latin Pop Album Of The Year, Solo
* "95/08" Enrique Iglesias
"5to Piso" Ricardo Arjona
"Palabras Del Silencio" Luis Fonsi
"Cómplices" Luis Miguel

Latin Pop Album Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Arde El Cielo" Mana
"Mejores Cantos Religiosos" Grupo Nueva Vida
"Planet Kumbia" AB Quintanilla Presenta Kumbia All Starz
"Hasta Ahora" Sin Bandera

TROPICAL

Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, Male
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Sin Perdon" Hector Acosta
"Donde Estan Esos Amigos" El Chaval De La Bachata
"Amor Desperdiciado" Frank Reyes

Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, Female
* "Dime" Ivy Queen
"Pintame De Colores" Gloria Estefan
"Quiero Tenerte" Marala
"Cosas Del Amor" Olga Tanon Featuring Milly Quezada Or Jenni Rivera

Tropical Airplay Song Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "El Perdedor" Aventura
"En Aquel Lugar" Adolescent's Orquesta
"Todo Lo Que Soy" Marcy Place Featuring Don Omar
"Ahora Es" Wisin & Yandel

Tropical Album Of The Year, Solo
* "Una Navidad Con Gilberto" Gilberto Santa Rosa
"Mitad/Mitad" Hector Acosta
"Historia De Un Sonero" Victor Manuelle
"Soy" Victor Manuelle

Tropical Album Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "K.O.B.: Live" Aventura
"Buena Vista Social Club At Carnegie Hall" Buena Vista Social Club
"En Vivo Desde Bellas Artes" Monchy & Alexandra
"Chapter Dos" Xtreme

REGIONAL MEXICAN

Regional Mexican Airplay Song Of The Year, Male
* "Para Siempre" Vicente Fernandez
"La Derrota" Vicente Fernandez
"Amantes Escondidos" German Montero
"El Proximo Viernes" Espinoza Paz

Regional Mexican Airplay Song Of The Year, Female
* "Culpable O Inocente" Jenni Rivera
"Inolvidable" Jenni Rivera
"Me Muero" Diana Reyes
"Aire" Luz Rios Featuring Joan Sebastian

Regional Mexican Airplay Song Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Hasta El Dia De Hoy" Los Dareyes De La Sierra
"Dame Tu Amor" Alacranes Musical
"Y Que Quede Claro" La Arrolladora Banda El Limon
"La Cumbia Del Rio" Los Pikadientes De Caborca

Regional Mexican Album Of The Year, Solo Artist
* "Una Noche De Madrid: Marco Antonio Solis En Vivo" Marco Antonio Solis
"Primera Fila" Vicente Fernandez
"Jenni" Jenni Rivera
"No Molestar" Marco Antonio Solis

Regional Mexican Album Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Si Tu Te Vas" Los Temerarios
"Tu Inspiracion" Alacranes Musical
"Con Banda" Los Dareyes De La Sierra
"Vamonos Pa'l Rio" Los Pikadientes De Caborca

LATIN RHYTHM

Latin Rhythm Airplay Song Of The Year, Solo
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Permitame" Tony Dize
"Dime" Ivy Queen
"Pose" Daddy Yankee

Latin Rhythm Airplay Song Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "El Perdedor" Aventura
"Na Na Na" Angel & Khriz
"Ahora Es" Wisin & Yandel
"Siguelo" Wisin & Yandel

Latin Rhythm Album Of The Year, Solo
* "Te Quiero" Flex
"Wisin Y Yandel Presentan La Mente Maestra" DJ Nesty
"La Melodia De La Calle" Tony Dize
"Talento De Barrio (Soundtrack) Daddy Yankee

Latin Rhythm Album Of The Year, Duo Or Group
* "Wisin Vs. Yandel: Los Extraterrestres" Wisin & Yandel
"La Novela" Akwid
"Nuevas Metas" La Factoria
"The Royalty/La Realeza" RKM & Ken-Y

Ruben Blades y Los Seis del Solar on the Billboard awards

Aventura y Wisin y Yandel y Akon "It's All Up to You" on the Billboard 2009 awards

I put the Paulina Rubio performance on the Spanish-speaking rock chicks rule thread, although she's more pop than rock.

I'm very disappointed by a lot of the winners, especially Ivy Queen's lame-ass bachata song and Jenni Rivera's...well, everything about Jenni Rivera; I can't understand her appeal. And I'm kinda pissed that Wisin y Yandel's reissued deluxe edition beat out Akwid's awesome album for Latin Rhythm Album of the Year, Duo or Group.

I wonder how this was:
from Wayne Marshall's wayne and wax site
Friday, April 17, 2009:
2:00 - 3:45
>> iReggaetón! Perreo and Beyond
Venue: JBL Theater

Reggaetón and especially perreo, the genre’s doggystyle dance, has been accused of facilitating corruption. This discussion, keyed to a new book, links sympathetic and critical observers from the humanities and social sciences, visual artists and genre performers, and a perspective from Jamaica.

Moderated by: Alexandra Vazquez
Featuring: Wayne Marshall, Raquel Rivera, Alexandra Vazquez

I’m sorry to report that our “perspective from Jamaica” will be absent from the conversation. We were excited to have Sonjah Stanley Niaah join us, but at the last minute she was unable to make the trip. That’s unfortunate, especially since I’m eager to talk about perreo (aka, winding, grinding, freaking, etc.) in cross-cultural perspective, not to mention reaffirming the links between reggaeton and reggae. We’ll still do all that, no doubt, especially anticipating all the knowledgeable colleagues who might be in the audience. But it would have been great to have Sonjah inna the house.

For my part, I’ll be discussing the circulation of “perreo” outside of Puerto Rico — both traveling with and, interestingly, also without reggaeton. See, e.g., Colombia, where you get perreo con champeta

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:07 PM Bookmark

What I learned at EMP:

* "Te Quiero" Flex

Is this thing ever going to go away?

I'm very disappointed by a lot of the winners

Same here, except I think I'd add I'm disappointed by the nominees as well. On the other hand, not much from this period of time has really excited me, especially from the mainstream. (And that's not to say there's been a whole lot of other stuff that's excited me either.)

I think there is a post conference blog about the perreo thing on Reggaetonica.

Ahora Es should have beaten El Perdedor IMO.
Im sick of that Nigga. I mean, I am sick of Flex.

For some reason I feel I am supposed to hate Pitbull, but I can't. Was THIS the awards show that he won on? I should read my own blogs.

I am pleased to see La Republica representing, and yes, I am happy to see a little more negritude than we have seen in recent years. The whole tropical duo or group section was more colorful than usual.Like 100%. Almost enough to make me forget that Flex is named Nigga because he isn't but sings like one.
Is that the other side of "if u cant beat them join them"? If you cant beat them,invite them in and let them on YOUR team?

I am allowed to say that sort of stuff in light (no nonpun intended?) of the thread title.

:) The internets suck.When you write this sort of stuff it looks sort of angry and scary, not like the writing of a woman who played kd lang and sinead for 24 hours straight last weekend.

Corriente Latina podcasts rock. Go check em out.

ignore my new site for now. im still gathering info for articles, i have literally YEARS of collected stuff i want to post. but in the meantime i have been straying from my intended focus, because i have to get myself into the habit of blogging daily. so i'm posting things that actually belong on other blogs

but it will be pretty much about ME, with a heavy emphasis on culture in the form of music, foodways, I mean cooking, folk medicine and so forth. oh, and me hating on The Man.

Anyway, more seriously about the EMP panel, I missed Raquel's presentation and part of Wayne's because I had to run a meeting out in the burbs. Wayne focused on perreo's reach in South America, and included a lot of youtube clips, including the one above. Alex's was about sexual representations the power women have in sexualized dancing and perreo specifically. I talked with Raquel after the panel and she said she would post hers on her blog. I talked to Wayne a bit over the weekend to, but mostly catching up on what each other have been up to since we last crossed paths.

I left the word "and" out somewhere in there.

i think i'd forgotten flex is/was nigga. i'm under the impression that aside from the awards te quiero is finally deaded, even in dc at places that usually beat popular songs into the ground i hadn't been hearing it for a few weeks now.

Lotsa live music coming to the DC area in May

May 8th-Elvis Martinez (Dominican bachata I think) at El Boqueron 2, 1330 E Gude Dr., Rockville, MD

May 14-Voltio (veteran Puerto Rican Spanish-language rapper) at Terra Mare, 6108 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA

May 15-Zion y Lennox at Fur, 33 Patterson St. NE DC

Fri. May 22-Bio Ritmo (salsa and funk) at the Rock n Roll Hotel, H. St NE

Sat. May 23-Tito El Bambino (reggaeton) at the Star Lounge, 7203 Little River Tpke, Annandale, VA

Thurs. May 28-Arcangel at Ibiza, NE DC

Fri. May 29-Fri. May 29-Gilberto Santa Rosa and Victor Manuelle (salsa singers) at Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA

DJ Rupture's radio show Wednesday May 6

On Wednesday, May 6th, 7-8PM EST, Raquel Z. Rivera and Wayne & Wax, co-editors of the new ‘Reggaeton’ book, will be joining me live in studio for Mudd Up! radio (WFMU 91.1 FM NYC, streaming worldwide, no te lo pierdas!) !

From Panamanians to Playeros to post-DemBoleros, they’ll be spinning rarities alongside discussion of the genre’s complex roots and current possibilities.

also for nyc, they're going to be talking the book at the center for pr studies at hunter college on thursday.

I missed the radio show. Wonder if its archived? I'll have to go check.

http://www.wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=31359&archive=52082

This Jowell y Randy is not so bad, I guess:

(With enthusiasm like that. . . But anyway I think some of you will like it.)

NEWSFLASH...
Descarga.com has received confirmation that the venerable salsa label, FANIA, has just been SOLD. Emusica, who had purchased Fania in 2005, has sold it's assets to Signal-Equity, the very same group that recently purchased West Side/Seeco. I just got off the phone with a representative of Signal (yes folks, that's my Friday night) and, although few details were offered, I can say that they seem very respectful of the catalog and appear to be committed to doing the right thing with this historically significant material. Look for more formal announcements and release plans later this summer/early fall. And while the 400+ existing Emusica/Fania titles are still currently available, experience tells me that there might be scarcity of product until a re-reissue plan takes effect. Distribution channels are still, as of yet, unknown. We will do our best to keep you posted as more details about the Fania turnover unfold. In the meantime, you might consider stocking up on titles you are missing...
FANIA

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db

I still need to listen to my recent Emusica/Fania purchases from the Borders 50% off certain cds sale

Wisin y Yandel with Yaviah and Franco El Gorila "me La Llevo"

http://www.imeem.com/people/B3ZD9Qf/video/iVN8uxzU/wisin-yandel-ft-yaviah-franco-el-gorila-me-la-llevo-music-vi/