Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2022: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

Another year- we will define broadly what can fit here, but the emphasis should be on reggaeton, salsa, bomba, Latin jazz, bachata, merengue, urbano

last year's thread

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2021: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

Thanks!

I am still in 2021 mode-- listening to Xiomara Fortuna's Viendoaver, deep-voiced Dominican roots and more dance music

Still behind on my listening. Did read 2 articles slamming J Balvin for his clueless white guy statements and actions re reggaeton

https://thegoaspotlight.com/2022/01/18/cultural-manager-hector-tito-matos-dies/

RIP Puerto Rican bomba percussionist and culture supporter Tito Matas at 53

Tito Matos . Autocorrect error

Not exactly on point for this thread but the little I have heard of Mexican indie-folkie singer Silvana Estrada seems good. She’s on tour now but I just missed her DC City Winery gig last night

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/arts/music/silvana-estrada-marchita.html

Natalie Lafourcade and Chavela Vargas fans might like Silvana Estrada new album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S52_XxBwbJg

Silvana Estrada on NPR Tiny Desk in 2021 backed by strings and more & sounding mournful & operatic at times

The percussion video clip tribute to Tito Matos linked in this New York Times obit is powerful stuff. I had mentioned this bomba y plena percussionist's death upthread. Glad Isabelia Herrera did this NY Times obit. Matos died of a heart attack at 53.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/arts/music/hector-tito-matos-dead.html

Wife and I bought Bad Bunny upper deck at Nats Park tickets for August. Should be fun. Had missed his earlier DC area shows that were at a smaller 10,000 max arena

Publicist email I got says in part:

New York, NY – DROM is proud to launch its first weekly artist residency with famed percussionist and vocalist Pedrito Martinez and his group. The Grammy-nominated Cuban musician will bring his signature, high-energy Afro-Cuban sound to the East Village venue every Thursday, starting February 3rd, 2022, effectively kicking off the venue’s 15th Anniversary season

He was fun to watch the 2 times I saw him down my way in DC area.

He had a residence for ages at Guantanamera up near Columbus Circle that lots of celebrities went to see but I never got there when he was playing.

Rauw Alejandro was on cover of Rolling Stone in January

https://remezcla.com/music/what-we-learned-rauw-alejandro-rolling-stone-cover-story-rosalia-jhay-cortez/

Rauw got 4 votes in ILM tracks poll for 2021 I see. I didn’t vote this time.

Rauw’s dating Rosalia who has a new album due, and maybe out already. There’s discussion on her thread

Thursday, February 17, 8 p.m. Eastern: Postmambo Movie Night presents Fandango at the Wall (2020). Ned Sublette and Ariana Hall will talk with Arturo O'Farrill, Kabir Sehgal, and (pending confirmation) director Varda Bar-Kar. You need to get on Ned's list to get the zoom link

James Redd posted this over on ile obits

https://www.wbgo.org/music/2022-01-31/mark-levine-a-versatile-artist-and-influential-teacher-in-jazz-and-latin-music-is-dead-at-83

Thanks. Actually I had heard he was not doing well from a student of his several months ago but just kind of sat on that info since I didn't know what to do with it.

More deaths:

Elpidio Chapotín Delgado, co-founder of NG La Banda and first trumpet of its horn section, the famed Los Metales del Terror, on January 26. Cuban timba band

Suelyn Milanés Bennet, vocalist, director of PM Records, daughter of Pablo Milanés and Yolanda Bennet, on January 30.

thread I missed last year-- a handful of C Tangana fans here on ilm

C. Tangana - El Madrileño (2021). A spaniard Masterpiece perhaps?

Liking Fuego & Ryan Castro “Pendiente Al Paso”

Not sure if I heard remix or original version

Bad Bunny and Eddie Palmieri are both gonna be gigging live near me towards the end of March. Not together, alas.

Wanna hear Residente torch J Balvin for eight minutes? Sure you do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO73gUhiYe0

https://remezcla.com/music/residente-holds-nothing-back-diss-track-bizarrap-session-j-balvin/

I admit I enjoyed J Balvin live and some of his records. But his offstage comments and actions are not defensible

Saw some on twitter noting that Residente used to say he and his group weren’t Reggaeton, so who is he to be the one defending it.

But yeah, Balvin has more to apologize for

https://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.event&eventID=B295D227-9CAB-F1CE-4C8FEED7DF84EE70

Eddie Palmieri Latin jazz at Keystone Korner in Baltimore March 25 and 26 and 27 has tickets in person and via streaming.

New York Times podcast episode on reggaeton

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/arts/music/reggaeton-genre-pop-edm.html

host Jon Caramanica with guests Isabelia Herrera, The New York Times’s arts critic fellow

Katelina Eccleston, reggaeton historian at reggaetonconlagata.com

I still need to listen to that history of reggaeton podcast Loud , narrated by Ivy Queen too

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/celebrating-viral-encanto-soundtracks-colombian-roots-180979435/

disney soundtrack for Encanto is number 1 on chart for weeks using music rooted in Colombia

NY Times article about Encanto soundtrack also. Too bad song "Bruno" to me on first listen sounds like Lin-Manuel Miranda just did his now formulaic mix of Broadway bombast and inserted rap verses with a bit of hidden Colombia rhythms. Carlos Vives is involved with this too

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/arts/music/encanto-soundtrack.html

My daughter loves "surface pressure"... that "Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa
Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip 'till you just go pop, whoa" bit has been stuck in my head far more than I'd like it to, it's super addictive.

doesn't help that I've been under a lot of stress this past month.

My kid is old now so am out of the loop for this Disney Miranda stuff. Both Formulaic and ear wormy.

A Celebration of Hector "Tito" Matos
Friday, March 25, 2022
8:00PM EDT hostos center
Main Theater
Bronx, NY
Para Un Panderetero Mayor
Hector “Tito” Matos

He’s the plena percussionist and activist who died young recently

Luminaries of Viento de Agua and Los Pleneros de la 21 will be featured, along with a special presentation by La Maquina Insular. Performances by Alex "Apolo" Ayala, Nelson Matthew González, Desmar Guevara, Juan Gutiérrez, Norka Nadal, Ricardo Pons, Erick Noel Rosado, Alberto Toro, Víctor Vélez

Click here to View a Detailed Venue Seating Chart
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Another show at Hostos in Bronx

Grammy Award-winning Arturo O’Farrill and the 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra perform an exhilarating program to commemorate the life and music of master percussionist Eddie Bobè. Performing alongside O’Farrill and his big band are the renowned pianist/composer Michele Rosewoman and guest percussion legends Román Díaz, Félix Sanabria, Gene Golden, vocalists Abraham Rodríguez and Héctor “Papote” Jiménez as well as Jay Rodríguez on saxophone. Eddie Bobè spoke of moments when the groove got so powerful it was said to be “burning.” Maestro Eddie brought that “burning” to every groove he played. Join us to celebrate an evening of rumba, batá, guaguancó and every manner of groove that Eddie Bobè was a poet of.

Fri | Mar 18 | 8:00 PM | Main Theater
Sat | Mar 19 | 8:00 PM | Main Theater
Eddie Bobe tribute Pre-Concert Talk on Fri March 18 at 7 pm

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/ruben-blades-rap-response-j-balvin-residente-fight-1319800/

Ruben Blades sorta says-- can't we all just get along

“Lo Siento BB” by Tainy, Julieta Venegas, & BD Bunny is ok but doesn’t wow me right now.

https://soundsandcolours.com/articles/cuba/premiere-harold-lopez-nussa-mixes-reggaeton-and-latin-jazz-on-first-taster-off-new-album-51973/

2020 article about Cuban Latin jazz pianist Harold Lopez Nussa incorporating Reggaeton into a track.

I wonder if there are others trying to do so?

I need to catch up on top reggaeton, Urbano, pop, bachata etc tracks too

Listening to Nio Garcia, Puerto Rican reggaeton singer and dancer who’s on tour in US in April. He’s ok. Most songs are a bit formulaic

Daddy Yankee is retiring.

put his number in the rafters!

Yes ! ( after a cup of coffee got your nod to baseball Yankees getting numbers retired.)

Rosalia shouted out Daddy Yankee and other early reggaeton acts in a New York Times article

s. “I listened to Don Omar, Ivy Queen, Lorna, Yankee, Zion & Lennox since I was at least 13,” she said. “This is part of my experience.”

https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/events/listening-to-the-forgotten-archival-research-methods-in-music.html

MARCH 31, 2022 | 12:30—2:00 PM EST
a zoom chat w/ Rosa Marquetti, the author behind the web resource Desmemoriados: Historias de la música cubana; Chano Pozo: La vida (1915-1948);the forthcoming book on Celia Cruz, Celia en Cuba (1925-1960), in Spanish but simultaneously translated into English

https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/digital-stage/jazz/2022/arturo-ofarill-afro-latin-jazz-cornell-west/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=22MJMingusEM1&utm_content=version_A&pid=6235679&promocode=461235

Arturo Ofarill & Cornell West 6pm stream on Kennedy Center youtube

Oh yeah, saw something about that over the weekend, thanks for the reminder.

I am 4 to 5 or so hours from Queens NY but keep getting IG ads for April 2 "Tripleta Salsero"-Rafu Warner, Mayito Rivera (ex-Los Van Van), Osvaldo Roman (ex-Puerto Rican Power) in Queens , Looks like you have to go to eventbrite or tickeri for specific location

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-12-1963-latin-american-charity-game-is-polo-grounds-grand-finale/

So while I knew of the Fania show at Yankee Stadium in the 70s , I didn’t know that before a Latin American Allstars baseball game at the old Polo Grounds in NY, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, and La Lupe performed in 1963.

https://www.salsaforums.com/threads/pianist-sergio-noro%C3%B1a-has-died.41709/

Cuban timba pianist Sergio Norona has died

x-post - I watched the Ben Lapidus presentation on Latin music in NYC tonight. Lots of details and cool photos. He jumped around chronologically though which was a bit hard to follow.

He's playing Saturday night @ Mi Salsa Kitchen, a Cuban place on Lower East side

reggaeton dembow rhythm as used around the world

https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/dembow-rhythm-list

nice caribbean pan steel drum comes in at one point on the reggaeton pop track by Zion & Lennox and Danny Ocean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzcZhlgK5U

Also liking Nesi & El Alfa "Mi Bom Bom (chocolate)"

and hipster fave Reyna Tropical (afro-Mexican tropical pop)

x-post - nice caribbean pan steel drum comes in at one point on the reggaeton pop track by Zion & Lennox and Danny Ocean

great summer song "Brisra"

"Brisa" I mean (Breeze in English I think)

early heads up --for Sat. June 25 event at the Smithsonian Folklife Fest on the national mall in DC (& on Youtube)--

* A tribute to Puerto Rican master plenero, percussionist, educator, and community leader Héctor René “Tito” Matos Otero who recently & suddenly passed (as noted upthread) . He played plena, an Afro-Puerto Rican drums genre.W/ Caribbean jazz fusion by Oakland-based John Santos Sextet and Friends; orchestrated plena by New York City-based Los Pleneros de la 21; the high-energy next-generation ensemble Los Pleneros de la Cresta ; & a collective of voices presented by Plenazo Cangrejero. The host is Libertad Guerra, a community leader and long-time friend. Video clips featuring Tito’s wife and son, Mariana Reyes and Marcelo Matos,will be included . 6:30 to 9:15 pm @ Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the national mall(& on Youtube)

Saw some of a free Afro-latin fest in DC w/ Cuban drummer Yissy Garcia, Cuban vocalist Dayme Arocena, and Dominican Yasser Tejeda. Liked some of Tejada set. Was disappointed by Garcia who at times seemed too jam band jazzy. She also backed Arocena which kind of detracted from that set, as her drumming was too over the top. Had fun watching folks line dance to a dj playing pop reggaeton and Elvis Crespo in between live sets

I wrote about the mighty Fruko for Burning Ambulance this week.

Haven’t even clicked yet but awesome news!

Just randomly put on El Violento because of that. So good.

Joe Arroyo died young at 55 in 2011. Glad I saw him a couple of times between 2004 and his death. His voice was kinda raspy, he looked like he was in bad health, but he and his band (who did Latinized Motown choreography) sounded pretty good. But yeah, need to go back and listen to Arroyo with Fruko recordings.

RIP Willie Sotelo pianist and most recent music director for El Gran Combo from cancer

https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/willie-sotelo-dead-el-gran-combo-pianist-dies-obit-1235081678/

Still listening to El Violento.

RIP Willie Soleto.

Some Fruko discussion here.

Thanks. Listening to this song now:

"Fruko El Grande" ("Fruko The Big") is the name of the album I'm talking about. It has one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) salsa hits made in Colombia. The second cut from side B, called "El Preso" ("The Prisoner") is a song that not one single Colombian can say hasn't heard at least once in his/her life. Not sung by Joe Arroyo but Wilson Manyoma "Saoko", the other lead singer in the band.

Cuban band Los Van Van were playing US gigs in May and now its former Los Van Van member Pupe to come with his band Los Que Son Son around the week of July 4th. I saw Pupe and Los Que Son Son, his timba band, once and they were great.

Now coming to SOBs in NYC on July 1st, DC on 2nd, XL in Jersey on 3rd, Los Angeles on July 8, San Francisco on 9th, Louisville, Kentucky on 15th, Chicago on 16h

SALSA TIMBA FESTIVAL - PUPY LOS QUE SON SON-EL NORO
Saturday, Jul 2, 2022 - Doors: 9:00pm
Karma DC Live Music Venue
2221 ADAMS PLACE NORTHEAST
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 20018

https://www.facebook.com/DD-Records-Arts-Entertainment-107917724118129

Pupy

I wasn't familiar with her work, but RIP ethnomusicologist Roberta L. Singer.

I was not either. But I see she did this cool "A South Bronx Latin Music Tale"

https://placematters.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/mambo.pdf

Just saw the Bobby Sanabria writeup of Roberta SInger on FB that some have shared there

Yes. That's how I saw it first.

I shared info about Singer on twitter as she was barely discussed there. As annoying as FB can be, it's a better site for some older rooted music genres.

Publicists are hyping US small club tour of Chilean folk-pop Pascuala Ilabaca and her band

I shared info about Singer on twitter as she was barely discussed there. As annoying as FB can be, it's a better site for some older rooted music genres.

https://2022.jazz.org/bobby-sanabria looks really good. Don't know if I can get a virtual ticket.

Haven't gotten one yet but, ten bucks, cheep!

I'm in. Bobby is doing a Father's Day spiel about all the music he listened to with his dad.

There is kind of a Buddy Rich thing about him tbh.

Band is killing "Caravan" right now, or a medley that includes "Caravan" and maybe something else.

Really enjoying this long story about James Reese Europe and Rafael Hernández Marín.

Kind of a cool thing now where each trombone player took a mini solo.

Now they are doing a version of "Spooky!"

"Spooky"!

Now "Do It Again"

I feel disloyal to the Steely Dan backup vocalists.

Ha

Might buy a virtual ticket to Michele Roseman there next Wednesday.

https://2022.jazz.org/michele-rosewomans-new-yoruba
Somehow I had never heard of her until The Pope told me about her last year.

I know her name but not her music. Impressive looking band lineup there. That might be worth checking out.

In a different genre — have heard El Alfa doing gogo dance several times . It’s reggaeton not Dc go-go

Ugh, I messed up her name in my last post, Rosewoman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GHKHDxpK1g

Smithsonian Folklife Festival tribute concert to late plenero Tito Matos. The video has some tech glitches and unrelated footage at beginning before the emcee comes on and the music starts. There is also film of Matos wife and 8 year old son talking about him eloquently .

The tribute is long and there's lots of talking in between, but the dancer who joins La Plena de la 21 part of the way through is fun to watch '21 horn section and percussionists are impressive. The first group led by John Santos mixes plena with jazz fusion and they were my least fave of the night. The 2 younger groups who play after the long Plena de la 21 are good too, and a bit different. One did some nice harmonies and other vocal techniques that worked well.

Sirius xm is still playing The reggaeton pop track by Zion & Lennox and Danny Ocean “Brisa” a lot along with that “gogo dance” by El Alfa .

Their algorithms also have them playing Victor Manuelle and El Gran Combo on occasion, so that must mean folks other than me like salsa and Reggaeton.

For those Latin jazz gigs in NYC with pianist Rosewoman this week , I see that she has a band including Chris Washburne, trombone/tuba, and Robby Ameen, drums among others

https://www.moderndrummer.com/2004/05/robby-ameen/

Yes! And Alex "Alexander Pope" Norris, who I just ran into yesterday at Samuel Torres gig in my neighborhood whilst running an errand. Think Roman Diaz is usually in her band too.