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

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.)