Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2017: Salsa, Bomba, Merengue,Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin Jazz, Bolero and more

i would presume the latter; there's lots in the field to choose from, a broad variety of popular styles and not many folks on this board who specialize in latin popular music. fewer still who like to talk about it!

It's the state of the music in the styles that the people who post on this thread care about. I'm certainly not that interested in Latin music in the broadest sense, as such.

Just for comparison for anyone who cares who isn't already familiar with it (probably an empty category), this is the original Dejame Sonar recorded by Tito Puente and Tony Vega. This is why we don't need the new, somewhat softer version:

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

Way more bite.

As others have said, I wish Cubans would go back to singing like Benny More sang, and drop the annoying rootsy nasal/old lady timbre. I know a lot of people like it and it's got roots in rumba, but I find it really annoying.

Just watched 2014 movie "The Chef" and I like the soundtrack. Available on 2 volumes. It includes:

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Soundtrack-Album-Various-Artists/dp/B00JO739MG

I Like It Like That

by Pete Rodriguez

Homenaje Al Beny (Castellano Que Bueno Baila Usted)

by Gente de Zona

Bang Bang--Joe Cuba

Kinda obvious to some stuff, but hey, still nice to hear

How some of DC's latin dance community does it:

TWO Ballrooms - Salsa/Mambo y Bachata/Kizomba/Zouk
★ Dancing til 3am

Mr. Mambo's 12yrs Anniversary Bash is Going Down SAT APRIL 22, 2017 w/Mardi Gras Masquarade Theme at the Hollywood Ballroom!

Join us in Celebrating DC's Premier & Longest Running Salsa & Bachata Social Consistently serving the DC/MD/VA Latin Dance Community with the TOP Local Instructors, HOTTEST DJs, and the BEST Dancefloors for the past 12 years!

SATURDAY APRIL 22, 2017

HIGHLIGHTS:
★ Special Workshop & Performance by NYC's Jacob Lugo & Selena Tornez
★ Mardi Gras Theme, Dress Code Festive w/Masquerade Masks
★ (4) Salsa & Bachata Workshops w/Top Local Instructors
★ Show at 11:30pm- More Groups TBA
★ TWO Ballrooms - Salsa/Mambo y Bachata/Kizomba/Zouk
★ Dancing til 3am

WHERE: HOLLYWOOD BALLROOM DANCE CENTER, 2126 Industrial Parkway, Silver Spring, MD

I didn't make it to the above. Nor did I fly down to New Orleans this year where Jazzfest's first weekend included a special Cuban segment with various groups. Jon Pareles in the NY Times:

He also liked, among others --TELMARY Y HABANA SANA The Cuban poet, rapper and songwriter Telmary Diaz didn’t rely on her words alone to get across her socially conscious messages. She had a full Latin band, playing the sinuous rhythms of son and speedy, percussive rumba, surrounding her with melodic refrains.

http://www.thefader.com/2017/05/09/romeo-santos-interview-bachata-history-cover-story

Romeo Santos

https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/daddy-yankee-luis-fonsi-bieber-despacito-remix-billboard-singles-charts

This song was huge even before they added Bieber to the remix. Pop with touches of bachata romantic softness . Apparently the biggest Spanish language crossover since the Macarena

Jazz critic Larry Blumenfeld on the Cubans at Jazzfest in New Orleans this year--

• A 150-strong Cuban delegation energized jazzfest in profound and varied ways. Los Van Van rocked the Congo Square stage, as did Adonis y Osain Del Monte. But mostly, The Cuban Cultural Exchange Pavilion was the magnet for anyone with ears, hips and a heart. (The ropa vieja in back wasn’t bad, either.) Standout shows here (and on other stages) came from rapper Telmary y Habana Sana and singer Daymé Arocena.

• Though roughly a dozen performances at jazzfest (and a few outside the Fair Grounds) percussionist and singer Pedrito Martinez was an unstoppable engine of power and ingenuity, leading his own quartet and co-leading a Rumba Project with percussionist Román Díaz. Their Rumba Project—different in each of its several iterations—was simply the place to be within jazzfest’s swarm of must-see shows.

http://blogs.artinfo.com/blunotes/2017/05/in-around-the-2017-new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival/

RIP bassist for the Fania All-Stars and many others Sal Cuevas.

RIP. Dude played with everyone in NY from late 70s to so point in 80s .

Wiki take --

While maintaining the traditional flavor and concepts of authenticity within Latin music, he managed to fuse all those other "worlds" into his bass playing technique resulting in the creation of a completely unique style. On some recordings for instance, he would play very intricate horn section lines or phrases on the bass in unison with the horns, which until then was virtually unheard of within the genre, as was his funky bass slapping and string snapping technique which today has become a norm for bassist within Latin "salsa" music thanks to Sal. He also incorporated the technique of "tapping" in his Latin bass playing.

a few reggaeton tracks i've been digging a lot :

karol g ft ozuna - hello (it's from late last year, but i only discovered it recently and it's great)
wisin ft ozuna - escapate conmigo
justin quiles - egoista
j balvin - sigo estrañandote

previews for yandel ft farrusko - despacio are very promising as well.

Saw Wisin y Yandel years ago, but have lost track since they started doing more solo efforts.

I should see this:

Fri. June 9 7:30– 9:00 p.m. at Smithsonian American Art Museum in DC for free |movie-- Fania All-Stars: Live in Africa
New York City’s legendary salsa group performs before the Muhammad Ali/George Foreman fight

I think Celia Cruz was there with them. There's a new album out of the African performers from that concert btw.

what's the album title?

new double CD called Zaire 74: the African Performers (Wrasse)

gracias

NY Times Popcast hosted by Jon Caramanica (that I have not listened to yet) . Headline on the page--Latin Pop Thrives, No Bieber Required

Popcast

excerpt from the intro to it

The last few years have seen numerous shifts in the sound of Spanish-language pop: Colombian reggaeton (J Balvin, Maluma) giving a bright sheen to the Puerto Rican original; Dominican dembow (El Alfa) emerging as an eccentric counterweight to reggaeton; and in the last couple of years, Latin trap (Fuego, Bad Bunny), a Spanish-language take on American hip-hop, growing in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the United States.

On this week’s Popcast, for a conversation about Latin music’s speedy and constant evolution, Mr. Caramanica is joined by Isabelia Herrera, the music editor of Remezcla, and Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, the culture editor of Jezebel.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/arts/music/popcast-latin-pop-despacito.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmusic&action=click&contentCollection=music®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

karol g ft ozuna - hello (it's from late last year, but i only discovered it recently and it's great)

This has that Colombian pop-reggaeton flavor. Shakira's latest has some songs that sound a bit like this (and vice versa)

https://scontent.fbed1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19029236_10155455482208278_522506473722757720_n.jpg?oh=c57fa696ea13a458b055121be52be4a5&oe=59E0AF1D

wacky cover art

x-post to me-

Missed Karol G. at an El Zol radio station fest in a football stadium parking lot this past Sunday. Video clip the station tweeted looked good. #veranozol

http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/rhythm-power

This Museum of the City of New York Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York exhibit opens Wed. June 14

Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York illuminates salsa as a social movement from the 1960s to the present, exploring how immigrant and migrant communities in New York City—most notably from Cuba and Puerto Rico—nurtured and developed salsa, growing it from a local movement playing out in the city’s streets and clubs into a global phenomenon. The exhibition also looks at the role of record companies and stores in supporting and promoting the movement, and salsa’s often-overlooked ties to activism in the city. Rhythm & Power features dance costumes and musical instruments from some of salsa’s leading figures, as well as audio and video that bring the sounds and movement of salsa to life.

Want to see this. But $30 for the July 14th walking tour! I dunno. There's a July 19th free event-- DJ Joey Carvello of Mobile Mondays! and Christian Martir of Sociedad Records will spin a fiery mashup of Latin-infused beats from salsa, boogaloo, and merengue to cumbia and Latin disco and conga player Tito Sandoval will perform. Participate in an all-levels dance lesson with legendary instructor Franck Muhel and try art-making activities inspired by salsa’s often overlooked ties to social activism.

$20 Sept. 17 event--Jose Condo and Ola Fresca band plus panel discussion

http://www.mcny.org/event/when-people-dance-salsa-power-and-performance-new-york-city

karol g ft ozuna - hello (it's from late last year, but i only discovered it recently and it's great)

This has that Colombian pop-reggaeton flavor. Shakira's latest has some songs that sound a bit like this (and vice versa)

^^ yeah, it has some of those vibes. only heard 2 singles from her latest, but while i felt they were ok and enjoyed her return to reggaton, none of them came nowhere near the brilliance of 'tortura' - raising the bar a little too high i know.

Lots of praise for Ozuna on that NY Times popcast/ podcast mentioned above that I finally listened to. Fuego, a Miami-based reggaeton/trap rapper who started in the DC/MD area gets some attention on that too

i really like romeo santos's new single "imitadora" (except the sung english part lol). the swirls and synths in the arrangement are an unexpected but lovely touch.

That Romeo Santos single sounded okay on first listen. I wish he'd dropped the spoken stuff but I guess that's never going to happen.

Unbeknownst to me, remastered digital (and probably vinyl) reissues of Fania albums have continued seriously, in the past couple years:

http://salsaforums.com/threads/fania-recent-re-releases.33023/

And it looks like these might be on Spotify. At any rate, Louie Ramirez y Sus Tesos is now there. That has one of my favorites, Azuquita covering "En un Beso la Vida." It's an odd, uneven album. Not bad, but is it really good? The album needed remastering though, so maybe that will make a difference in how I hear it. I have an old CD copy of it and it's pretty muddy sounding.

The strings and somewhat saccharine sounds at the beginning of the album opener, "Paula C" turn me off a bit. But I like Ruben Blades' delivery. A lot of late 70s salsa could arguably be described as experimental. You've got disco strings alongside borrowings from fusion and maybe inspirations from progressive rock. Not on this album, but in general, in that late 70s time-frame. It doesn't all sound like that, but I think a fair amount does. Some of it works fantastically well, some of it sounds like they were striving for something that didn't quite gel.

I think Romeo Santos has a fantastic voice, I just wish he'd drop some of the schtick.

I think he's doing alright without my career advice though.

Louie Ramirez y Sus Tesos, just a typical late 70s salsa album with instrumental covers of two songs from Abbey Road, and featuring three different major vocalists.

Did he borrow those Tesos from Fruko or is that Fruko's real name?

Haha, I borrowed them from Fruko! They are really his Amigos. Oops.

Yeah, this version of Something is still a problem for me. It doesn't really fall into the so bad it's good category either (maybe because parts of it are good?).

The name of the album, to be clear is LOUIE RAMIREZ Y SUS AMIGOS. I fucked up.

I think the cover of Because is more tolerable. Is it done as a danzon?

Lol

Anyhow, I still think the Azuquita songs on the album are the best of the bunch. He really shines on these songs.

(I haven't actually listened to this album straight through in a matter of years, despite owning a copy.)

Roberto Roena's La Octava Maravilla is fantastic, and I have a flawed, incomplete mp3 copy. That was reissued last year, digitally, as well.

Sure would be nice to have original release dates on these Fania reissues in Spotify.

the swirls and synths in the arrangement are an unexpected but lovely touch.

Listening again. They are a nice touch. I think what's surprising is how strong the sounds are, rather than the sort of watercolor synth washes one might expect.

Also, love the guitar right at 2:58. More of that. Less of "the kiiing."

Can't stop listening to it right now, despite the bits I don't like.

Funny, I don't remember posting that

Oh, wait

Sorry. Maybe adding an "o" will help.

I suppose you don't have much time for Romeo Santos? I have managed to mostly avoid bachata for a couple years, so new Romeo Santos (the best of the pop bachata world) is more welcome to me than it might have been a little while ago.

I am curious about young Peruvian salsa singer Cesar Vega. No reggaeton and bachata for him, I don't think

Bought PJ Harvey tix for tonight, so will miss the late announced Septeto Santiaguero from Cuba gig in DC tonight. I liked the 2 YouTube videos I saw. Nothing groundbreaking, but enjoyable