Vamanos pal hilo Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2016: Salsa, Bomba, Merengue,Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin-Jazz and more

RIP Chocolate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr9wJ3m9IOw

Que bueno tocó usted

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist
^ will start updating around February

last year's thread

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2015 and onward: Salsa, Bomba, Merengue,Reggaeton, Bachata, Latin-Jazz and more

Made a cursory, unsuccessful attempt yesterday to find video of him playing with Benny More or Eddie Palmieri.

Him meaning the late Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, of course.

Don't give up.

Latin urban songwriter and artist Christian Ramos, better known as Syko “El Terror,” was buried Sunday in Puerto Rico following his sudden death last week. Ramos -- who co-wrote major Latin hits including Don Omar’s “Hasta que salga el sol” -- died in his sleep in his Orlando home on Dec. 27. He was 33 years old.

At the time of his death, Ramos had credits on current hits by Antonio Barullo (“Disfruta la vida,” featuring J Balvin and Flex), Enrique Iglesias (“De noche y de día” featuring Yandel and Juan Magán) and on two tracks on Yandel’s current album, Dangerous.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6828968/syko-el-terror-dead-reggaeton-songwriter

Latin urban songwriter and artist Christian Ramos, better known as Syko “El Terror,” was buried Sunday in Puerto Rico following his sudden death last week. Ramos -- who co-wrote major Latin hits including Don Omar’s “Hasta que salga el sol” -- died in his sleep in his Orlando home on Dec. 27. He was 33 years old.

At the time of his death, Ramos had credits on current hits by Antonio Barullo (“Disfruta la vida,” featuring J Balvin and Flex), Enrique Iglesias (“De noche y de día” featuring Yandel and Juan Magán) and on two tracks on Yandel’s current album, Dangerous.

Syko also collaborated with many Puerto Rican reggaeton acts, including Daddy Yankee, Arcangel, Natti Natasha and Kendo Kaponi.

But Ramos’ collaborations with Don Omar were no doubt his most successful, spanning many years and many albums. They included “Zumba,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay, Latin Pop and Latin Rhythm airplay charts, and, of course, “Hasta que salga el sol,” a massive hit that was No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and won a Latin Grammy for best urban song in 2013.

“Rest in peace my brother,” Don Omar tweeted following Ramos’ death

Oops re flawed c & p

A publicist was trying to get me to listen to Monsieur Perine, a group from Colombia that adapts Django Reinhardt style music and has been produced by Visitante from Calle 13 and won a best new artist Latin Grammy. They are touring the US now. Their song "Nuestra Cancion" does NOT wow me. It blends Latin pop with Django...

Fwiw, publicist says they had a big sold out show in NYC, and will be making their DC debut this Thursday night at Takoma Station Tavern. Also they get to tape an NPR Tiny Desk show.

Haven't made up my mind re Toronto-based Afro-Cuban post-rock band the Battle of Santiago

http://www.kennedy-center.org/video/index/M6633

Lotsa percussion with a post-punk/post-rock guitarist plus a guest sax player (former DC and now NYC player Elijah Balbed)

Just got the new Aruán Ortiz Trio album in the mail - Eric Revis on bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums. Mostly abstract modern jazz, but the last track is a version of an old Cuban song, "Uno, Dos y Tres, Que Paso Más Chevere."

I wonder if Ortiz mostly played abstract modern jazz when he was a tad younger in Cuba?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47wA-hktJqE

The kid in the band is good, and the older ones are also

Zaperoko

30 ANIVERSARIO

Good review in the New York Times. I kinda liked the old version of the band. Band leader, Puerto Rican trombonist Edwin Feliciano, has now put together a newer version of the group

Zaperoko has definitely done some good things, although I can't say I've ever truly loved an entire album. I like this, with Truco (they've recorded together before), from a few years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjQd4qGthwc

In general, I like their tracks that pick up steam in the middle and go off in a different direction.

Clips from this new Bobby Valentin sound decent, probably a godsend for salsa club DJs who want to play something current:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25893.10?NKHrKcbG;;399

I still feel like it leans too far toward being too bright and not having enough shadow or bittersweetness, like most contemporary salsa.

A lot of opinion there considering I am only skimming through the clips.

This stands out for me (but doesn't appear to be a new song):

Bobby Valentin - La Paciencia

It's got a pretty unmistakable Puerto Rican swing to it. Well, Bobby Valentin should be expected to maintain some sort of standards even if they are collapsing around him.

(People complain about all the embeds on rolling threads so I'm thinking maybe we should cut back a little. Just a thought. I generally am not careful about that.)

Yeah, maybe

To go back to "La Paciencia". . . I'm trying to define what makes it stand out (which would be easier to do if I knew theory). Those crisp horn parts, especially in the beginning at around 0:11, there's just something more multi-layered about them I guess. To me this sounds like something you won't get in a Marc Anthony or Victor Manuelle song.

Of course, the horn parts aren't as mind-blowing as the ones in classics like El Jibaro y La Naturaleza or El Muñeco de la Ciudad, but there is something there that is a cut above the current norm, to my ears.

I don't see either of those on Spotify! Pretty amazing. Just shows how under-documented salsa remains, really.

I prefer to keep the embeds - they make it so much easier to actually check the stuff you've never heard of.

playlist updated

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

Just got the new Aruán Ortiz Trio album in the mail - Eric Revis on bass, Gerald Cleaver on drums.

This sounds pretty good from hearing part of the two tracks on the playlist. I think I missed Cleaver's name when I skimmed that post earlier.

So near the end of the Grammys, they mentioned that the late Celia Cruz was one of a number of artists getting a lifetime achievement award. I think that means she never got a Grammy while alive, and they finally decided for some reason to recognize her.

Natalie Lafourcade and Pitbull apparently tied for an award. Pitbull was on near the end doing a song called "Taxi" that borrows the melody from reggae song "Murder She Wrote." He also offended some folks with his sexist gestures toward his dancers. Suddenly near the end of the song they had guitarist Steve Perry add a guitar solo. The whole thing was comical. Saw some tweets from Latinos who were embarrassed that the Pitbull performance was the representation of Latino music on the televised portion of the show.

Ruben Blades won the "tropical" Grammy. Since the handful of Latino awards at this Grammys were all done offstage, none of the Latino winners were there in person to get them. Although some folks do show up just for that

He also offended some folks with his sexist gestures toward his dancers

It's 2016 and "some folks" have just become aware of the existence of Pitbull.

lol, I actually like Taxi. This whole debacle sounds hilarious though.

Saw some evidence that Arturo O'Farrill led a group that played a Grammy afterparty. Intrigued by this.

Past GRAMMY nominee Aloe Blacc, GRAMMY winner Thelma Houston and DJ Michelle Pesce are scheduled to perform at the exclusive 2016 GRAMMY Celebration — The Recording Academy's official after-party taking place on Monday, Feb. 15 immediately following the 58th GRAMMY Awards. Additionally, the Celebration's Jazz Lounge will feature performances by two-time GRAMMY winner and current nominee Arturo O'Farrill and members of GRAMMY Camp — Jazz Session.

1. BEST INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITION
The Afro Latin Jazz Suite
Arturo O’Farrill, composer (Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa)
Track from: Cuba: The Conversation Continues
Label: Motema Music

35. BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM
Made In Brazil
Eliane Elias
Label: Concord Jazz

good for arturo
i am enjoying that album.

Billboard top Tropical Albums

1

Todavia Me Amas: Lo Mejor de Aventura

Aventura

2

Last Week: 1

3.0

Marc Anthony



3

Last Week: 12

Necesito Un Bolero

Gilberto Santa Rosa

4

Last Week: 3

Latin Hits 2016: Club Edition

Various Artists

5

Last Week: 5

Latin Hits 2015: Club Edition

Various Artists


http://www.billboard.com/charts/tropical-albums

















Slow year so far, but playlist updated.

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

This looks like something I need to get:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25904.10?DVprYSsh;;445

That's: Cortijo Y Su Combo Saoco Presents Cortijo 1969-1971: The Ansonia Years. (Should have linkified the title.)

Caught some of Peter Brainin's Latin Jazz Workshop at Fat Cat last night, with an all-star band. $3 - cheap!

Nice. I caught outside of DC a remake of the opera Carmen--but turned into an Afro-Cuban musical set in 1959 Cuba with music composed by Arturo O'Farrill, and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (who is a big deal on Broadway). Got tix half-price from Goldstar but still not cheap. Music and dancing was good, alas the main male lead was not, and the spoken and sung lines were not. Jose's switch from loyal Batista soldier to revolutionary and guy in love with Carmen was not believable. Broadway author/director Moisés Kaufman needs to rewrite script and find a better male lead if he wants to take this to the great white way.

I wanna see on March 18th--Charlie Aponte at the Palace, in Virginia 30 some minutes south of DC (old-school Latino salsa singer from El Gran Combo)

Will see, shows start around midnight or so there...

So maybe...But that Sahel Tuareg Tamashek movie that pays homage to Purple Rain sorta, is also showing for one night only elsewhere, and maybe I should go to the gym and then stay home...

But on the other hand, I have fine memories of seeing El Gran Combo a few times lately and they were good. I think Aponte was with them at those times. Plus hearing salsa live and loud there is inspiring and the wife and I can dance together (albeit poorly) and have fun

So the NY Times Magazine's 25 Songs that tell Us about the Future includes a J Shep favorable piece on Pitbull's "Taxi" and a series of photos of reggaeton's J. Balvin working in a studio with Pharell W.

http://remezcla.com/features/film/we-like-it-like-that-interview/

New movie doc on Boogaloo with some interviews and history and such on the link

2015 doc, so not exactly new

seen it, it's good.

New Willie Rosario! This better not be a let down.

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25920.10?uQ3A2uBV;;408

Also the collaboration between Larry Harlow and (the much younger) Marlow Rosado could be good, but we'll see. The Rosado songs I've kind of liked haven't felt all the way there yet.

Harlow/Marlow is on Spotify already.

This is alright so far. Want something harder, less Latin jazzy (and probably less Cuban influenced).

I love PR salsa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL2HD_UNdEw

Ya No Eres Nada

(Does have an audio watermark from the youtube channel.)

PR salsa para siempre, no timba needed.

Willie Rosario live in 2015:

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

New Ricardo Gallo. I tend to file him under jazz in my mind more than under Latin music. Have not heard this one yet.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1tyLuylaqqWpcWnRf0GgZW

This is totally different from the other Gallo albums I've heard, which sometimes drift toward avant-garde territory (especially Urdimbres y Marañas) and were all instrumental.

x-post -- I did not go to the late night Charlie Aponte gig. Have seen him twice with El Gran Combo. Watched the Malian movie instead.

Need to check out the stuff Rudiph posted.

I might as well just order this Willie Rosario CD. Even these choppy clips on youtube are probably enough to go on (given my high opinion of WR).

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/arts/music/review-dayme-arocena-mixes-a-cosmopolitan-vibe-with-an-earthy-tone.html?ref=arts

Cuban singer was in NYC

Need to check out Arocena's album from last year, as the Jon Pareles phrasing in the NY T story has me curious:

Her voice opened up to approach the earthy, full-throated cries of Afro-Cuban ritual chants. But the music surrounding her was far from traditional. It was jazz from a piano-bass-drums trio, with the harmonic and rhythmic complexities of hard-bop and the melodic grace of Brazilian pop. Ms. Arocena unites cosmopolitan musicianship with deep roots.

And need to check out salsa vet Willie Rosario still too

Playlist updated for March.

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

Great. That Cortijo collection is up on Spotify now. I didn't know.

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/08/469665151/on-tocororo-alfredo-rodriguez-brings-cuba-to-the-world-and-the-world-to-cuba

Quincy Jones produced this guy. Haven't heard him yet. I think he did well on the "Latin" portion of the jazz critics poll last year

Alfredo Rodriguez's latest album is all over the map---movie soundtrack, classical, 70s fusion, Peter Gabriel, Brazilian, Disney...guest female vocals. Once in awhile some throwback Afro-Latin sounds

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7318690/hear-pedrito-martinezs-new-song-with-ruben-blades-exclusive

Clear Channel I Heart Radio winner from April 3rd:

Enrique Iglesias and Nicky Jam won Latin Song of the Year for their hit tune “El Perdón,” while competing against titans like "La Gozadera" by Gente De Zona featuring Marc Anthony, "Mi Verdad" by Maná featuring Shakira, "Ay Vamos" by J Balvin and "Hilito" by Romeo Santos

Saw a Cuban music doc called "The Forbidden Shore." Except for some clips of Los Van Van, and an interview with their now late leader Juan Formell, the movie was largely preoccupied with, to paraphrase one of the musicians in it, proving that Cuba is not stuck in 1959 with the Buena Vista Social Club. Alas, that meant mostly interviews and brief clips of trova and folk-rockers, with just a tiny bit of reggaeton and little timba or jazz. The trova and folk-rockers are all bummed they are not known around the world like Buena Vista.

RIP Ismael Quintana.

Sad news. The voice of La Perfecta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ6frXvcLDA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUYzvMxR0hM

(And that's Chocolate on "Bilongo.")

Some SummerStage shows of interest:

Latino Artists and Culture at SummerStage 2016: León Larregui, Joe Bataan, Tito Rojas, Paulo Flores, Monobloco, Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound, George Lamond, Los Cafres, Rodrigo Amarante, Johnny Rivera, Fat Joe, Joan Català and more

George Lamond, DJ Lucho
July 5 – Tuesday – 7:00pm – Crotona Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Latin Alternative Music Conference: Mexrrissey, Los Cafres, La Dame Blanche
July 6 – Wednesday – 5:00pm – Central Park, Manhattan – FREE SHOW

Fat Joe, Tony Touch
July 6 – Wednesday – 7:00pm – Crotona Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

A Tribute to Acclaimed Latin Jazz Musician Dave Valentin
July 7 – Thursday – 7:00pm – Crotona Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Latin Alternative Music Conference: León Larregui, Rodrigo Amarante, Grenda
July 8 – Friday – 5:00pm – Central Park, Manhattan – FREE SHOW

Johnny Rivera, Joan Català
July 12 – Tuesday – 7:00pm – St. Mary’s Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Joe Bataan meets SETENTA, Joan Català
July 13 – Wednesday - 7:00pm – St. Mary’s Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Tito Rojas
July 14 – Thursday – 7:00pm – St. Mary’s Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Felix Hernandez’s Rhythm Revue – Film Screening: We Like It Like That
July 15 – Friday – 7:00pm – St. Mary’s Park, Bronx – FREE SHOW

Paulo Flores, Herencia de Timbiquí, Monsieur Periné, DJ Greg Caz, DJ Manny
July 17 – Sunday – 2:00pm – Central Park, Manhattan – FREE SHOW

Brasil Summerfest: Monobloco, Cabruêra, Boogarins, DJ Luiz Santos
Pre-Show Panel Discussion
August 6 – Saturday – 5:00pm – Central Park, Manhattan – FREE SHOW

Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound
August 11 – Thursday – East River Park, Manhattan – FREE SHOW

Wish you could also get funding to do a similar series down here in DC

We do have this:

Metro Mambo, Sat. April 30th 2 to 4 at the Anacostia Arts Center for free (special event)

Join host Jim Byers (WPFW 89.3 FM) for a celebration of the late, great Cuban trumpeter Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros! Guest speaker DJ Nancy Alonso (WPFW 89.3’s Latin Flavor Salsa Dura Show) screens & discusses excerpts of personal footage of her touring DC places and music spaces with a legend she called a personal friend. During the second hour, dance to DJ Nancy as she spins a broad mix of salsa and mambo classics – all featuring the legend at Chocolate Armenteros!

Nowt to say other than I listened to a bunch of Danilo Perez albums for the first time today and it was time well spent (￣▽￣)/♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪

His Monk album is wonderful in ways that it doesn't really matter that he is reinterpreting Monk, it is stand-alone brilliant.

My jazz listener Dad's a fan and I always keep intending to listen more, but haven't yet.

Believe he posted some photos of himself with Herbie and Chick the other day.

Anyway came to post this video of Ray Barretto, since it was his birthday yesterday, along with Charlie Palmieri and Tito Puente, with what seems to be Kate Bush looking on at about the 1:40 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4PtFUg5VM

Playlist updated for April.

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

Ned S*blette raving about in his email :Papo Vázquez's Mighty Pirates Troubadours, live at Hostos, right by the 149th St. stop in the Bronx,

with guests Robert Cepeda, Felipe Luciano Joe Locke . And the core members of the Philly-Rican-African-American-bomba-soul-jazz MPT, with its tenor duo of Papo and Willie Williams up front

Vazquez is from Philly,

http://aldianews.com/articles/culture/music/papo-v%C3%A1zquez-coming-back-philly-his-mighty-pirates-troubadours/41372

http://musicabana.com/

May 5th through 8th fest in Havana

Gente la Zona with Marc Anthony track that's been big since 2015 (and Ned says its huge in Cuba)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMp55KH_3wo

Gente la Zona's Cuban reggaeton is still on top of several Billboard charts

I'm getting really sick of vapid anthems like that.

They do seem to be pushing the syrupy bachata ones out of the top slot.

Eddie Palmieri and band reprising his 1971 Harlem River Drive album in Harlem recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZArjAEAR4w

Ben ratliff liked the show

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/arts/music/review-eddie-palmieri-reprises-a-tantalizing-harlem-river-drive.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-0&action=click&contentCollection=Europe®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article

On the record, he used a mixture of his own musicians with others who were working with Aretha Franklin. One of his own was the timbalero Nicky Marrero; one of Ms. Franklin’s was the drummer Bernard Purdie. Luckily, both were present for Saturday’s show, and important parts of it.

A related item--A story about a Puerto Rican folky with percussion song chanted by early 1970s gangs

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/how-que-bonita-bandera-became-a-revolutionary-puerto-rican-anthem?curator=MusicREDEF

More old-school history just posted--

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/mambo-boogaloo-salsa-music-family-tree

Plus a new article by musician/professor Chris Washburne on Eddi Palmieri's 1971 Harlem River Drive album

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/the-note-eddie-palmieri-intro

Need to find time to read all these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s4pagJ6MwU

Had no idea she was still recording, thanks.

Need to read that Chris W. article.

Apparently, there's an album of Latin covers of Creedence songs coming out, and Juan Gabriel's on it:

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

It's a great song, and he does it really well. Honestly, the video is worth watching just for his pants.

chanted by early 1970s gangs

Cool man, Latino gangs.

I was somehow totally unaware of Farruko until this morning. I think he's terrible, but this video has over 200 million views:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBMsSPR9QMg

Perhaps you would like Fruko a little bit more.

Not sure if it belongs here, but I saw Badi Assad live on Friday, in a tiny church w just 100 attendance (it was full). It was quite extraordinary, and I'd never heard of her before.

Perhaps you would like Fruko a little bit more.

Oh, I love Fruko, especially those late '60s albums. Some of the most punk rock salsa ever recorded.

old article but I am curious if anyone here knows of and likes some of the groups mentioned here in this paragraph

Bands like La Mecánica Popular, with an emphasis on psychedelic guitar, played a Fania Summerstage event in June. Spoken word poet/actor Flaco Navaja pops up all over town doing his “old school salsa mixed with stories from the hiphop generation.” New bands from Puerto Rico like Pirulo y su Tribu and El Macabeo have made their mark. And DJ acts like the Whiskey Barons and Joe Clausell pull off a powerful remixing act, allowing a new generation to not only hold onto the past, but claim the music as their own.

http://fusion.net/story/6380/salseros-supplanted-by-djs-as-fania-all-stars-cant-revive-glory-days/

What I heard by Pirulo seemed pretty timba-influenced if I recall correctly. (It is a bit of a blur.) I think he has come up on this thread previously, maybe in an earlier year though. The others I don't know.

Pirulo is on Spotify.

Thanks, will check them out. I have switched gears and been listening to Jesus Alemany's Cubanismo--both older records, their 2011 live effort and current live footage on Youtube. Alemany who had moved to London in the '90s, now lives in Mexico (as does Juan de Marcos of the Afro-Cuban All-Stars). The band membership keeps changing, but its always Cubans. Except for some Bob Marley covers and the Mardi Gras Mambo hybrid New Orleans and Havana rhythms album, they mostly stick to a pre-timba Cuba style, but with a little more edge than Buena Vista.

Here's an interview with Alemany

https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/time-cuba-nismo

Cubanismo in San Francisco 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LawQmIXFjj8

Natalia Lafourcade is playing NYC's Playstation Theater on Thursday night.

Her recent scheduled gigs in DC got cancelled. Liked her when I saw her a few years back.

Changing gears, Cubanismo's retro Cuban son sound was fun at the Howard Theatre a little while back. Listening on spotify to Pirulo, and have been checking out Latin pop radio in the car a bit, but don't always find out who I am hearing. Reggaeton seems to be back a bit, less bachata than in recent years.

Puerto Rican Pirulo do salsa and timba oriented stuff and have worked with Tego Calderon and other reggaeton performers on ocassion

Caught some of Peter Brainin's Latin Jazz Workshop at Fat Cat last night, with an all-star band. $3 - cheap!

― Clowntime Is Tight (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, March 3, 2016 12:26 AM (4 months ago

Missed Afro-Cuban bandleader/singer Bobi Céspedes doing a full evening gig with John Santos' band Saturday, but saw the two of 'em duet for some afro-Cuban numbers last night at the finale of the Smithsonian Folklife fest. She's got a nice voice.

Listening to Aterciopelados this morning, pop-rock band from Colombia, and liking many but not all of the their "top tracks" on Spotify. Some of their melodies share a similar feel to those of Julieta Venegas and Natalie Lafourcade. Not sure I'm gonna be able to make their DC gig at the Howard Theatre tonight though.

I saw them...fuck, it might have been 15 years ago with Los Enanitos Verdes and maybe one other band at the Ritz Theater in Elizabeth, NJ. They were OK a long time ago but they got a lot softer and more hippie-ish once the lead singer had a kid, to their music's grave detriment.

That's when I remember them from. Got inspired to listen to those "top tracks" because they are together in town tonight.

x-post-- wasn't aware till recently of the resume of sax player Brainin. http://www.art-cetera.com/hastings/yellowjacketjam/brainin.htm

Latin jazz who's who

Super nice guy too. Keep intending to go but I missed his Fat Cat once again this Tuesday.

I saw Aterciopelados decades ago at Central Park Summerstage and had one of their records at some point. There were things I liked about but yeah, it seems like the material or presentation was sometimes a bit meh.

Chucho Valdes is perfect music for rare UK heatwaves, in partic his 90's Blue Note Albums. I've got Briyumba Palo Congo on today and is exactly what is required.

Playlist is updated for July

gracias

Ileana Cabra Joglar, a member of Calle 13 and sister of the instrumentalist guy in the group has a new album out of her own, under the name Ile. I saw the not safe for work video of one retro uptempo song that I liked. Have not heard any more of it, yet.

NPR review and first listen link

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/20/478667340/first-listen-ile-ilevitable

Also out now is Miramar's album recording boleros composed by Puerto Rico's Sylvia Rexach. I had forgotten that was on the way. (I think they announced it a few years back.)

http://www.miramar-music.com/music-1/

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/28/483874485/whats-past-is-present-on-two-new-puerto-rican-albums

The Miramar album goes for a sound that is a little too retro for me, though I do like the way their voices intertwine.

I like iLe's vocals, but I'm thinking the latin tinged tracks on Shiina Ringo's Hi Izuru Tokoro from two years back, which aren't really so far off, had a more solid instrumental base. Alt Latino stuff tends to be a little uneventful for my taste.

Canibal stands out though. I still think this stuff is good, but I feel like I am already hearing the weaknesses that will make me lose interest not to long from now.

Listening to iLevitable, I am still coming back to the sense that the accompaniment is not as outstanding as the vocals. It's not bad, just not exceptional to me, so far.

I've got to say, making comparisons to SR is legitimate. This music is not that far from what recent solo Shiina Ringo is going for. Some of it has a similar soundtracky feel to it.

Interesting

Streaming audio from the (2014) Shiina Ringo album has been pretty thoroughly scrubbed from the internet, but there is a sampler here. Only about four or five of the tracks are Latin tinged jazz/funk, so you are going to here some very unrelated things if you listen to this. Some of it I can do without.

Didn't mean to start that video so late. HERE, from the beginning.

Anyhow, Ilevitable is growing on me more. I hope this doesn't sound bad, but I think it's best if I put it a little further in th background than I had been doing, not following everything closely.

too bad Shiina Ringo has been largely scrubbed from internet. I liked earlier Mirimar better than new one. Still need to listen more to iLe

Plus I want to check out Tribu Baharú a Champeta criolla band from Bogotá, Colombia who are doing a free Kennedy Center gig in DC August 24th.

I am starting to think Ilevitable would work better as an album if it were slightly less varied. I am ambivalent about the appropriately titled English-language "Out of Place." Not crazy about the boogaloo, although her singing remains pretty solid there. But it feels like there is a sort of hump in the middle of the album that I need to get past to get to more of the best stuff. "Danza Para No Llorar," toward the end of the album, is starting to stand out. I find myself wondering who is playing piano on it.

I think it might have worked better if it had stuck to a ballad vibe throughout. Still good though.

Miami gets the first Cubaton station in the US . On FM there and streaming online and on an app

We were the first to break Gente de Zona in the country and the first to break Jacob Forever in Miami. I see all the different fusions that are being recorded. These artists have millions of views in YouTube, and no one is playing it on rotation. We have the station to do that.”While the bulk of Ritmo’s programming, roughly 60-70%, will be Cubatón, it will also feature other urban and reggaetón music.

“The appeal is going to be Cubatón, which doesn't have an outlet in and of itself, but it will live within a Latin urban format that will include reggaetón,” said Carolina Santamarina, GM of SBS.

While Cuban urban music has gained traction in recent months thanks to hits by Gente de Zona and Jacob Forever, to date the music is far from dominating the charts. This week, for example, there are no Cuban acts on the top 25 of Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart (the highest is Gente de Zona’s “Algo contigo” at No. 26), which measures airplay, sales and streams, and only two (Gente de Zona and Jacob Forever) on the top 25 of the Latin Airplay chart, which only measures airplay.

However, Salas says, the music is there.

“I’ve done extensive research on it, and there are more than 10 main Cuban artists making this kind of music, and I’ve found over 100 songs that I think are really good, and when they get exposed they’re going to become hits. There is more than enough music to create a station.” .....

As for ballads and other traditional pop music, they will now live on SBS’s Zeta 92.3 FM, which currently plays hits, ballads and tropical music.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7469584/sbs-first-cubaton-station-miami-ritmo-95-7

Cubatón is mostly so bad. Cubans and their corny-sounding rapping. I'm sure I haven't kept up, but the times I've checked in with it in the last few years (or more?) have been pretty snooze-worthy.

At least it's not more dire bachata. Could be an improvement over that.

I mean, sure, throw some into the tropical/urban latin playlists. As a little variety, it's probably a good thing. I just don't see it as anything to get excited about as a core of a radio format.

I like that the songs on iLevitable were written not just by iLe but by members of her family (including her grandmother). It reminds me a little of salsa family dynasties like La Sonora Poncena, but it's a little different from that in that this seems to be more a case of, say, someone writing a bolero and then tucking it away, or having musical talent but not going public with it. So it's more a matter of recovery of something almost lost. Not that you can hear that back story in the music, but it at least fits the wistfulness of much of the music.

Also, I get the feeling this album will be (or maybe already is) fairly big in Latin America at large.

curmudgeon, check your gmail.

Oops, I mean hotmail.

Thanks.

Dōitashimashite.

http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/16/tomasa-del-real-interview-tamos-redy-video

Up until this summer, Tomasa del Real made music in her tattoo studio. The 29-year-old Chilean reggaetón artist's aesthetic might be doused in the internet — she records noisy, vulgar tracks on her phone and sends them to collaborators around the world, then meshes the results with choppy visuals — but she didn't kickstart her music career with a hyped-up SoundCloud track or a viral video. Instead she has tattooing to thank for her rise to position as a reggaetón queen. After studying design in the Chilean capital of Santiago, she began traveling across the continent to ink people's skin and, along the way, started playing DIY reggaetón parties in whatever town or city she was in. After a while, she began to be recognized for her experimental reggaetón beats and potently raunchy verses

...

To del Real, she and her contemporaries like N.A.A.F.I in Mexico City and RIOBAMBA in Brooklyn, are making a new strain of reggaetón — their generation's Latin American pop. The idea behind #neoperreo, she explains, is more than a sound: “It’s a movement. The new way to listen to reggaetón.”

Sounds like something I'd hate if I could understand Spanish, but I will probably give it a shot. Still there's something a little ridiculous about raunchy reggaeton produced by a tattooed woman being presented as a new and exciting thing.

The Soundcloud track is like reggaeton crossed with vaporwave. Didn't like it much at all. The YouTube track was bland and routine, didn't like it much either. She's got an OK voice, but needs to work with different producers. Pair her with someone who does super-noisy aggressive tracks (think The Bug) and you might have something.

Colombian champeta and more band Tribu Baharú did an energetic but uneven set at the Kennedy Center tonight. It starts slow but picks up a bit after awhile

http://www.kennedy-center.org/video/index/M6877

I never did get the hang of knowing what vaporwave meant.

Playlist is updated.

I bought the new Willie Rosario album. Upthread I got all excited about it having that sound, and for the most part it does, but the songs as songs seem uninspired. I also don't care for the vocals that much. I don't really mind buying it though even though I'm broke and almost never buy music any more, since Willie Rosario's music has brought me so much satisfaction in the past.

But seriously I am tempted to just permanently give up on new salsa recordings.

Working for me

What's work for you? The new Willie Rosario or a moratorium on buying new salsa?

Is this a sign?

Descarga.com

1992 - 2016

Twenty-four years of amazing music
and countless friendships made.

To all of our contributors, distributors and, especially,
to our beautiful, knowledgeable and loyal customers...

Thank you all for allowing us to be part of your lives.

Peace.

Bruce and the Descarga family

Glad I've held on to my print copy of the descarga.com catalog, even if it's from around 1998.

:(
Descarga has gone off the web because of...
Because we complained about keeping up with latest salsa tunes?

We were not enthusiastic enough about new salsa, and now they're gone. Wow, that's a sign alright. Former NY Times critic Peter Watrous did some writing about salsa for them. I can't find any recent writing from him elsewhere.

Gonna have to dig in the wayback machine to find some of that good stuff like the Barry Rogers interview.

Link for Barry Rogers profile (not interview, sorry), which does indeed contain a wealth of information
http://web.archive.org/web/20150525231313/http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/archives/Profile42?

Thanks.

Saw someone else singing the blues in English on twitter that descarga.com is gone, but not much else (haven't translated a couple of Spanish language tweets).

I missed Gregorio Uribe and Los Gaiteros De San Guashington, US based Colombian accordionist and band, Friday night live in DC, but kinda like the few songs I heard of his, plus a video clip from that Friday night gig

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-josh-kun-20160920-snap-story.html

I've mostly read his writing about Mexican border music and Mexican rock but he has covered a lot more, and just won an award. Maybe this isn't the right Latino music thread for this, but wasn't sure well else to put it

Josh Kun was in his USC campus office earlier this week flipping through a stack of records next to a turntable near his desk.

The albums — “Bongo Fever: Jack Costanzo at the Garden of Allah,” “The Exciting Tito Puente in Hollywood,” an easy-listening collection by instrumentalist George Shearing backed by an all-Latin band, curiosities by Mexican composer Esquivel — are part of the communication professor’s research for a Getty project focused on the role that Latin American musicians played in shaping the sound of the city.

It’s “me trying to create this genealogy, this counter-history of L.A. music in the 20th century,” Kun said. “The Sunset Strip is thought of as this place of white rock ’n’ roll and white counterculture. It was also this playground for Latin music.”

Unearthing lesser-known slices of Los Angeles history is just one reason Kun’s work has caught the attention of the Getty, the city’s Library Foundation and now the MacArthur Foundation. After a lifetime of scholarship and publishing, including “To Live and Dine in L.A.,” a book that surveyed the Los Angeles Public Library’s trove of old restaurant menus, and “Songs in the Key of Los Angeles,” which did the same for the institution’s collection of sheet music, Kun became one of 23 MacArthur fellows announced Thursday, just after midnight on the East Coast.

http://www.michelpadron.com/about

This Cuban musician who now lives in the UK is gonna tour the US with a band called the Havana Allstars.

A 12 piece band that
brings to Traditional Cuban music a contemporary edge.

saw Dona Onete last night, fun enough time if a bit ramshackle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO3Ue_3Cz9s

Had to look her up--the diva of the carimbo chamegado, a rhythm she created that combines the traditional music from Para, in the north of Brazil, with "a touch of spice", as she puts it.

x-post to my mention of the "Havana Allstars" . They used to be called Asere

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/feb/04/asere-junio-groove

Havana Allstars playing DC area next week, and Omara Portuondo is doing her 85th birthday tour a few days later. Old-school Cuban time (although not sure how old Havana Allstars are, or Portuondo's band for that matter).

http://www.njpac.org/events/detail/buena-vista-social-clubs-omara-portuondo

(she's 85)

I know. Oh, she's got pianist Roberto Fonseca, clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen, and violinist Regina Carter with her. Not old-school Cuban musicians.

Don Ernique 'Quique' Lucca Caraballo (1912 - 2016)​

On Sunday, October 9, 2016, dies Enrique ‘Quique’ Lucca, the founder of La Sonora Ponceña, at 103 years young. He had been admitted in the hospital of his native Ponce for a risky operation due to a broken right hip

After the operation, he remained in the hospital for about three weeks, during which time he began to have respiratory problems, confirmed his family's lawyer, José Carmona.

http://salsaforums.com/threads/rip-enrique-quique-lucca-caraballo-founder-of-la-sonora-ponce%C3%B1a.29834/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_2r8PIGIxU

(The audio is missing the audience singing along that's on the CD, unfortunately.)

Listening to the Miramar tribute to Sylvia Rexach once again and it's really quite good, just not something I would be in the mood for regularly.

x-post --RIP Quique

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

http://www.billboard.com/charts/tropical-albums

Lots of compilations and a soundtrack in this list

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7542029/la-musa-latin-songwriters-hall-fame-awards-draco-rosa-los-temerarios-julieta-venegas

Larry Harlow got one too

Well, he got a "special" award, whatever that is

So a pal of mine who writes for Jazz Times and has a jazz radio show was raving about Cuban-based Latin Jazz pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa's recent gig at the Kennedy Center. That did not surprise me too much. Recently, I met Ethiopian pianist Girma Beyene (as I had written a preview of his gig). He said he had attended that gig, and loved Lopez-Nussa too.

I still haven't listened to him (much), and maybe I also mentioned him upthread or last year, but I still need to listen to a whole album and see if he goes beyond what I perceive as Latin jazz clichés (I can live w/ salsa ones more for some reason).

curmudgeon, should i be excited about seeing beyene on Monday?

I enjoyed his gig with the DC-based Feedel Band but much of it was more laidback and less psych-modal Ethio-jazz than some of the music on the Ethiopiques series. He has a touching, mournful but soft voice when he sings that I liked a lot. Touching piano rhythms too, though he moved fingers faster for some uptempo numbers. On his Ethio-jazz standard “Muziqawi Silt”, though he just let the band play it-- and they did it psych-modal Ethio-jazz style, but it was odd he sat that one out.

He hasn't played in the US in years, and is worth hearing, just don't expect a full 1976 Ethiopiques session.

good to know, thanks

Playlist is updated; 4 hours to listen to!

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist

Thanks.

Canadian Jane Bunnett and her all women Cuban band doing a pleasant enough (but not amazing) version of Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine" from 2014. They were just in NYC last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQHc2LXbqJo

Oh yeah, saw something about that on FB.

Ned Sublette is a big fan too.

Just came across this whilst wondering what the writer was up to: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/157037/mambo-kings-idelsohn

Josh Kun, a co-founder of the Idelsohn Society and a professor in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

On this thread or another one I noted that Kun, mentioned in link above, just got a Macarthur grant

Is Wayne Robins who wrote that article, still tapping out music articles for anyone (or on his own blog) these days?

Was wondering the exact same thing myself, which is how I came across that. He was my go-to guy for a while back in the second half of the seventies/early eighties, thinking maybe you must have been reading him too.

I just recall the name mostly, but didn't read him in Newsday or wherever regularly. Looks like he stopped putting stuff on his own blog two years ago. Maybe he's retired completely from music criticism

Seems like he might be working on a book.

Nov. 18th Grupo Niche at the Diamond Lounge in Annandale, VA

Nov. 25th- La India at Rio Cantina in Sterling, VA

Old-school lives, live in the suburbs of Washington DC

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7556771/daddy-yankee-shaky-shaky-number-1-hot-latin-songs-chart

I like the remix of "Shaky Shaky" better, but there is something brilliant about the repetitive simplicity of the original

Will have to wait and see how election results change relations with Cuba and ability of musicians and others to go back and forth. Also, how new president's other plans will end up impacting Latinos in America and abroad.

I think the Latin Grammys are on Univision tonight Thursday.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7580557/latin-grammys-editors-roundtable

Best Traditional Tropical Album
Rafael Pollo Brito, Pa’ Tío Simón
La Sonora Santanera, La Sonora Santanera en su 60 Aniversario
Jesús “Chino” Miranda, El Malquerido: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro, El más grande y universal
Various Artists, Cuba y Puerto Rico Son

GF: I have to pick La Sonora Santanera. My parents use to listen to it all the time and this new album has amazing collaborations with diverse artists like Mijares and Ruben Albarran. The fact that they recorded with some young, cool artists made them relevant again and I would totally listen to that album over and over and play it at a party.

SF: I would go with Cuba y Puerto Rico Son. That album came out last holiday season and it was amazing. Especially for me as a Puerto Rican.

LC: Since Chino y Nacho didn’t nab a nomination for their music videos or songs, maybe this is the place to honor Chino in this category as a soloist.

I dvr'd some of the Latin Grammys and watched a bit. Marc Anthony's solo salsafied song impressed me more than the melodramatic, over the top duet with J Lo.

Seeing relatives and listening to and watching other stuff, means I still have not viewed the dvr'd Latin Grammys. Oh well.

New Andrés Landero compilation, Yo Amanecí, coming on Vampisoul. Track listing:

1. La cigarrona
2. Mara del Carmen
3. Tambó tambó
4. Virgen de la Candelaria
5. Perdí las abarcas
6. Mi machete
7. La muerte de Eduardo Lora
8. Marta Cecilia
9. Cuando lo negro sea bello
10. Así se goza
11. Cumbia en la India
12. Que te vaya bien
13. Por ahí es que va la cosa
14. La mochila terciá
15. Rosa y Mayo
16. La pava congona
17. Yo amanecí
18. Las mellas
19. Mercedes Elena
20. La Sanjacintera

Finally listened to some of N*d Sublette's fave album of the year-- the pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa one. Mostly Afro-Cuban jazz tracks, but a couple of ones that are more traditional Afro-Cuban with chanted vocals and a more rhythmic clave bottom.

Speaking of N*d, He happening to be in Cuba when Fidel died. The government decreed a period of mourning with no secular music, no sports, and no drinking from the time of death through the funeral on the 4th.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7597274/fidel-castro-first-person-account-cuba

playlist is updated.

Thanks.

x-post...speaking of Cuba, the current version of Los Van Van is scheduled for a US tour now. Gonna be in DC on the 8th

http://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2016/12/14/505452781/alt-latino-picks-the-best-latin-music-of-2016

no salsa, timba, reggaeton or Latin jazz on this list.

Oh, Omar Sosa's on one of the releases

Most of that iLe (woman from Calle 13) album really clicked for me yesterday. Especially "Canibal"

It may just be one of those albums where you have to be in the right state for it. My response to it continues to fluctuate from listen to listen, but I still think it's very good. I do kind of agree with you about the tempo not varying enough.

Frankie Reyes' Boleros Valses Y Mas is worth a listen. Vintage moog synthesizer covers of older songs (mostly standards I would guess). I'm not sure I'll be going back to it though.

I still think Rescatarme is the strongest track on Ilevitable. Would like to hear her sing more songs with this sort of vocal intensity. I wouldn't miss it if she left out the retro choral part. The recital at the beginning is from poetry by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

The whole album is probably a lot "artier" (for better or worse) if you understand Spanish. There is also the song about turning into a bug, with mention of Kafka.

The NPR jazz critics poll also asks voters to list fave Latin jazz albums if they'd like. Here is what they voted for:

LATIN

1. Pedrito Martinez Group Habana Dreams 10

2. Jane Bunnett & Maqueque Oddara Linus 9

3 (tie). Brian Lynch Presents Madera Latino Madera Latino: A Latin Jazz Perspective on the Music of Woody Shaw 8

3 (tie). Alfredo Rodriguez Tocororo 8

5. Guillermo Klein Los Guachos V 7

6. Edward Simon Latin American Songbook 6

New thread time:

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

Playlist is finalized.

ILM's Rolling Latin & Afro-Latin Thread 2016 Spotify Playlist