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

Prieto has a new big band album that's really good.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article210253224.html

A few Republicans dismissed the folks performing at the festival as “agents of the state” (Cuba) and complained that the Kennedy Center featured them and that they got visas.

Some of the artists who performed live here now though like Prieto.

x-post--That Prieto big band effort is nice. Threadgill and Steve Coleman as 2 of the horn players.

He just had his smaller group at the Kennedy center Cuba fest, not the big band, alas.

Threadgill, Coleman and Brian Lynch were special guests with the big band.

I still like Eddie Palmieri's 2017 album more.

Maybe I should have or should still start a 2018 thread! But maybe more pop or trap, reggaetón...

Liking J. Balvin, Becky G, Bad Bunny

Puerto Rican rapper Ozuna guests on a lot of hits

i really like the song "oye mujer" by raymix. i heard it for the first time a few months ago but apparently it originally came out, like, years ago?

"Oye Mujer" is a 2018 remix with Juanes of a 2015 Raymix track that incorporated traditional sounds

the version i heard didn't have juanes! guess i'm just very late as i often am

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/style/bomba-puerto-rico-music-dance.html?hpw&rref=fashion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Puerto Rican bomba drums music and dance lives

bomba drumming and dancing at La terraza de Bonanza in Puerto Rico

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj0mF5_Mhm0

At a Coney Island NY beach on Sunday afternoon, I heard lots of reggaeton coming from beachgoers portable speakers. More than rap or other popular sounds(though there was a lot of Drake too).

Listening to latest album by pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa called Un Dia Cualquiera. Eh, it’s ok Cuban Latin Jazz. Nice enough I guess, but nothing new and nothing that really wows me. Ned Sublette likes it.

Thread needs some fresh blood:

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

DJ Snake feat. Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B • Taki Taki

(Don’t know where Snake got this beat from, but kudos, it’s a great track)

Speaking of Ozuna, this is my favorite track of his current album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wykqGblj1og

Ozuna feat. J Balvin & Natti Natasha • Sígueme Los Pasos

...and speaking of J Balvin, this is my favorite track of his current album, which is great (it's not called "Vibras" for nothing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FlRsN4cyF0

J Balvin • Tu Verdad

J Balvin and Ozuna have been killing it with their singles and collaborations in the past couple of years.

There's a trend that's appearing this summer of reggaeton/trap with an almost minimal, soft sound... the lyrics are worthless but the beat for these makes me happy and wishes the trend continues:

Kevin Roldan - PPP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vET7J3oc5sI

Anuel AA - quiere Beber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtBmo5EbEk

Lalo Ebratt - Mocca (There's also a J Balvin remix but I like the original better)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeRwVpzd2G4

Also not really reggaeton but really like beat by Dillon Francis feat. Ximena Sarilñana. Moombathon I guess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLM9brT5_w0

Wow Moka, I was just about to post that “Mocca” track too, just fell right in love with that one. (in my case it would have been the remix, because of its video, but both versions are great)

Also my friends are really into Rosalia (She also has a guest spot in Balvin's Vibras):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rht7rBHuXW8

Really interesting combination of flamenco style vocals with 'urban' rhythms. Even the video is really cool in how it combines typical Spain iconography and takes it down and mixes it in a modern setting.

I remembered people posting about her somewhere, turns out she has her own thread!

(and yeah, the Balvin + Rosalía track "Brillo" is another Vibras highlight. With him, it's come for the bangers, stay for the vibes)

Yes to DJ Snake feat. Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B • Taki Taki

#1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart

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

Awww man, Dog Latin hating on "reggaeton-lite" (Taki Taki and Despacito) in a separate thread

Don’t let it bring you down.

I'm not.

Grrr, I missed the Latin Grammys last night. J Balvin was nominated for 8 awards but only got 1. Jorge Drexler got 3. Victor Manuelle won the salsa one.

I will look for video clips and more articles online

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/16/arts/ap-us-music-latin-grammys.html

I like Uruguay’s Jorge Drexler—pop rooted in folk and Brazilian bossa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpG5dR3cp9w

Awwww

That’s what the Salsa Dura DJ at Terraza played to ring in 2019.

From the NPR jazz critics poll, the separate Latin Jazz category--I have only heard the Sanabria and the Palmieri efforts, but gonna try to listen to some of the others (although that may lead me to come back here complaining that Latin Jazz is stuck in a rut and seems so formulaic

Latin
1. David Virelles, Igbó Alákorin (The Singer's Grove), Vol. I & II (Pi)
Votes: 21
A vibrant compendium in which Virelles disinters the rich musical traditions of his hometown Santiago de Cuba. Unexpectedly, his boldest album. The 35-year-old pianist has spent the last decade channeling Afro-Cuban folklore through a jazz prism, producing records that operate as open-ended mysteries. Here, refreshingly, he eschews abstraction in favor of fealty to the past. Though the traditions Virelles explores are fading from Cuban culture, this effort, fiercely rhythmic and thrumming with energy, is deeply alive. —Matthew Kassel

2. (tie) Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Back to the Sunset (Dafnison) 12
2. (tie) Miguel Zenón, Yo Soy La Tradición (Miel) 12
4. Bobby Sanabria, West Side Story Reimagined (Jazzheads) 8
5. Carlos Henriquez, Dizzy Con Clave (RodBros Music) 7
6. Eddie Palmieri, Full Circle (Ropeadope) 6
7. Elio Villafranca, Cinque (ArtistShare) 5

The Virelles album is on Bandcamp but not Spotify. Haven’t checked where else. Virelles went back to Cuba and recorded with elders, including vocalists I think, for this. 1 track I heard on Bandcamp was nice enough in a very old-school Cuban way. More dance and traditional than jazz.

Isn’t it time for a new Rolling thread?

I guess so. I resisted in the past since not too many folks post, and I wasn’t keeping up the genres represented, but I guess yearly threads do make some sense. Not a lot of new salsa these days that I follow; Latin Jazz hangs on, while reggaeton and bachata seem to thrive, and Latin Trap has become very big

I say go for it!

Ok, here it is:

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2019: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, and more