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

Me gusta, curmudgeon!

My contributions will be likely be limited to reggaeton. Here’s my mission statement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32F2d-wj4Xw

Ozuna • Baila Baila Baila

Yeah, that's a jam.

Agree. While Ozuna wins awards at the separate Latin Grammys, he and other Latinsx don’t rate at the “regular “ all genres Grammys
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latinos-landed-some-big-nominations-2019-grammys-don-t-reflect-n945441

Listening to ILX Listen: 2019

Anitta is Brazilian obviously, but this is in Spanish and seems take its cues from J Balvin’s Vibras album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoYYtYjB3h4

Anitta • Veneno

Odds and Ends:

Camilla Cebello nicely opened the Grammys doing her song "Havana" with special guests including J Balvin and Arturo Sandoval and Ricky Martin

Was just in Mexico where one night we went to see Puerto Rican salsa romantica singer Victor Manuelle. Good show and there were some impressive dancing couples in the audience.

http://wayneandwax.com/?p=9262

Wayne Marshall re Dominican dembow:

As I wrote back in 2011,

If I were writing my mega-essay on reggaeton today, I’d want to make a lot more space for the Dominican Republic’s local take on the genre.

And that has only gotten truer in the 8 years since, as Dominican dembow has continued to grow, change, and gather steam, including outside of the DR. So I was thrilled that People en Español’s CHICA decided to devote so much space to the genre last month. Jennifer Mota has written the definitive piece on the genre, and while I did provide some quotes and Jenny generously cites my research, it’s a piece that I would recommend whether or not you’re a W&W fan.

Among other things, the article is careful to place Dominican dembow in the longer transnational story of reggaeton, from Jamaica to Panama, New York to Puerto Rico, while also showing how the genre has taken a distinct path from its Puerto Rican cousin. Indeed, while I had long understood dembow as a direct DR response to Playero’s and The Noise’s seminal (proto-reggaeton) mixtapes, Mota shows that Dominican producers such as DJ Boyo had been concocting their own mixed up, hyped up version of Jamaican dancehall since 1993!

https://peopleenespanol.com/chica/dembow-from-jamaica-to-el-alfa/

The Grammys Buried Latin Trap
In spite of Camila Cabello's splashy "Havana" opener, at the Grammys it was as if the last year or so of Billboard Hot 100 hit-making by Latin American artists hadn’t happened.

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/59xdka/the-grammys-buried-latin-trap

I gotta look into that speedy Dominican Debow x-post

Dembow

Somebody just told me the story about Ray Barretto joining Tito Puente’s band, as recounted here https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2013/04/20/178006676/tito-puente-90-years-of-getting-people-to-dance, since today was the anniversary of Ray’s passing.

Nice story.

So I saw pianist Alfredo Rodríguez & percussionist Pedrito Martinez duet at the Kennedy Center Saturday night. They have a new album 'Duologue' where they do standard Latin jazz plus some autotuned pop verses from pianist rodriguez & some Afro-Cuban chants from Martinez, and an instrumental cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/687794667/first-listen-alfredo-rodr-guez-pedrito-martinez-duologue

I need to catch up on the following too:

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

1.Adicto by
Prince Royce + Marc Anthony has been #1 on this chart for 4 weeks as of 2-16

2. Centavito
Romeo Santos

Billboard Latin pop-
https://www.billboard.com/charts/latin-pop-songs

1. MIA
Bad Bunny Featuring Drake

2. Imposible
Luis Fonsi + Ozuna

https://www.billboard.com/charts/latin-rhythm-airplay

#1 is 'Mia" by Bad Bunny featuring Drake
2. Ella Quiere Beber by
Anuel AA & Romeo Santos

That Prince Royce track sounded like standard bachata on my one listen . Have heard other cuts from him I liked better

Cuban timba band El Nino y la Verdad 6 to 7 pm est tonight for free at Kennedy Ctr Millennium Stage in DC and streaming on Facebook & K Ctr website I think

Aww, K. Center schedule change. Maybe El Niño couldn’t get visas in time. NYC based Gerardo Contino y Los Habeneros will perform instead. They’re a decent dance band, but not quite as good

RIP Lewis Kahn, salsa trombonist & violinist with the Fania Allstars and Larry Harlow’s Band. Harlow is known as salsa’s “ marvelous Jew,” and Kahn was known to some as the second marvelous Jew.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/8499382/lewis-kahn-dies

http://www.latinomusiccafe.com/2011/09/05/lewis-kahn-a-blue-collar-salsa-music-man/

RIP. I see in that last link that he replaced Barry Rogers in La Perfecta when Barry went off to be part of a fusion band. I forgot about that chapter in salsa history.

Love guys like this, as you may be aware, and love captions like this "A violin battle between Lewis Kahn and Alfredo De La Fe unfolds behind vocalist Emo Luciano during the Larry Harlow Latin Legends Band ." Also finding some moving tributes on social media from musicians that knew him.

Sometimes I see the word "Voirabh" associated with his name. Can't even tell if that is a name, a nickname or a title.

Oh it was a name given to him by Sri Chinmoy.

Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri and others have offered effusive praise

Saw that. Also some younger players that aren’t such big names talked about hanging out with him.

That violin battle can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoAH7nwU-DE

Interview with Lewis Kahn starts here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8O5yGEQ10

Listening to “Gracia Divina” in his honor.

Looking for recommendations for synth-pad heavy, highly melodic reggaeton/neoperreo, in the same vein as these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjNutfto9fk&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz8ve5rlgmM&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYbR0mr0mk&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6DWopZcGTM&

...basically, a bit like Europop but with a Reggaeton beat.

Maybe this article will give you some neo- p reggaeton ideas

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/8473231/neoperreo-sub-genre-reggaeton-feature

Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri and others have offered effusive praise

xp - thanks!

X-post— saw tweets from musicians like Pete Nater and Doug Beavers whom I don’t know, re Lewis Kahn

Met Doug Beavers once at Club Bonafide. Think he might have been one of the first to hear about his co-instrumentalist passing.

Latin trap overview piece in Washington Post by Julyssa Lopez, who has written some good freelance articles for various sites

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/record-labels-said-latin-trap-was-going-nowhere-billions-of-youtube-views-proved-them-wrong/2019/02/28/9d614286-2ee7-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b_story.html?utm_term=.7cd86980ab70

“It doesn’t have to be all tight latex pants,” Fuego said. “There just has to be a variety. But we need to be involved, too — us, the street dudes or whatever you want to call us.”

As Latin trap has become part of the broader urban umbrella, some wonder if it’s moment has passed and point out that what’s being released goes beyond a “Latin trap” label. Others insist that trap is here to stay; it’s just moving in a new direction.

“The music has to change, otherwise it’s all going to sound the same,” Messiah said. “There was a moment where everything was trap. But the other day, I was listening to a whole bunch of records, and you got things that are dance hall or more R&B, and that’s what it has to be.”

It’s not only the music that’s changing. Anuel was released from prison last summer after serving more than two years, but his homecoming concert was canceled after an offensive diss track he’d aimed at the rapper Cosculluela leaked online. Anuel referred to the song, which uses homosexuality as a taunt, as “the biggest mistake of my career, worse than going to prison”...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/garysuarez/2019/03/05/despacito-daddy-yankee/

After 110 consecutive charting weeks, Luis Fonsi’s smash hit with Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber has completely disappeared from Billboard’s multi-metric Hot Latin Songs ranking

love this funky old almost bugaloo song by late Spanish singer Dolores Vargas La Terremoto called "A La Pelota" that I just heard on WFMU

thought revive would be about Bobby Sanabria's new radio gig.

"despacito" having been on the charts for literally over 2 years and still being top 3 the week before it was removed pretty succinctly illustrates why no one likes the hybrid genre chart methodology billboard switched to in 2012

X-post- I never listened to the prior Latin Jazz show on that station that was there for 20 some years I read. Was it good? Will Sanabria be better?

Dyl— read that article & I didn’t understand how those radio placement rules work. Thanks for confirming what I thought

I listened to the prior incarnation and it was fine although I didn't often feel compelled to listen. The new host may play a wider variety of music, although he sometimes has a certain kind of overbearing NYC personality.

That annual NY Times magazine music Issue edited by Nabisco once again largely ignored most of the world . Just 1 Spanish language tune of the 25 highlighted songs “that matter right now”. From Rosalia of Spain.

http://remezcla.com/features/music/rauw-alejandro-profile-urbano/

Puerto Rican “urbano “ vocalist ( his dad played guitar & sang) Rauw Alejandro

Listening to Cuban group Cimafunk —Cuban afrofunk meets Prince

Also, not a Fan of Juanes, he’s ok, but really like track I heard on radio “La Plata” featuring Lalo Ebratt. More pop less bombastic

I missed Eddie Palmieri ‘s most recent multiple nights at little Blues Alley in DC. Didn’t see reviews or check Instagram to see if anyone snuck a video

Cimafunk are fun! Playing National Sawdust in NYC in April I think.

They’re in DC at Tropicalia tonight . The $25 in advance tix are gone and they want $40 at the door. Don’t know promoter. I think I am gonna skip it.

Other stuff I am listening to: salsa act Michael Stuart has a track on the Billboard hot tropical list . It has a syrupy pop chorus but a straight up banging rhythmic salsa feel under the verses

So Madonna’s been apparently living in Lisbon, Portugal, and her new album has collaborations with Maluma from Colombia and with Anitta from Brazil

I need to listen to it more. Checked it out quickly at first

Several Latinx music critics on twitter are grumbling that Otro Trago
Sech Featuring Darell

Is not getting the crossover media attention it and he deserves despite being number #1 for awhile , but European Rosalia can just say hello and get lotsa love and attention as an artiste

Sech is Afro-Panamanian

it's that pitchfork magic

still got it!!!!!

It’s a banger alright. I’m especially fond of the remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaCnp-yB-Yc
Sech ft. Darell, Nicky Jam, Ozuna & Anuel AA • Otro Trago (Remix)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/arts/music/dembow-rhythm-drake-justin-bieber.html

Dembow rhythm history w/ a Spotify playlist

X-post — Yeah that Otro Trago Remix is nice

I also love this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a76lWh5yJCU
Ceasese ft. Polimá Westcoast & Young Cister • Te quiero ver

There's an interesting digital-only compilation out from Craft Recordings:

V/A - Fania Goes Psychedelic

01. Ray Barretto – Acid (5:07)
02. The Lebron Brothers Orchestra – Let’s Get Stoned (2:49)
03. Johnny Colon & Orchestra – Boogaloo Blues (6:53)
04. The Latin Blues Band – Take A Trip (4:53)
05. George Guzman – Banana Freak Out (3:43)
06. The Harvey Averne Band – Got To Have Brotherhood (2:57)
07. Pete Rodriguez – Oh That’s Nice (4:50)
08. Larry Harlow – Freak Off (3:30)
09. Joey Pastrana – Problems (7:15)
10. Eddie Palmieri – Revolt / La Libertad Lógico (5:25)
11. Ray Barretto – Power (6:08)
12. Bobby Valentín – Use It Before You Loose It (3:02)
13. The Lebron Brothers Orchestra – Summertime Blues (4:44)
14. Jimmy Sabater – Kool It Here Comes The Fuzz (3:14)
15. Flash And The Dynamics – Electric Latin Soul (3:16)

Track 1 originally released on Acid, Fania Records LP SLP 346, 1968.
Track 2 originally released on The Brooklyn Bums, Cotique LP C 1015, 1968.
Track 3 originally released on Boogaloo Blues, Cotique LP C 1004, 1967.
Track 4 originally released on Take A Trip Pussycat, Speed Records LP SS 101, 1968.
Track 5 originally released on Introducing George Guzman, Fania Records LP 348, 1968.
Track 6 originally released on Brotherhood, Fania Records LP 379, 1969.
Track 7 originally released on Oh, That’s Nice! (Ay, que bueno!), Alegre Records LP LPA 860, 1967.
Track 8 originally released as Orchestra Harlow on Harlow’s Harem, Fania Records LP SLP 408, 1972.
Track 9 originally released on Hot Pastrana, Cotique LP C 1025, 1968.
Track 10 originally released on Vamonos pa’l monte, Tico Records LP 1224, 1971.
Track 11 originally released on Barretto Power, Fania Records LP 397, 1970.
Track 12 originally released on Let’s Turn On / Arrebatarnos, Fania Records LP 343, 1968.
Track 13 originally released on Psychedelic Goes Latin, Cotique LP C 1008, 1967.
Track 14 originally released as “Kool It” on El hijo de Teresa / Teresa’s Son, Tico Records LP 1211, 1970.
Track 15 originally released on The New York Sound, Tico Records LP 1233, 1971.

That does look interesting

There are some great cuts on that J Balvin & Bad Bunny album. Was re-listening to it.

^^^ true words!

Más más más:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmeyoMooJPY
Tini ft. Lalo Ebratt • Fresa

Some things I like about this song:
•it features Lalo Ebratt
•it’s informed by Afropop (lesson 1: “One Dance”)
•its subject matter is delicious
•it features Lalo Ebratt

Saw J Balvin live last night. Fun show. A big production with a set that had a giant bleachers section with a cartoonlike character ( video game meets Hello Kitty meets anime) on it; videos airing behind the set (in a Nam June Paik way), reggaeton dancers in everyday clothes as well as some in cartoon meets videogame costumes; strobe lights and other flashy lighting... On some songs like “La Cancion” there was less going on— just Balvin’s voice, his drummer, guitarist, and keyboard player/ backup vocalist

Missed bad boy heartthrob Maluma in town recently. He’s not bad

(no) pun intended?

The guys have a song together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geyg_F5pfHE
Maluma ft. J Balvin • Qué Pena

Quite nice, but not really the showstopper it should have been

Ha re pun. Yes not the showstopper it could have been

Pedro Capó w/ Farruko song Calma has become a favorite of Nats baseball players after a win

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/10/22/magic-calma-reggaeton-hit-that-became-washington-nationals-celebration-anthem/

I like Bad Bunny’s shoutouts to salsa and reggaeton acts in the sentimental “Desde el Corazon.” Good video too

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/desde-el-coraz%C3%B3n-heart.html

That’s a 2018 song I think

https://youtu.be/7LZIrKG2EPE

Saxophonist, composer, arranger, orchestra leader and educator Ray Santos became widely known in the 1990s for arranging the Oscar-nominated theme song for the movie The Mambo Kings. The Julliard-trained Nuyorican musician, who died on Thursday (Oct. 17) at age 90, was himself a mambo king.

Santos started out playing Latin big band music at resorts in upstate New York's Catskills, and performed with Machito’s orchestra at New York's city's Palladium in the 1950s. Over his long career he collaborated with Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Paquito D’Rivera and many others.

He won a Grammy award with Linda Ronstadt for her 1992 album Frenesí. Recently, he had arranged Jon Secada’s 2017 album tribute to Beny Moré, To Beny Moré With Love -- Santos had previously worked with the great Cuban musician himself.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/8533458/ray-santos-dead-latin-music-maestro-dies

Chilean singer Mon Laferte staged a protest at last night's Latin Grammys. Photo is NSFW, so search it up for yourself, but she wrote the words "En Chile Torturan Violan Y Matan" on her chest and dropped her top on the red carpet. (She later won Best Alternative Album.)

She’s got a new political song out too, I read. It’s with Puerto Rican Guaynaa.

Rosalia won Latin Grammys album of the year; Pedro Capo -"Calma" song of the year (the remix w/ Farruko also won an award); Bad Bunny got best Urban album; J Balvin & Rosalia best urban song for "Con Altura"; best salsa album was Tony Succar- Mas De Mi; Andres Cepeda got best traditional tropical album; Chucho Valdes -Jazz Bata 2 got best Latin Jazz

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/8543699/latin-grammys-2019-winners-list

Tensions Over Genres and Generations Linger at Latin Grammys
The Spanish pop avant-gardist Rosalía was a big winner at the ceremony, where reggaeton and Latin trap artists were snubbed in the major categories.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/arts/music/latin-grammys.html

Bad Bunny did "Callaita" with an orchestra . Video link in Rolling Stone story

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-performs-callaita-latin-grammys-913070/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/reggaeton-latin-grammys-progress-bad-bunny-j-balvin-912872/

J Balvin and some others did not go to the awards.

“There is a history that dates back many years where our genre has been denigrated,” Balvin explained. “I don’t agree with [the Academy] using us for ratings,” he added. “And then [us] not going home with what we deserve.”

Fellow superstar and frequent collaborator Bad Bunny echoed Balvin’s words in the press room following Thursday’s Grammys ceremony. “There are people who [must] accept that reggaeton is a genre that has been going for more than two decades,” Bad Bunny said pointedly. “Whether you like it or not … we are [the ones] representing Latinos worldwide.”...

Folks mad on twitter that Sech’s “Otro Trago” didn’t win a song award and lost to European Spaniard Rosalía

I listened to that Sech song today. It's bad. Well, it's generic pop-reggaeton that makes it seem like nothing's happened in the genre in a half-dozen years or more (autotune, in-da-club video, placeholder lyrics about love and heartbreak, etc., etc.). I'm not surprised that it's very popular, but do people actually think it's better than Rosalía's work (and when I say that I'm including both her songs and her videos as a whole package)? I mean, I don't even like Rosalía's post-album singles that much but even those songs are much better than anything I've heard from Sech. The dude is a dime a dozen to my ear, and the fact that he's currently popular says nothing about the quality of his work. Or am I wrong?

i don't get "otro trago" myself but given that apparently this is not the first time ppl have questioned its lack of exposure or plaudits in some corners compared to what's readily afforded to, e.g., rosalía -- when, as you mention, there are scores of other aesthetically similar tunes that could be at the center of similar complaints -- tells me that there's more to it than i'm attuned to

i wouldn't say most of rosalía's recent singles are better than it tho. on some level i feel like some of the adulation she's being heaped with in recent months is from ppl who felt like they were a bit late to get on the hypetrain and are consequently responding more to her overall catalog and strength of musicianship than specifically to her recent work, much of which is uninspiring

The “Otro Trago” Remix is better than the original , but yeah it may not be the best choice to use to make the point re reggaeton and Latin Grammys choices

Rolling Stone writer Esposito and headline re announcement of main Grammys--

Latin Music Is Being Quarantined at the 2020 Grammys
Rosalía is the only Spanish-language artist to break into a general category — the rest are castaways

Things seemed to look up in 2019 when “I Like It,” the Latin trap crossover hit by Cardi B, J Balvin and Bad Bunny, received the nomination for Record of the Year. But in spite of its skyrocketing revenue and growing ubiquity in anglophone pop culture — with support from bicultural Latina superstars like Cardi, Camila Cabello and Selena Gomez — Latin music will be excluded from the most prestigious Grammys categories, which include Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

In 2020, Catalan avant-pop star Rosalía will be the only Spanish-language recording artist to break into the general category that is Best New Artist. Though the Academy has previously honored artists who’ve performed in Spanish, such as Puerto Rican rocker José Feliciano and Ecuadorian-American diva Christina Aguilera, the Best New Artist award has historically gone to those who primarily record in English. A win for Rosalía in this category would be an unprecedented win for Spain, as well as the Latin music industry, which has embraced her over the last two years.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/latin-music-2020-grammys-rosalia-bad-bunny-j-balvin-914642/

https://remezcla.com/lists/music/nuevo-noise-12-songs/

So much music to keep up with

yes

Not really seeing Latinx acts on many year end lists. Not many Spain acts either, ha ( she has made a few).

So someone opened a new jazz club in Baltimore recently and they're busy bringing acts to town-- NYC Latin jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri is there tonight/Thursday through Sunday; and he's gonna be back there in 2 weeks for 4 nights as well.

Caramanica in NY Times lists Bad Bunny and Romeo Santos on his year end list. Jon Pareles has ILe on his.

https://remezcla.com/lists/music/50-best-songs-by-latinos-in-2019/

A little of everything but mainly reggaeton

Ozuna’s new album is called Nibiru. I wasn’t feeling the string of singles that preceded it all that much and have been enjoying him more on his features this year, but the album is sounding really good.

Loving the skippy beat in “Fantasía” (there’s not enough of it actually): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYwzpYh7dio

Fun track with Diddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNKnxO7wAeU
Ozuna ft. Diddy & DJ Snake • Eres Top (working title “I Need A Top, Part 2”)

(pretty sure this is one of those Illuminati videos I keep hearing about)

Will give new Ozuna a listen. Also need to look at :

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/778227075/a-survey-of-the-year-in-latin-music-whatever-that-means

More top notch reggaeton:
Lalo Ebratt’s Numerología EP is lots of fun, in a Afro-Latino post-“One Dance” kind of way.

“Milkshake”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na8MZZU8haY

that's quite nice

Since we can never read enough discussion of Rosalia versus Latinx artists, here’s J Shepherd from the Slate music crit roundtable :

This is not to say that “authenticity” is the goal or even all that desirable as a flat concept, but when Rosalía is better known by mainstream English publications than Anitta or Natti Natasha or Amara La Negra or Karol G or even Becky G, the system has either gone wonky or is doing exactly what it was meant to.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/12/best-music-2019-fka-twigs-solange-holly-herndon.html

I might grant more weight to her statement if Googling her name paired with any of those artists' names yielded results. You can't complain that no one's writing about these artists if you're not writing about them either.

(She's an editor at Jezebel. If she wanted to get something out there, she could. The last time she wrote about Amara La Negra was in 2015.)

As editor, maybe she assigned someone else to write about them.

I wrote up a Karol G preview in 2017 for the Washington DC City Paper, and did Bad Bunny, J Balvin, & Maluma this year. There’s not too much English language coverage of Latinx music in DC area

https://remezcla.com/lists/music/10-best-latino-latin-american-spanish-albums-of-year-2019/

Less "urbano" than I expected, but still strongly represented. 1.'This Is How You Smile' by Helado Negro;2. 'Oasis' by Bad Bunny & J Balvin; 3. 'Ahomale' by Combo Chimbita; 4.'Almadura' by iLe;5.'Sueños' by Sech; 6.'Foam' by Divino Niño; 7. 'Soy Piedra' by Belafonte Sensacional;8.'Sombrou Dúvida' by Boogarins; 9.'System' by Debit ; 10-Joterías Bobas’ by Hidrogenesse

Not really seeing many Latin jazz albums on lists. The genre seemed formulaic years ago, but still hangs on. Pancho Sanchez did a Coltrane tribute I see. The NPR jazz critics poll usually has a separate Latin jazz category, but the 2019 poll is not posted yet.

Time to go to the 2020 thread:

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2020: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx