Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2015 and onward: Salsa, Bomba, Merengue,Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin-Jazz and more

Saw Jose Alberto live a couple times many years back and he put on great shows both times. Will check that out

More salsa choque. This one has a guest spot by Nejo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6sPuZkLlHk

Not the best thing ever, but pretty much the only recent type of salsa that doesn't put me to sleep.

Not salsa, but same act as above:

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

Yes to ChocQuibtown. Below is an hour live performance video of Peruvian Amazonian cumbia and surf band Los Wembler's de Iquitos, whose final US gig (I think) on their current tour is tonight at Tropicalia in DC

http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M6387&type=A

RIP Joan Sebastian, dead at 64 (bone cancer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YicJ12EUZz8&list=PLhcFW8IkJSPLpJ8ziFTJ38ydsub5rc1AQ

Cuba's Los Van Van, led by the late founder's son are on a tour now. Have liked them live in the past:

07th WASHINGTON DC – Howard Theatre
08th NEW YORK CITY – Lehman Center
09th CHICAGO – Thalia Hall
13th LOS ANGELES – Conga Room
14th SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Jazz Center
16th LAS VEGAS – Sam’s Town Hotel
19th ALBUQUERQUE – National Hispanic Cultural Center Plaza Mayor
20th DENVER – City Hall
21st NEW YORK CITY – BB King’s
22nd SAN JUAN, PR – Centro de Convenciones
28th ORLANDO – Majestic Convention center
29th MIAMI – James L Night Center

I was away and missed Los Van Van's gig near me.

Chico O"Farrill just was in Cuba again:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/arts/music/cuba-the-conversation-continues-and-live-in-cuba-expand-a-musical-dialogue.html?ribbon-ad-idx=24&rref=arts/music&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Music&pgtype=article

Surely you mean his son, Arturo.

Ha, of course.

Speaking of Cubans, the current version of Buena Vista Social Club is on tour and the Pedrito Martinez Group is opening.

Author Ned Sublette is doing tours of Cuba starting soon. Twice a year I think

This YouTube channel is pretty great. A lot of amazing album covers.

http://www.youtube.com/user/carlosgulfo/videos

http://www.billboard.com/charts/latin-songs

Put here to remind me to check out some pop

Will do the above shortly, as I was checking out a live review of ArcAngel and De la Ghetto, reggaetoners who still/used to make the charts.

But Saturday night I instead saw NYC based Cuban percussionist/singer Pedrito Martinez and his combo do a half-hour opening set for Buena Vista Social Club(4 oldtimers plus 9 newer folks of various ages) out at Wolf Trap Park. Very enjoyable all around.

The 2015 edition of Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band is at the Blue Note in NYC this week. Brother Andy G is just there on certain nights. Tain Watts is drumming

I guess he still lives in Spain now. No US gigs anywhere else

Today on Burning Ambulance, I premiered a track from Banda de los Muertos, a group of Brooklyn jazz dudes who play Mexican banda, and do it straight up, no Tzadik-y "let's mix it with Cambodian surf rock!" BS. Check it out if you want.

Thanks. I am barely keeping up on another ilx contributor's blog that covers banda and more

http://nortenoblog.com/2015/09/02/who-played-it-better-ariel-camacho-or-these-dudes/

Wow, that Youtube old-school salsa channel with the album covers linked above is something...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/reunited-arcangel-and-de-la-ghetto-spice-up-reggaeton-but-sizzles-missing/2015/08/30/34a78170-4f33-11e5-b225-90edbd49f362_story.html

So that Brooklyn banda band mentioned upthread just got mentioned on NPR Morning Edition ( a focus on 3 albums their global music person likes--others were a Bollywood soundtrack and a Sekou Keita kora one). But has a Mexican banda band ever been mentioned at NPR I wonder?

Worked late so i did not see Pedrito Martinez group on their return to DC-- a free gig on the front plaza of the Kennedy Center near the special temporary skateboarding bowl that was set up there. Woo hoo, Afro-Cuban jazz and skaters. They have had multiple genre acts out there. There might be video of them up on the K. Ctr Mill. Stage website.

Wanna see and dance to Oscar D'Leon this weekend, but I have a conflict. He was great years ago when I saw him at a late night gig

Curious about bilingual Mexican pop-rapper Becky G, who is getting lots of attention these days

Plus Dafnis Prieto and band's new Latin-jazz effort Triangles and Circles

More than 20,000 recorded tracks by the likes of Irakere, Los Van Van, Bola de Nieve, Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, among many others, will get new life thanks to a global licensing agreement struck Tuesday (Sept. 15) between Sony Music Entertainment and the Havana-based Egrem (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales, or Enterprise of Recordings and Musical Editions in English).

With U.S. & Cuba Relations Thawing, Cuban Musicians Are Ready to Come to America

Egrem’s catalog, the most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world, encompasses audio and audiovisual recordings produced since the 1960s.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6699585/sony-egrem-cuban-music-catalog-agreement

(Oops. Didn't edit that cut and paste properly.)

good enough to get the point across about all that music

http://www.billboard.com/photos/6686047/50-most-essential-latin-albums-past-50-years/6

There's probably another thread I should put this on

Never liked Mana

More from Billboard

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6693102/bogota-music-market-colombian-artists-you-need-to-know

Interesting list. I've heard 13 of those, and there are a few more I'd like to check out.

N#d S#bl%tte on Egram and Cuban music and the US

Cuban music was repressed in Miami through terrorism -- I remember one DJ who played Cuban music on a non-commercial station there checking his car in the morning for bombs -- through repudio (organized mob action), through blacklisting of performers who traveled to Cuba, and under an absolute ironclad boycott enforced by Miami broadcasters, who wouldn't even take payola to play it, and ultimately by advertisers. "I'll play it when there is a free Cuba," said one Miami program director to me on the phone when I brought him NG La Banda in 1992, in tones of moral righteousness that I have never otherwise heard in hit-driven radio, about any issue.

It had consequences. The greatest, most innovative Latin dance music of the 90s -- Los Van Van, NG La Banda, Adalberto y Su Son, Charanga Habanera, Paulito Y Su Elite, Manolito y Su Trabuco, and many more -- achieved musical immortality, and built fan bases in cities all around the world, but they didn't get the kind of commercial rewards they merited, as mainstream outlets pretended this music just didn't exist. The genre of timba was mediatically silenced while it was at its apogee in about 1992 though '97, contributing to the climate in which the Buena Vista Social Club movie could popularize an image of a Cuba bereft of contemporary culture, though nothing could have been further from the truth.

Cuban artists occasionally wound up as a low-priority release on one or another major label, typically acquired as part of a foreign catalog from a third country, but generally were not heard on major labels or on US radio or TV, for reasons that had nothing to with content. (Though there was also the fact that the artists were generally blacker than most of what's allowed on corporate Spanish-language TV, which seems to take place in some Spanish-speaking white universe.) There still seems to be a commercial radio boycott of Cuban music in the US, but now that people under 30 don't know what a radio is and have stopped buying records, it matters much less.

Oops,didn't c & P the section on Egrem (now spelled right) just the latter portion

It had consequences. The greatest, most innovative Latin dance music of the 90s -- Los Van Van, NG La Banda, Adalberto y Su Son, Charanga Habanera, Paulito Y Su Elite, Manolito y Su Trabuco, and many more

It may be the most innovative, but I still think these bands are all overrated (yes, including Van Van). I wish there had been no embargo so that I wouldn't have to hear timba boosters belly aching about how their music missed its chance to become wildly popular with Latin music fans in the U.S.

The only Palmieri on the 50 album list is the mediocre collaboration with Tito Puente?

Looks like a number of the salsa selections are collaborations. Too many glitzy glossy balladeers on that list for me, but other choices are of interest

This is a quick, third-quarter reminder that all available tracks mentioned on this thread (and/or an album selection from each listed) are being updated to the thread-specific Spotify playlist as posted. I just did another top-to-bottom sweep prior to posting this message and have revised as of today with everything that's been added since first mentioned. Subscribe if you're into it!

It's 62 tracks, over 4 hours long.

Rolling Latin / Afro-Latin 2015 Thread Spotify Playlist

So cool that you're doing this!

Dafnis Prieto and band's new Latin jazz effort Triangles and Circles

Finally listened...It's a decent jazz record.

Listening to LaFourcade again as she is on a North American tour. Album starts strong and despite a few weak cuts near the end, it satisfies in that guitar-pop manner she has long done. I guess as long she just sings in Spanish, she will never get much Pitchfork or other crossover love.

Here's what was said about her earlier this year here--

------------ ----------------

Natalia Lafourcade's new album Hasta La Raíz comes out today. I'm listening to it on Spotify and it's fucking great; will probably buy it from Amazon MP3 by day's end.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6DWTUm9rifRvl5PTyNMwqV

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, March 17, 2015 1:53 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cool. Like her too and will give it a listen. My only concern in advance is that she was a bit uneven live when I saw her perform last year.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, March 17, 2015 1:58 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a very produced record. Not in the sense that it sounds of-the-moment; it's got a classic '60s vibe (strings, heavily reverbed guitars, etc.), with very few concessions to the 21st Century.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, March 17, 2015 2:06 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still need to get to that. On my list

― curmudgeon, Saturday, March 21, 2015 3:31 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Finally gave Lafourcade a quick listen. I like it too, and like Venegas it has that timeless Latin-American indie-pop feel that they both can do so well. Trying to figure out why they do it more impresively than many folks singing in English---better craft, better melodies...

― curmudgeon, Thursday, March 26, 2015 2:17 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark

the Lafourcade album i getting some sort of re-release now.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6708068/natalia-lafourcade-latin-grammy-nominations-hasta-la-raiz-leonel-garcia

It’s been a huge week for Natalia Lafourcade -- and one in which she hasn’t slept much. But that’s quite all right, because the Mexican indie pop darling has been celebrating her five Latin Grammy nominations, including album of the year for Hasta La Raíz and song and record of the year for its title song.

It was a rather unexpected triumph, since Lafourcade hasn’t had a presence on the Billboard charts in years, but it’s also a reaffirmation that great music from quieter artists is still being recognized in a major way.

The magic is in Lafourcade’s collaboration with fellow Mexican singer-songwriter (and former Sin Bandera member) Leonel García, who scored the most nominations (six) this year -- three of them for Lafourcade’s “Hasta La Raíz,” which they co-wrote. The two had worked together on several past projects, including García’s Todas Mías album in 2013 and her own tribute album to the late Mexican icon Agustín Lara Mujer Divina in 2012.

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club® has been invited to perform at The White House this Thursday, October 15, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, where a delegation of about 500 dignitaries and politicians from around the world will be hosted by President Barack Obama.

All the press release news you need to know...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESri9bP7qcI

Winstar?! My first thought was: get out of here! But I guess it's from the name of a famous car.

I heard a bunch of new "tropical" music in my room while I was out of town, on a Music Choice channel (odd operation), so I still need to sort through some of that, but I notice there is an awful lot of new reggaeton that sounds like a weaker version of Jowell & Randy from a few years back. Meanwhile, an entire pop bachata industry should be giving thanks every day to Aventura. I am ready for it to go away. And everyone is wearing leather jackets. I am hoping the younger Dominicans in NYC will come up with something new and exciting. (Maybe they already have, and I probably simply haven't heard it.)

I'm not sure I have ever been right when I've said about some pop music trend: this can't last.

Like some of what I heard by Jory Boy. Haven't listened to the album yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz3obZL2IGo&list=PLOKZoLC5WhHcgnmOkouuBF3Sx6hbrUVyQ

(Jury is still out.)

It may be that I was just hard up for music.

OK, this is one I heard and specifically like, now that I've listened to a bit of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbv6G6V2hfM

but I notice there is an awful lot of new reggaeton that sounds like a weaker version of Jowell & Randy from a few years back. Meanwhile, an entire pop bachata industry should be giving thanks every day to Aventura

Yep, can't really add to this, but that's my take on this as well

http://latinjazznet.com/2015/06/12/reviews/cds/tropical-report/ruben-blades-new-album-son-de-panama/

with Roberto Delgado's band

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6678596/ruben-blades-salsa-alter-ego-fear-the-walking-dead

I haven't listened to this yet...Blades is keeping busy

Not seeing Blades album on Spotify. Spotify search engine can be weird. Will check again later and elsewhere

New Grupo Niche album. Have not heard it yet, but I think they are still a force to be reckoned with.

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25820.10?NrgkSHwE;;397

OK. On closer inspection it seems to be remakes, or mostly remakes at the very least, but that's not necessarily all bad. They've done worthwhile remakes of their own material in the past. I'm surprised to find there are still good Niche songs that I either haven't heard or don't recognize. Haven't looked on Spotify yet, but there it is for now on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYo6c9kMpvM

I am not too interested in Blades at this point, but I might give a listen at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHosLW2NlYg

For the Spotify playlist, I am requesting that you stick to the more driving tracks. I don't generally like when Niche veers toward the salsa romantica end of things. Of course, this is just a request. You can do what you want. I think some of those more salsa romantica songs are actually more popular in Colombia than a lot of my favorites.

But anyway, other highlights (besides El Coco) for me would be: Mi Negrita y la Calentura, Primer Mensaje, and Primero y Que. Maybe a couple at the end too, but I need to listen more.

Also, you are very fast! I was shocked to see tracks from the album there already.

I'd like Spanish fries with that too.

There was some discussion over at salsaforums about how timba sounding or not this track is. At any rate, it does pull together a slightly novel blend of elements:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9kNd8EVMv8

Here's Oscar D'Leon and here's El Mola was on Bannakumbi's debut.

(I was adding a "who" but somehow clicked on send. Must have been some delayed scrolling.)

"As one of today’s most unique and prepared artists and musicians, Jorge Villamizar is a household name across the Americas and the Caribbean." (Wikipedia)

(El Mola is not really one of my favorite parts of that Bannakumbi album, but anyway. . .)

I was thinking that right now there are three political/social and/or economic trends that could lead to new developments in musica antillana:

• The US opening to Cuba, allowing more communication and collaboration to and from Cuba.
• The influx of Dominicans into NYC. This is already breeding a number of minor bachata stars. Maybe something more interesting will come of it. (One can hope.)
• The economic deterioration of Puerto Rico, which is likely to lead to more Puerto Ricans moving to mainland United States. I am not happy the Puerto Rican economy is in such dire straits, I am just pointing out that it could lead to some sort of new developments musically, especially if large numbers of Puerto Ricans relocate to the US.

I am not going to make any specific predictions (I'm sure they'd be wrong), but I think we could see some clearly new developments ten years from now.

(Sorry, I think the Bannakumbi album I am talking about what not actually their debut.)

my first First Listen listen to Grupo Fantasma's Problemas(Oct. 30) immediately had me walking into the club, eyes all over the place behind my shades; eyes all over the joint all over me too, with searching horns, especially: nuanced but never navelgazing, reaching and pushing, rough-edged and thoughtful and alert. Haven't gotten equally into all tracks, but several things are remarkable (intriguing fade of penultimate, which I'd love to hear further explored live; casually complex flair of finale, for two). The bolero version of Los Beatles' "Because" ("Porque") will get them played and maybe interviewed on World Cafe etc., but they go way past that all the time. Listening on sub-sub-audiophile headphones and distractable work computer, but pretty sure it's pretty good:
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/21/449220567/first-listen-grupo-fantasma-problemas

Even better so far (think I mentioned this before, but hey)
http://www.stereogum.com/1804712/stream-malportado-kids-total-cultura/mp3s/

That's the side-project band from punksters the Downtown Boys. I like 'em better than the Downtown Boys.

Ruben Blades with Roberto Delgado "Son de Panama" album is on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCCNx07drdQ

I think some folks including me talked about that Malportado Kids release back in May; but on the Downtown Boys thread

•The influx of Dominicans into NYC. This is already breeding a number of minor bachata stars. Maybe something more interesting will come of it. (One can hope.)

Bachata has become so successful as it features young heartthrobs singing sappy songs that appeal to Latin radio & tv; fans of all ages from everywhere who like melodic songs (its kind of the successor to salsa romantica) and it has just enough rhythm and edge to appeal to others.

But yea, hopefully there will be something more. Some of the Cubans and Puerto Ricans in NYC who seek to do something "different", end up just playing formulaic (to some of us) Latin Jazz

xpost Yeah, I agree re preferring Malportado Kids to Downtown Boys---for one thing, the lead singer seems more confident/less brash-to-strained in the former---do I mean "less punk"? No. And the DBs certainly have their moments.

OT: Since Ned Sublette gets a lot of mention here, three may be interest in his impressive looking new book:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Slave-Coast-Slave-Breeding-Industry/dp/1613748205/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446145695&sr=1-1

Ned and his co-writer, wife Constance, are doing some bookstore and university appearances for this effort

Ned's such a great writer and thinker - will definitely have to check that out.

Amen. He also produced some amazing shows for Afropop Worldwide, and, while not as relevant to this thread as some other tracks (some of his other solo guitar excursions) on his wonderful Kiss Me Down South, the following, though also relatively laidback, is pretty cool ( with other Ned on this page, suce as "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other, " later covered by Willie Nelson for Brokeback Mountain)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Q7JjcsF_A

I still need to check out Cowboy Rhumba.

His current book apparently covers how the Confederate South wanted to take over Cuba.

Unrelated-- As a Grupo Niche fan myself, I need to check out that latest one, and some other stuff Rudy posted. Plus that Grupo Fantasma Texas group Dow mentioned (and that others have discussed here over the years)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/theater/sergio-trujillo-realizes-his-dream-of-salsa-on-broadway.html?_r=0

This Colombian 52 year-old choreographer is handling the choreography for the upcoming On Your Feet!,” a musical take on Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s rise to fame,

His Broadway résumé covers a wide stylistic swath of shows, but Mr. Trujillo says that he doesn’t have a choreographic trademark, other than a focus on fitting dance seamlessly into the world of a show — whether that means the hyper-synchronized moves of “Jersey Boys,” the electric ’50s jive of “Memphis” or the truck-centric numbers in “Hands on a Hardbody.”

“Jersey Boys” and “Memphis” won Tony Awards for best musical, but Mr. Trujillo has never been nominated for his work, and his next scheduled assignment is off Broadway. Still, he seems at peace with the ups and downs of show business and relishes the challenge of making the right dance for a show’s needs. “In all of my work,” he said, “I want to create a vocabulary that expresses that particular piece.”

For “On Your Feet!,” that vocabulary happened to already be embedded within Mr. Trujillo, who began dancing salsa as a boy.

More than any show Mr. Trujillo has worked on, “On Your Feet!” throbs with movement. The rapid-fire salsa steps that anchor musical numbers and seamlessly link scenes match the brassy energy of Ms. Estefan’s hit songs. The intimacy of salsa partnering likewise reflects the warmth of the Estefans’ Cuban culture and the easy intimacy they share as a couple

New Joe Bataan track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Lf8mET7Qk

And here's some live footage from July:

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

I liked Bataan live when I saw him a few years back. He's still entertaining.

New school Puerto Rican reggaeton (Farruko) and new school Colombian reggaeton (J. Balvin) are both big...Here's a Farruko interview excerpt

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6752869/farruko-visionary-reggaeton-no-1-interview

There’s a new tendency of reggaeton coming from Colombia, which is what Maluma, Nicky and Balvin are doing. I’ve stayed more within classic reggaeton but I fuse it with other styles. People like the Colombian movement, but I’ve stayed around here. I’m more Caribbean, more reggae, and I like to fuse more with electronic music. I’m taking another path.

http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/culture/design/216801-designers-latin-club-night-posters

The Chucho Valdes & his (young) Afro-Cuban Messengers show I saw tonight was not advertised on a poster, but I did see an ad for it on a DC Latin concert list website. Nice gig. More jazz than straight-up Cuban dance, but there were a couple of rhythmic songs, plus some Afro-Cuban chants and plenty of percussion(a percussionist with various hand-held instruments; a conga player and a trap drummer). Great 5 man horn section too(2 saxes, 2 trumpets and a flugelhorn)

saw Portuguese / Cape Verdean singer songwriter Sara Tavares tonight; beautiful singer and guitarist and just utterly charming. Great show, especially the moments that veered towards zouk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFS6TfuoATo

Haven't listened to Tavares in a long time, but yep, her more rhythmic songs are better than her singer/songwriter folky ones as I recall

Latin Grammys are on Univision right now. No salsa so far. I missed some of it, but have seen Banda el Recodo and pop and pop-rock people. Julieta Venegas presented an award. Tego Calderon won an award.

Who should win album of the year at Latin Grammys?
Hasta La Raíz, Natalia Lafourcade
Creo En Mí, Natalia Jiménez
Todo Tiene Su Hora, Juan Luis Guerra 4.40
Sirope, Alejandro Sanz
Caja De Música, Monsieur Periné
Orígenes: El Bolero Volumen 3, Café Quijano
Consentido, María Toledo
MTV Unplugged, Pepe Aguilar
Son de Panamá, Rubén Blades con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta
Amo, Miguel Bosé

At the end of the Los Tigres del Norte song a banner was held up onstage that said in Spanish "don't vote for racists"

Natalia Lafourcade won I think 3 awards, and did a nice performance too.

She did "Hasta la Raiz" which won song of the year. Nice pop

http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/latin-awards/6770030/latin-grammys-2015-winners-list

Some other winners

BEST SALSA ALBUM
Son De Panamá - Rubén Blades Con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta -- WINNER
Jukebox Primera Edición - Luis Enrique
Que Suenen Los Tambores - Víctor Manuelle
Son 45 - Ismael Miranda
Estaciones - Rey Ruiz

BEST CUMBIA/VALLENATO ALBUM
Por Siempre - Américo
Sencillamente - Jorge Celedón & Gustavo García -- WINNER
Sigo Invicto - Silvestre Dangond & Lucas Dangond
Al Son De Mi Corazón - Gusi
El Camino De Mi Existencia - Ivan Villazón y Saúl Lallemand

BEST CONTEMPORARY TROPICAL ALBUM
Buen Camino - Lucas Arnau
Lloviendo Estrellas - Leslie Grace
Presente Continuo - Guaco
Todo Tiene Su Hora - Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 -- WINNER
Johnny Sky - Johnny Sky

BEST TRADITIONAL TROPICAL ALBUM
#SiguedeModa - Checo Acosta
Tributo A Los Compadres No Quiero Llanto - José Alberto "El Canario" & Septeto Santiaguero -- WINNER
Homenaje A Tito Rodríguez - Rafael "Pollo" Brito
El Alma Del Son – Tributo A Matamoros - Alain Pérez
Locos Por El Son - Sonlokos

BEST TROPICAL FUSION ALBUM
Radio Universo - Chino y Nacho
El Mismo - ChocQuibTown -- WINNER
Esa Morena - Daiquiri
The King Is Back - Juan Magan
El Día Que Vuelva - Jorge Villamizar

BEST TROPICAL SONG
"Agua Bendita" - Andrés Castro & Víctor Manuelle, songwriters (Víctor Manuelle)
"Cómo Duele El Silencio" - Edgar Barrera, Efraín Dávila, Guianko Gómez & Leslie Grace, songwriters (Leslie Grace)
"Tú Tienes Razón (Bachata)" - Gusi, songwriter (Gusi)
"Tus Besos" - Juan Luis Guerra, songwriter (Juan Luis Guerra 4.40) -- WINNER
"Ya Comenzó" - Alex Cuba, Luis Enrique & Fernando Osorio, songwriters (Luis Enrique)

ChocQuibTown are great; nice to see them win.
I fucking hate Juan Luis Guerra.

ChocQuibTown performed too.

I think you and Rudiph and maybe others hate Juan Luis Guerra and I forget why? I saw him live once and was entertained by his merengue and more rhythms. Is it because he became a born-again Christian? My Spanish is so poor that I have no idea if that is what he is singing about. Curious to hear your reasons. Although I might decided to just show up on metal and free jazz threads and announce my hatred for such musicians.

I had no idea he was a Christian. I hate him because I don't like the sound of his voice, and I find his music to be very NPR/"world-music-is-good-for-you," over and above my well-documented loathing for merengue and bachata in general.

Ok....His audience remains Spanish speakers only btw, I don't see any evidence he has reached NPR types for what its worth.

The voice that grated on me was that of the singer of Bomba Estereo. Her group was doing a special performance with guest Will Smith.

See, her (and them) I like. Not the song with Will Smith, though. I like this one (their first, or at least breakthrough, single):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZXlgNMDK3E

Here's what Ned Subl*tte likes:

Applause for José Alberto "El Canario" (New York) and Septeto Santiaguero (Cuba), whose Tributo a Los Compadres: No Quiero Llanto won and very much deserved the Latin Grammy for traditional tropical. It's a knockout. A fabulous production, a distinguished repertoire, a shining example of international collaboration with Cuba, the best new son record I've heard in years, a very specific statement of a particular musical connection between Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and somehow, as traditional as the style is, it's a contemporary moment. Good for dancing, too. OMG, with Oscar d'León. Ismael Miranda. Andy Montañez. Tiburón Morales. The Conga de Los Hoyos, no less. Eliades Ochoa. Lots more. Pure joy. It's on Spotify, if you have that.

Listening to the above one now...So good so far

As we move to the end of the year, I'd like to drop a quick note to encourage any readers / lurkers / ilxors to post their favorite spanish language tracks from this year to the thread so that I can hoover them into the ongoing spotify playlist. Last chance for any accessible stragglers that may not already be in the lexicon.

Thanks.

I need to listen to that El Canario and Santiaguero one again.

Not my thing. I didn't get through it once.

Cuban folkloric

I prefer the Jose Alberto of Tipica 73's "Baila Que Baila" or RMMish stuff like "A la hora que me llamen voy" or "Quiero Salsa" (which might be SONY but still RMMIsh).

Not that anyone who has gone salsa dancing a little in the last 15 years hasn't heard "Quiero Salsa" a billion times already, but I am afraid I am still a sucker for it.

new Meridian Brothers record:

https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/sounds-in-context-meridian-brothers/

It's a project dedicated to the organ. I was inspired by the ambient Hammond organists in Latin America, a style that developed in parallel to easy listening music genres in 60’s & 70’s. Organists from Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panamá and Brazil developed a remarkable style performing with backing bands that played traditional instruments, with the organ as the central instrument – in some cases achieving really beautiful results. A sub-genre of organ cumbia was created also. This music is still played at some of the "sonideros" parties in Mexico and is very popular in Ecuador.

Starting from some of these records, I decided to investigate this style, using the timbre of the organ, but developing the style further and turning it into a kind of "impossible organ" music – a kind of un-easy listening. I used the same background instrumentation as was used in some of the tunes I was inspired by: double bass pizzicato, jazz-like drums and the organ (using software and hardware synthesizers). Occasionally, I also used drum machines and other electronic sounds. Because it's very difficult to play it on the organ alone, I used the sequencing capabilities of Ableton Live and Max for Live in order to achieve this "impossible" sound I wanted.

xps

amanecer is prob my AOY, every track on that one is a TUNE

so far only seen it on the RS year-end, at #50

Alright, maybe I will give Bomba Estereo another shot...

Aventura, with Romeo Santos, to reunite for NYC shows in February. These tickets are gonna go fast.

Oh yeah.

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/457388574/latitudes-our-favorite-global-music-right-now

NPR's global and classical person went to Cuba...She saw the funky Havana musical collective Interactivo and talks about them and others including Ibeyi . Plus she went to the Egram label studio and offices

That Meridian Brothers records is str8 fire, TYVM crüt. Pairs up nicely with the Rionegro debut's vibe.

I like some Meridian Brothers tracks (using cumbia and champeta rhythms), but not others. Was not a fan of Salvadora Robot album cuts that relied too much on animal sounds, Zappa-esque humor, and lounge keyboard grooves influenced by Esquivel.

Ned Subll*te's been emailing about Puerto Rico's financial issues. He posted a forthcoming American Prospect website article--

Puerto Rico’s citizens have moved out. “More people have left Puerto Rico over last two years than all of the 1980s and 1990s,” says LeCompte of Jubilee USA. Austerity measures hurt the poor much more than the nouveau riche. And this suffering creates a vicious cycle: Puerto Rican out-migration erodes the tax base and causes a severe talent drain, increasing desperation. “A doctor a day has left the island,” says Torres-Ríos. “I was at an emergency room, someone said ‘I’ve been waiting 13 hours.’ There’s no staff to handle it.”

NPR's poll of 147 jazz critics also asks them if they so choose, to do a separate list of Latin jazz albums. This year's results

LATIN

1. Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Cuba: The Conversation Continues (Motema). 41 votes

2. Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, 10 (Zoho). 7

3. Dafnis Prieto Sextet, Triangles and Circles (Dafnison Music). 5

4. Samuel Torres Group, Forced Displacement (Zoho). 4

I vote in that poll, but I admit I didn't vote for a Latin jazz title. Didn't hear enough to offer an honest choice.

I listened to a bit of the O'Farrill and the Prieto releases listed, and was not wowed by either. They're ok

From J Shep's contribution to the Slate critics roundtable on the year in music 2015

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_music_club/features/2015/music_club_2015/kendrick_lamar_s_to_pimp_a_butterfly_captured_2015_better_than_any_other.html

Major Lazer’s reverse-crossover from the mainstream into the Latin charts was one of the year’s most interesting developments, precisely because it remains so difficult for Spanish-language artists to break into the American mainstream. Balvin was ubiquitous this year on the Latin charts, but outside of Latin publications we heard barely a peep about Dale, Pitbull’s latest Spanish-language album and arguably one of his best, or of Natalia Lafourcade’s typically gorgeous Hasta la Raíz, whose title track won not only Song of the Year but Record of the Year at the Latin Grammys.

I'm wrapping this playlist for the year. It has been updated with a few new adds (Arturo O'Farrill, Grupo Fantasma, CocoBlue, Ivy Queen) and includes every track mentioned on thread that is available via Spotify's US catalogue as of EOY 2015. If I missed something or if a track comes available sometime in the future, bump here to let me know and I'll add.

Rolling Latin and Afro-Latin 2015 Thread Spotify Playlist

Cool, thanks

Forks, we are just gonna keep using this thread I think, because there are not usually enough postings. But you can go ahead and just change the year for a new Spotify playlist if you have the time. I appreciate your efforts on this...

Meanwhile, just saw this review in the Washington Post of the 2016 DC appearance of band Chicano Batman

My question--
Is multi-culti Los Angeles band Chicano Batman really better than mainstream Latin pop, or just different from it?

The band members, whose families hail from different parts of Latin America, have been playing together since 2008. It’s no surprise that a parade of multicultural rhythms filled their childhood homes. They’ve said in interviews that there was some Carlos Santana, some Cream, some pop-rock ballads from Los Angeles Negros. Chicano Batman’s namesake debut, as well as its most recent album, “Cycles of Existential Rhyme,” draws from all of these influences and pick up where their parents’ generation left off.

Onstage, these guys are as weird and idiosyncratic as their songs (in a good way). Martinez is a tangle of hair and energy as he alternates between flopping over his keyboard and bending over his guitar. The band members are rock stars when it comes to jamming out on groovier songs, but they keep it cool and relaxed for tracks such as the mopey, ­cantina-style “Itotiani.”

At one point, Martinez took a step back and gave the mic to bassist Eduardo Arenas, who provided lead vocals on “La Manzanita.” The song is everything good about cumbia: bouncy, buoyant and a little rickety.

Add the magical touch of Chicano Batman’s whining guitars, and it elicits the feeling you get when you spin around on the dance floor until the figures around you blur. With a sound like that, it could very well be that these four unassuming heroes can save the world from the monotony of mainstream Latin pop.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/chicano-batman-wins-over-crowds-with-unique-psychedelic-sound/2016/01/03/505f514e-b23f-11e5-8abc-d09392edc612_story.html

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist
^ will start updating around February

Someone needs to start new thread.

RIP Chocolate

One last thing: there was I guess a huge reggaeton song by Nicky Jam called "El Perdon" which was kind of a huge earworm for me despite my unfamiliarity with the genre. I'm really pussed at myself for nominating for the EOY thread, but I just learned the names of the song and the singer within the last 24 hours

Can I wish for more reggaeton itt? Trying to navigate the genre as something of a noob is quite hard.

Someone needs to start new thread.

RIP Chocolate

― Green Dolphin Street Hassle (James Redd and the Blecchs),

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6835403/chocolate-armenteros-dies-trumpet

RIP

As for a new thread, my inclination was to just go with Rudy's suggestion that we just keep using this thread because there are not enough people here into Afro-Latin musics to justify doing new ones every year. But if a number of people choose to differ and outvote us, I guess we can.

As for reggaeton, some of us here were more into it years ago and then got bored with it. But now post-bachata it is back, with some slight changes-- more auto-tuned vocals, some bachata sappiness at times, plenty of Euro and Diplo club influences. Anyone who is into it, is of course free to chime in...

Can we keep the thread but modify the title slightly to "2015+" or something?

Sure, how do we get a mod to do that...?

Go to Mod Request Borad and ask, including link to this thread.

If it's causing confusion maybe there should be a distinct 2016 thread. (Sorry, starting to change my mind about that.) I personally don't feel like I am interested enough in current Afro-Latin music (at least the part of it I find out about) to try to keep a thread like this alive any more, but this thread did get a fair number of posts last year.

I haven't watched this, but Wayne Marshall seems good for reggaeton orientation. Maybe more academic than you're asking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLOXfSQ5Zao

But anyway, 240+ posts might be respectable enough to keep doing this as an annual thing.

IMHO, for the purposes of searching for information, unique threads is really the way to go. It's not a question of "not enough posts", it's for indexing reasons.

But whatever's clever

Chocolate was responsible for many great trumpet solos.

Thanks, _Rudipherous_! I definitely need something academic, but I also v much need some help sifting through the heap of wearying dross to find the nuggets of gold.

I'm also in favour of a new thread btw.

Mi gente: Vamanos pal hilo Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2016: Salsa, Bomba, Merengue,Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin-Jazz and more

Nice!