Rolling like tumble weed Afro-Latin music thread 2012 (salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, tribal guarachero, etc.)

Fairly big crowd for Buika's first set. I think her appearance singing in the Almodovar movie and the fact that she hasn't toured since 2010 brought folks in the door. She's a free spirit and maybe could give Nicki Minaj a run in that category.

Oh, I missed Spanish Harlem Orchestra at the same time as Buika at the upscale new DC club the Hamilton, and El Canario on Saturday in Baltimore and 3Ball MTY on Sunday. Saw Jose Alberto El Canrio a long time ago, wished I could have seen 3Ball MTY but family event took priority. FauxMarc did you go?

nope, ended up endlessly brunching

Salsa dancing still diffusing in China:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2012-06/25/content_15520975.htm

Think of all the potential partners!

N'Klabe has released an album of covers including: Quitate Tu (really? they went there?), Lluvia, Persona Ideal, A Puro Dolor (!), etc. Just what the world was waitng for. Salsa is dead: stick a fork in it.

Who are the geniuses coming up with these projects?

I just found out Marlow Rosado is performing here this Friday. Whatever happened to the art of publicity?

This was a good effort:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnjtJ-NKtw

(Previous comment about the state of salsa music should not be taken as an indication that I've lost my love for salsa dancing and for salsa music at its best. It's just difficult to see how the music can recover much of its oomph at this point, unless it comes from some left field source where salsa dancing boils over so much that people start making the music and somehow breathe life into it. Like Chongqing. Doubtful though.

I still perk up when a solid Puerto Rican or Colombian salsa band comes to town.

cuz lord knows someone needs to show Cheo Feliciano how he should have sung Anacaona.

Who Will Be Playing Yomo Toro In The Soon-To-Be-Released Hector Lavoe Biopic El Cantante?

RIP cuatro player Yomo Toro

Oh no!

DC: Poirier & Boogat (DJ & MC)with Empresarios, Alma Tropicália, Maracuyeah, Fort Knox Five vs. Thunderball, Jay Clue at u hall tonight

Did not get the most exciting quotes from Poirier & Boogat when I talked on the phone to them for my W. CP blogpost that's up today. Eh, its ok. Not included in the short piece---Boogat is listening to old Fania stuff and new Schlachthofbronx from Munich; Poirier is listening to lots of dancehall. Phone connection was not the best--Boogat mentioned some other stuff I could not figure out despite asking him to repeat it.

9-10:15 - Maracuyeah (cumbia dj'ing and more)
10:15 - 11:15 - Alma Tropicalia (live band Brazilian tropicalia covers)
11:15 - 11:30 - Maracuyeah (band change-over)
11:30 - 12:30 - Empresarios (Latin funk)
12:30 - 2:00 - Poirier & Boogat
2:00 - 4:00 - fort knox five, thunderball, jayclue

Tried listening to the new Wisin y Yandel disc on Spotify. It's basically the next step down the path from pop-reggaeton to straight Euro-trance-pop, like their last three albums, but this one has a song with Chris Brown and T-Pain, and another song with Jennifer Lopez, so unlike their previous work, I won't be buying this one.

I'm glad you draw the line somewhere.

I continue to think Tito Ortos is a good role model for the sort of mixed style I dance, with lots of cross body leads, but often in a more circular form. I get annoyed when people get dogmatic about the strict linear slot thing (though I try to stick to that if that's what I'm surrounded by on a crowded dance floor, or maybe even just if I am on a crowded dance floor, since it does seem to conserve space better).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHR7s6gtwto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze4AamA-GE4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qBjjDQZmOM

funny, i was mentally dogging some people for not being the slot last night during empresarios (but it was crowded and they were really all over)

You are the enemy! Haha. I do absolutely think dancers need to be considerate and adapt to existing dance-floor conditions. A couple of my favorite semi-advanced circular moves involve fling my follower out into a free spin (and then moving with her to eventually catch her back and probably go into a CBL), not ideal for crowded floor conditions.

I still haven't even been going out, just taking classes, but hopefully I'll make it to see Marlow Rosado this Friday and maybe some other salsa nights throughout the summer. As I keep repeating, it's frustrating that the scene here is live band oriented, but particularly because so many of the bands are heavily timba influenced (and so many of the others are pretty mediocre). I probably need to watch how I say this since everybody really knows everybody else here. There is .5 degrees of separation. Word travels.

I was dancing with a beginner in class this week to "Quiero Salsa" and I swear it felt like she was dancing half time. I felt like saying: what they hell are you dancing to? Of course I would never say that. Plus she was young and cute and Latina. Not sure why teachers choose such a fast song when there are lots of beginners learning relatively complicated moves (it was a low intermediate class, but a lot of the followers were borrowed from the beginner class).

Because of being so familiar with that song, I tend to dive right in even more than usual. Maybe I should have started with a few more basics or something.

This thread is kind of awesome, if infuriating to me (and apparently lots of others--it ended up being locked) at times:

http://www.salsaforums.com/showthread.php?t=19216

It's like every conflict over salsa dancing rolled into one.

wow. funny how it parallels convos re: djs playing technical mixes vs "playing for the crowd" or w/e though (with many more angles to squibble over), dance/music nerds are dance/music nerds

i'm performing at the Orlando Salsa Congress on Sunday, the "Mambo Swing Orchestra" will be playing at the social dancing, i think they're orl locals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FN-wgoekLw

Good luck

Break a leg.

Nice stuff here (as found on salsaforums):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6uxLpfmA8

The follower in particular is pretty amazing (not to dismiss Eddie Torres and son, obviously!).

RIP Tutuma Social Club.

Google tells me that was an Afro-Peruvian place. I shamefully have never made it to the similar such places in the W. DC area. I think there are a couple

Any thoughts about Ondatrópica? I like I Ron Man, and the concept appeals to me, but I'm afraid it's going to be party music for Pier One.

Have not heard that Colombian effort yet. My ears have been further south(listening to Chilean rap, Brazilian forro with rebaca--fiddle instead of accordion, and Argentianian tango).

So in an interview I read with Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux, it said her latest cd was recorded at the time of Chilean student protests. But for someone deficient in Spanish like me, what comes across on her new cd is contemporary radio-friendly r'n'b oriented hiphop rhythms that were not present on her 1977 release two years ago. Not sure if it's a musical improvement.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-07-06/news/29762927_1_afro-peruvian-music-jazz-club-house-band

What I've heard of Ondatrópica sounds super trad, which is why it appeals to me. I guess I am officially anticipating the release, but the more reviews refer to it as a "party starter" the more I think I won't like it (although that might say more about the reviewer's lack of familiarity with cumbia than anything else?)

The Brit guy organizing Colombian musicians aspect has me a bit apprehensive, but his involvement seems sincere based on the little I have read

I know -- it's setting off my alarm bells, yet I like what I've heard. I'll give it a chance!

any news on the tribal guarachero front?

3Ball Mty in NYC for the LAMC conference. I missed their 2 W. DC area gigs

¯\(°_o)/¯

x-post

So Bobby Sanabria has a new big band album coming out next month.

I heard it straight from the horse's mouth.

Will it win a grammy now that that Latin-jazz is back

Ha. I thought of making that joke but I figured I'd leave it to the next guy so thanks for following through

What's this trend of people who normally punctuate their sentences on this thread suddenly not doing so

(Not that I mind)

idgi

Has anyone here seen salsa singer Oscar D'Leon live lately? I can't make it, but a friend was asking as Oscar is gonna be at an obscure Korean restaurant (the Diamond Lounge in Annadale, VA) near W. DC Friday night. I saw him 5 or years ago and thought he and his big band were great that night (albeit, he didn't play much acoustic bass and he is a heart attack survivor) but have missed his fairly frequent DC area gigs since then.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/arts/music/calle-13-at-the-latin-alternative-music-conference.html?_r=1&ref=music

Pareles on Calle 13, 3Ball Mty and others at the LAMC in NYC

i spent a while looking through that article for the "parallels" someone was trying to draw between calle 13 + 3ballmty

Jon Pareles may have subliminally drawn some parallels through his choice of LAMC artists to highlight