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

Chico & Rita - this is a short review I wrote in Sept 2010;

We had a Cuban night yesterday, heading down to the Barbican to watch two new movies made in co-op with the Spanish film industry and TVE. Chico & Rita was my favourite.

Set in 1948 Habana, a talented young jazz pianist meets a beautiful singer with a captivating voice. United by music and desire, they embark on a passionate and tormented love affair that takes them from Cuba to the neon lights of New York and Las Vegas.

The film is an animation and it’s spectacular, recreating the exuberance of 1940s Havana and 1950′s NY and Vegas. The story also cleverly incorporates famous incidents from latin music history such as the death of Chano Pozo, the drugs raid and subsequent closure of the Palladium Ballroom and the Buena Vista phenomenon.

The film is underscored by a great soundtrack from Bebo Valdés, featuring Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Chucho Valdés, Puente and more.

Ladies will love the sentimentality of the film’s ending and would do well to have their tissues at the ready.

Make sure you see this when it gets a general release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kMdL4Y5KB6A

Thanks.

x-post to my own post re Chucho:
New Yorker Ed Morales is also writing for Univision. Here he is on their tumbler raving about the Chucho Valdes show at Carnegie Hall that I was at

http://univisionnews.tumblr.com/post/16371220793/chucho-valdes-buika-carnegie-hall

Here's another take on the weekend of Latin-Jazz in NYC. Writer Larry Blumenfield, for the Village Voice, says "Valdés sometimes seems like James Brown in his prime"

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/01/afro_latin_jazz_orchestra_january_20_chucho_valdes_january_21_review.php

Seems to me that Valdes often just wants to be an improvising jazz cat and not play those more straight-forward Latin rhythms. His choice.

Got an email about a new Chicha Libre album, Canibalismo. Have not listened yet. Oh, public release not till May. A big long tour in support: a worldwide tour that includes stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Bogota, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and Moscow.

ArtsBeat - New York Times Blog
February 6, 2012, 3:44 pm
With No Place at Grammys, Latin Jazz Artists Plan Their Own Concert
By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

A group of Latin jazz musicians are planning to hold a concert in Los Angeles on the same night as the Grammy Awards to protest the decision that eliminated 31 categories from this year’s awards, protest organizers announced Monday. The concert will follow an afternoon rally on Sunday to be held on a street corner outside the Staples Center, where pop music’s royalty will be assembled for the flashy annual Grammys bash.

I wish singer Choco Orta would tour. She's gonna be in NYC uptown as part of Salsa Wednesdays at Taíno Towers on February 29th at 240 E. 123rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues

Not the Grammys participants: Ray Carrion and his Latin Jazz All Stars will head the bill, along with John Santos, Bobby Matos and Oscar Hernandez.

Izzy Sanabria anounced on his facebook page today that Jimmy Sabater passed away today. La Excelencia posted "Jimmy Sabater was a great singer, timbalero and and one of the inspirations to La Excelencia. May God have him in his Glory. Our condolences to the Sabater family your in our prayers".

Very sad news.

I wanted to tip you guys off to a really fantastic release, myself and DJ Dave Hucker over here in London UK both agree it's already in the modern classic hall of fame. Don't be put off if Timba doesn't usually do it for you, just make sure you hear it and listen with an open mind, it's cinemascope music. And for once the hype of the descarga review is justified;

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/24670.10

Judging by the audio clips, this sounds like it would be way too timba for me, regardless of your attempt to put that issue aside.

If I had any money to spend on CDs, I'd be buying a lot of these dubiously legal Rareza reissues.

http://soul-sides.com/2012/02/remembering-jimmy-sabater/

singer and sometimes writer with the Joe Cuba Sextet

I have a major aversion to Timba too and had no interest whatsoever in listening to this when I was sent a copy. But believe me Mis 22 Anos is a stunning record, I can't really explain, you just have to hear it with your own ears. You get no feeling whatsoever as to the twists and turns each track takes on those clips, there's some very hard and funky salsa in those grooves.

The Subway Salsa Montuno Records release is a killer too.

I will give it a shot

Marco, have you heard the new Bloque 53 yet? I know you like them (not a fan myself). I hear a lot of modern Cuban influence in the vocals on the first clip here: http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/24690.10?KMtM2HnK;;393

Listening to clips from the new Azucar Negra. Ugh, real timba first thing in the morning.

Really difficult.

Funny though, I have to admit that in the handful of dance classes I've taken over the past year or so, when instructors throw on Los Van Van or Manolito I end up enjoyng it, even if I initially wrinkle my face up.

God these [expletive deleted] really stick to the formula most of the time. I bet the timberos are going to love this.

Just starting to check this out now. I can't remember why I ever liked Mayito Rivera's vocals. And why do the trumpets always sound the same in practically every contemporary Cuban song? It's a disctinctive Cuban trumpet sound and it bugs me inexplicably. The groove is good (except for that annoying heavy-footed thump they have started throwing in on so many songs). As usual, they do get credit for energy.

Oh, "this" is the NG la Banda album, not the Azucar Negra that was the last thing I'd mentioned on the thread.

Looks like this is the Ned S*blette show you are talking about upthread
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/arts/music/afro-latin-jazz-orchestra-at-symphony-space-review.html

That trumpet sound is extremely pinched. Is it a combination of using mutes and some sort of electronic effect? I just don't know, but it's all over contemporary Cuban music (and has been since some point in the 90s). There have been times I've semi-liked it because it's so identifiable, but it just bugs me again at this point. Does anyone else have any idea what I'm talking about?

I don't know, man, this album sounds like timba to me. I don't see how it's so different.

Really hate the way they use the traditional drum-kit.

But again, they have something going on and it has a lot of energy--but: ugh.

Plus too much Latin jazz.

I don't WANT the three underscored with a heavy drum thud. Why? Why do they do that?

Deforms the rhythm, imo.

How is this album not quintessentially timba?

Twenty posts of me complaining about a genre nobody on ILM cares about.

And "Mambo Number Cero" is just inexcusable.

Twenty posts of me complaining about a genre nobody on ILM cares about.

― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, February 19, 2012 10:01 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

fwiw, i loled

ha.

Could have been worse, whiney or deej could have taken an interest.

Might be DJing next week in London - planning to go heavy on the reggaeton. Any great new electro-cumbia songs i should be thinking about playing as well?

What reggaeton are you listening to these days?

Poppier stuff, for the most part - RKM & Ken Y, Daddy Yankee, Xavi The Destroyer, De la Ghetto, Calle 13, Kendo Kaponi, Farruko, etc.

Sorry, I haven't heard anything along the lines of what you're looking for. I haven't figured out how to keep up with cumbia, or much of anything outside a narrow range of Latin music.

i'd check out some of dj dus or disquedj for cumbia

Thanks!

Ng La Banda

Not to start trouble (and there's no right or wrong), but I listened to a few songs from them from a different recent album on Spotify this morning, and uh, I do not have the antipathy to their timba sound that Rudiph does. Is "Mis 22 anos" on Spotify? I did not see it but perhaps missed it. Or is it elsewhere?

It is elsewhere.

W. DC area loves Fruko's live tribute to Joe Arroyo:

http://eventosvippass.com/2012/02/feb-24-fruko-y-sus-tesos-martin-elias-diaz-el-boqueron-ii/?nggpage=2

Just meant to show one photo showing jam-packed crowd

Did anyone post this blog's cumbia post last year? If so, sorry

http://generationbass.com/2011/10/15/sexxy-saturday-cumbia-zzk-fauna-and-much-more/

http://blog.afropop.org/2012/02/spotlight-dj-juan-datas-bondi-blaster.html

more cumbia

message from Descarga:

Fania in Flux ...Again
Observant salsa collectors out there have probably noticed that the Fania reissue program at Codigo music has, pretty much, hit a brick wall. According to our calculations, except for compilations and a few packages (ie Asalto Navideño and Our Latin Thing), it has been seven or eight months since any official reissues have been released. To make matters worse, some of the Codigo reissues which have been released are already out-of-print and unavailable. The reason, we have learned, is that Codigo's distribution is changing hands. This means that until the new distributor (Red) begins to release product, the existing stock will start to quickly dry up and disappear. We could be wrong, but it sounds like the reissue program will be, once again, starting from scratch. Sound familiar? The same thing has occurred twice within recent memory. First, in 2005, when Emusica bought Fania from the Masucci family, and, second, when Codigo purchased the label from Emusica in 2009. At one time (pre-2005) the nearly 1500 title catalog was readily available on cd. Since then, only a few hundred titles have seen the light of day. Hard times for both retailers and collectors, indeed.
We will do our best to keep you posted as more details about the Fania reissue program unfold. In the meantime, you might consider stocking up on titles you are missing. They might disappear for a long time... - Descarga

Having money for CDs is mostly a thing of the past for me, at this point.

Sorry.

In other news:

http://latinmusic.about.com/b/2012/02/28/billboard-latin-music-awards-announce-list-of-finalists.htm?nl=1

http://www.billboardevents.com/latin/billboard-latin-music-awards

"Don Omar and Pitbull, Bachata stars Prince Royce and Romeo Santos, the Mexican Rock band Mana, and Latin Pop superstar Shakira are this year's top nominees."

over these awards i've quit caring it's been repeating for like a decade now

Probably not my thing either. As for other things--I did listen to Mexican indie-rock singer Carla Morrison but her ballad-heavy approach does not interest me in the way that Julieta Venegas does/did. Gonna try and see if another NPR fave, Bomba Estereo, has improved as the NPR folks claim. No salsa, but I've been listening to old mambo on a Sunnday radio show.

Hmmmm, wonder if it is worth $30 to see and dance to salseros Paquito Guzman and Raulin Rosendo at Cuba Libre in DC on Sunday the 23rd?

I think I saw Guzman once and wasn't too pleased, but honestly can't remember. Doesn't he have kind of an overblown melodramatic style? That's something that doesn't tend to survive well as a singer ages, in my view. Not to be obnoxious, but he seems like a performer well past his prime.

Raulin Rosendo not really ringing any bells beyond name recognition.

Me too. He's come to DC a lot over the years but I just know that he's a 50-something Dominican salsa singer.

been very much into el g and a lot of the zzk crew (el remolon, frikstailers, villa diamante) for a few years now, nice to see that they're coming to dc but the line at esl on saturdays is ridiculously long, i guess less so if gotten there earlier, and i'm not too into the crowd. i'd try and brave it but the old school vinyl thing at u hall that night's going to be what's up

OT shot in the dark: does anyone know of any good book-length overviews of Argentina's history? (No need to check amazon or WorldCat, etc. for me. I can do that myself. Just wondering if anyone happens to be able to recommend one off-hand.)

Might be old newsy wewsies, but did you guys see this thing that's out on Analog Africa:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61YPSXu18CL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Saw it but haven't checked it out.

haven't heard, but would listen to!!

Listen away...
http://open.spotify.com/album/6EsqKrqreoVsnArRLYg77B

Think I read that disc two is the cumbia one

I recognize a lot of the names on here -- I wish someone would just reissue whole albums by some of these people -- Wganda Kenya, por ejemplo -- I get tired of listening to other people's comps all the time! I don't have the time (or inclination really) to travel to places where I could find these original records, so won't someone bring them to me?

Also it has been ages since I heard the word Valledupar! I still predict that there is a vallenato revival on the horizon.

Actually, that's not true -- I would love to travel, I just wouldn't do it solely to find records that I'm sure I wouldn't find anyway.

I've been enjoying this over the last few days too

http://f0.bcbits.com/z/59/19/591979443-1.jpg

Saw them two months ago. Pretty fun.

Got that Diablos del Ritmo comp in the mail a while back, only listened to bits of Disc 1 so far but it's kinda fun.