Rolling Afro-Latin music thread 2013

This one is dedicated to La Lechera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9QNpSq7OM

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25016.10?XvvmSErT;;426

reggaeton lives....but only at smaller clubs rather than halls:

Pina Records La Formula: Zion y Lennox, Arcangel, Plan B, Rakim y Ken-Y, Lobo. Friday, February 15, 2013 - 9:00pm. Cococabana. 2031A university blvd., Hyattsville, MD near Washington DC

I think I still like reggaeton more than tropical bass

http://www.tropicalbass.com/2012/12/top-of-the-trops-best-of-tropical-bass-2012/

ANDRÉS:
Top Albums/EPs:
MKC – Caribbean Swagga
Sonodo Desconocido – Trópico Quasar
Maga Bo – Quilombo de Futuro
Cumba Mela – Remix Ep 1

Sonikgroove ft. Prince Osito – Better dan dem Remix EP
Kumbia Queers – Pecados Tropicales
So Shifty ft. Madera Limpia – Rumba EP
Sonido Guay Neñe – Copla Colectiva Digital
Suelta la voz – Copia Doble Systema
Chico Trujillo – Gran Pecador
Palenke Soultribe – Makako EP
Tropikore – Guarapo EP
Frikstailers – Guacha EP
Subatomic Soundsystem ft. Anthony B – Dem Cant stop we from Talkin EP

I posted this on the year-end critics list too:

2012 TOP TEN CD's
(From Latin Beat Magazine Online Contributors)
By Vicki Solá
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Luis Mangual y su Conjunto Mangual / Sabor y Swing / Lujoso
3. Ray Castro's Conjunto Clasico / Este Es Mi Conjunto / RC Enter.
4. Bobby Sanabria Big Band / Multiverse / Jazzheads
5 Ralph Irizarry & Los Viejos De La Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
6. CharanSalsa / Pa' Mi Pueblo / CharanSalsa
7. Ralphy Santi / Homenaje Al Bailador / Muziq
8. Don Sonero / La Verdadera Escena / Don Sonero Music
9. Chico Álvarez & Palomonte Afro-Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba
10. La Guatekera Orquesta / Going Back to the Old School Salsa / Old School Salsa

By Nelson Rodriguez
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York A Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Dorance Lorza y Sexteto Café / Rumbero De Corazon / DLR
3. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
4. Chico Alvarez & Palomonte Afro Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba
5. La Excelencia / Ecos Del Barrio / Handle With Care
6. Pacific Mambo Orchestra / PMO / PMO
7. Tromboranga- Tromboranga Salsa Dura / Bloque 53
8. Marlow Rosado Y La Riqueña / Retro / Pink Chaos
9. Wilson 'Chembo' Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10. Ralphy Santi / Homenaje A Los Bailadores / Muzik

By Elmer Gonzalez
1. Various Artists /La Música De Puerto Rico: Raíces Y Evolución (Box Set) - Casabe Records
2. Andy Montañez /Sueño / Morocho Records
3. Cheo Feliciano & Rubén Blades / Eba Say Ajá / Ariel Rivas Music
4. Sonora Latina / Con Clave Para Bailar / Sedajazz Records
5. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap Records
6. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
7. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York A Puerto Rico / Marcha
8. Tromboranga Orquesta / Tromboranga Salsa Dura / Bloque 53
9. Tito García / Pa' Gozar / T&T Productions
10. Wilson Chembo Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music

By Luis Tamargo
1. Manuel Galbán / Blue Cha Cha / Concord Picante
2. Carlos Varela / No es el Fin / Graffiti
3. Various Artists / Chico y Rita Soundtrack / Calle 54
4. Ninety Miles / Live at Cubadisc / Concord Picante
5. Elio Villafranca & Arturo Stable / Dos y Mas / Montéma
6. Alfredo Rodríguez / Sounds of Space / Mack Avenue
7. Clarise Assad / Home / Adventure
8. Ricardo Alvarez & Cubanísimo / Marketing / Alvarez Music
9. Waldemar Bastos / Classics of My Soul / Enja
10. José Lugo & Guasábara Combo / Poetic Justice / GC Music

By Guido Herrera
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Cheo Feliciano / Ruben Blades / Eba Say Aja / Ariel Rivas Music
3. Bobby Sanabria / Multiverse / Jazzheads
4. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap
5. Jose Lugo & Guasabara Combo / Poetic Justice / En Grande Music
6. Varios Artistas / Homenaje a Tite Curet: Sono Sono / Banco Popular
7. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
8. Papo Vazques & Mighty Pirates Troubadors / Oasis / Picaro Records
9. Wilson "Chembo" Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10. Candi Sosa & Victor Cegarra / Boleros Meets Jazz / Candi Sosa Music

By Rudy Mangual
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Jose Lugo & Guasabara Combo / Poetic Justice / En Grande Music
3. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap Records
4. Papo Vazques & Mighty Pirates Troubadors / Oasis / Picaro Records
5. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS Records
6. Henry Cole & The Afrobeat Collective / Roots Before Branches / Henry Cole
7. Jaime Dubberly and Orquesta Dharma / Road Warrior / Higher Truth
8. Bloque 53 / Tumba Pachunga / Bloque 53
9. Chembo Corniel Quintet / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10.Chico Alvarez & Palomonte Afro Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba

I don't even know what tropical bass is.

I just discovered that Ivy Queen put out an album in 2012. Listening to it now. I seriously had no idea.

Not sure I can explain Tropical bass very well. Did not know about the Ivy Queen album either.

I just discovered that Latin Grammy nominee and Latin Beat magazine and website fave Eddie Montalvo is a conguero who played with Hector Lavoe.

This is not bad, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6PYolW-HHM

Vallenato-tinged, I guess.

Latin bugalu band Spanglish Fly will bring the sounds of '60s Spanish Harlem to the Millennium Stage this evening. 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage,

This will also be video-streamed and archived if one is into this genre. I am, but have never heard of this group that is apparently bringing the style back

Missed that bugalu band last night. Will check out the video later

http://salsa.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/01/02/musique-latine-les-meilleurs-albums-de-2012/#xtor=RSS-32280322

Pupy; Sanabria; that Cheo & Blades one;

the above list is from a French site. The below one is from Descarga

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/best_of_2012

desgarga's best-of list

http://www.billboard.com/news/the-best-of-2012-the-year-in-music-1008045682.story#/column/year-in-music-2012/the-year-in-latin-2012-1008051142.story

Save for Shakira and Rivera, a multimedia powerhouse, testosterone overwhelmed the charts. So much so that among the top 20 tracks on the Latin Songs tally, there are only two females -- Natasha and America Sierra -- both featured guests on tracks by male artists.

Among the 50 titles on Latin Albums, only seven -- including Jesse & Joy -- are female.

I still need to check out some of those Latin Beat faves

I'm listening to the Bailatino album on descarga.com's list and--there's no tension in the music! Nothing! Blah. It checks off the boxes required by the genre, but it doesn't make me feel anything, in which case what's the point. Will just have to break down and buy some of those overpriced possibly pirated remastered from vinyl lost classics that Rareza keeps putting out. Still a better value than this is, I'd say.

Also, must find someone to hook me up to some tribal mixes. I am sure someone in my life can help me with that, I just need to figure out who it is.

Admit it salsa bands, you really want to be playing Latin jazz.

Sad isn't it.

Looks like I'm going to see Wisin y Yandel at Madison Square Garden on Friday night...

Wisin y Yandel's "Algo Me Gusta De Ti," a hit song from the album Lideres, is on top of the Latin Songs chart followed by Tito El Bambino's "Por Que Les Mientes" and Daddy Yankee's "Limbo." These three singles are also competing against each other in additional charts including Latin Pop Songs, Tropical Songs and Latin Airplay.

http://latinmusic.about.com/b/2013/01/03/jenni-rivera-and-urban-stars-dominate-billboards-latin-music-charts.htm

Rareza has put out a Conjunto Saoco compilation. This could be an interesting test case. If they don't have permission, you can be pretty sure they will be hearing from Henry and Orlando Fiol (whether or not Henry Fiol himself has copyright claims to the material, which I'm not sure about).

New La Sonora Poncena. New Plena Libre. Might actually be a some decent salsa albums this year, but I haven't had a chance to even listen to clips yet.

The email I got about the new Plena Libre scared me. It mentioned jazz. I hope a great plena and bomba band has not decided to just go Latin-jazz.

Actually, some of the jazz-influenced plena/bomba out of PR is pretty good, when the bands are rooted in plena and bomba. I like some of what Truco y Zaperoko and Los Pleneros de la 21 (who I think you like) have done along those lines.

Might actually be a some decent salsa albums this year

For all my pessimism, I am an eternal optimist, obviously.

The Kennedy Center is suddenly trying to make up for not including Latinos in its Honors event (and the K. Ctr. Director telling the head of a Latino group to f off) by scheduling a special Latino inaugural event hosted by Eva Langoria and featuring Ballet Hispanico and Rita Moreno and others (but no salsa, reggaeton, bachata, banda, etc)! Well at least Eddie Palmieri is coming there on a separate night. They have also formed a panel to address the issue of Latinos and the Honor Awards.

Oh, Kennedy Center has added an after-show with Frankie Negron.

I'm putting together a 70s New York mix, not nec big hits, but things that got played on radio in diff boroughs, grassroots dance clubs, block parties etc. Good dance beats, but not nec trying to crossover to disco. What Latin, Afro-Latin should I check?

Here's someone's guide to salsa and bugalu

http://libraryschool.campusguides.com/content.php?pid=410583&sid=3368220

Also think Rudiph and others have probably addressed this somewhere on ilx

ah cool thx

Hi dow, didn't see this until now. Hmmm. I don't really know salsa history on that level actually. I probably can't help with that.

If you have time, I suggest joining Yahoo's Salseros Corner (I think it is--I forget the name), the one "Richie Rumbero" runs anyway. Some people in that group might know that level of historical detail.

Salseros' Collective, that's it.

The Wisin y Yandel show was a lot of fun. Screaming throughout, but when Romeo Santos came out mid-set, it went up by I'd say an octave and a half, easy. The Latin ladies of NYC love Romeo Santos.

Yep. He's sold out Madison Square Garden both with Aventura and solo. In DC he's big enough to sell out a smaller than the Garden but still big arena.

I've started reading Chris Washburne's Sounding Salsa (it's my designated allergist office reading, so it will probably take me a while to finish since I most likely will only be reading it there) and I'm already learning things I didn't know before. I hadn't realized that the ground-breaking Noche Caliente records (which helped formulate salsa romantica) were originally released on K-Tel! That's hilarious to me somehow.

And Washburne makes some good points. He writes that Fania's success in Latin America was partly its undoing. Salsa caught on in such a big way that independent local labels sprang up.

I did listen to the new Plena Libre album on Spotify and it's pretty good, overall. Sorry to leave it as non-specific as that, but I would need to listen a few more times (and probably will) to possibly have more to say. Funny though, the more obviously jazz influenced tracks are the ones I liked least.

The album is entitled Corazon and there is some bad synth on it, and suddenly I realized they may be trying to do plena romantica. I don't think that's such a good idea. At least with any decent plena and bomba outfit you get rock solid percussion throughout.

Re-listening, for the moment, and the first two tracks seem "romantica" but the next two pick it up more and ditch the synth, or don't use it in an embarrassing way (to the point where I'm not noticing it).

The Plena Libre is on Spotify, btw.

I still think Michael Stuart's Back to da Barrio, Bannakumbi's Un Nuevo Dia, and maybe some of the artier, more album-oriented reggaeton projects that came out several years back, suggested a viable way forward for Puerto Rican salsa that ended up going overlooked. I don't think I have much company in this particular opinion.

I know. . . stuck CD.

I listened to the Plena Libre once so far. I like it too but it seems more salsa than the stripped down plena y bomba I recall from them and from other groups designated "plena."

still think Michael Stuart's Back to da Barrio, Bannakumbi's Un Nuevo Dia, and maybe some of the artier, more album-oriented reggaeton projects that came out several years back, suggested a viable way forward for Puerto Rican salsa that ended up going overlooked. I don't think I have much company in this particular opinion.

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, January 21, 2013 11:40 PM

What are the others suggesting? Do you mean the Latin Beat Magazine proponents of NYC revivalist salsa and latin-jazz or something else? Commercially in the US, it seems that bachata has largely replaced salsa romantica on commercial Latin radio. I do not know what the response has been in Puerto Rico itself.

Here's my review (photos also mine) of Wisin y Yandel at Madison Square Garden Friday night.

A while back I posted a video of one of my former teachers winning the Mayan as the follower in a same-sex couple. Here he is as a lead social dancing, though obviously aware he is on display. How does the follower here dance in that long skirt without tripping constantly?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5pU7Ln0h8

Of course the usual disclaimer that I obviously don't dance nearly this well (and Eli is not even the person I studied with the most).

How does the follower here dance in that long skirt without tripping constantly?

I just realized she's probably wearing tights or something. Skirt would be kind of insane to wear otherwise, if it's even strictly a skirt. Never mind.

Mr. Mambo's salsa social in Washington Dc .... interesting

Yeah, I don't know if that means Eli is in DC now or what. He might have been visiting. When I was taking classes with him he divided his time between Philly and Hawaii (but I think mostly Philly at that point).

Honestly, his dancing seems a little technical at times. I don't get that much of a sense of feeling in it. Like, I'm sure I look totally sloppy and blah in comparison, but I'm just saying there are other prominent instructors whose dancing evokes more feeling for me (Tito Ortos being a favorite example).

I don't know, ultimately social dancing is about the experience of the partners involved. It's hard to know how it feels to them.

Sorry I am being boring. To be slightly less boring, this Chris Washburne book continues to throw amusing tidbits my way.

Here's a sad story

http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-bodies-found-in-mexico-may-be-those-of-missing-band-20130128,0,3247925.story

Kombo Kolombia was known to play a style of Colombian music called vallenato

I assert there is a literal breeze blowing through this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQnP8jviHTY

Not a metaphorical one, but a literal fucking breeze.

Willie Rosario (late 70s/early 80s): perfection in music for salsa dancing.

February 15--Piña Records La Formula: reggaeton showcase with Zion y Lennox, Arcangel, Plan B, Rakim y Ken-Y, Lobo at Cococobana, Hyattsville, MD

I kinda want to go to this but it will likely drag on to 3 am

This new New Swing Sextet album (on Spotify) is pretty good. I'm afraid I'm not really into the lead vocalist here, but the band has nice swing indeed. This is a vibes-based band, for those who don't know.

http://open.spotify.com/album/0KaQ9yh77FN4nEwkPHxDFI

Surprisingly solid Adalberto Santiago tribute, but then look who's involved:

http://open.spotify.com/album/63FoGpxpqiTOtYp60ThsLg

Surprised by how good Yolanda Rivera sounds here. Her vocal timbre is already an acquired taste, I'd venture to say, for most of us from outside the culture; and it's a sound that seems particularly vulnerable to age. But she turns out a good performance.

"Pretty good," "decent," "solid" all mean I reserve the right to call it more of the same lackluster stuff after listening a few more times. (I seriously think some of the tracks on this last one might rise above that, however.)

Made it out to a dance studio's salsa party tonight after my salsa class, very much unplanned. Got asked to dance by a young woman who turned out to be African. Loved the way she moved. I really do prefer circular dancing, though saying that does not do justice to the overall experience. I may have learned something from her, just from two dances, and if not, I'm sure I could learn something from her.

Should I getafuckingblog?

Ha. No, I appreciate your writing here. Dancing well seems so hard to me. I was at a Buddy Holly tribute event (not a salsa one Saturday) and was impressed with the way some danced well and made it look easy (although they have likely danced for years to reach that point); while others either did not dance well; or looked like they were trying too hard. Trying to get the steps right while also doing the arm movements smoothly seems like it would take me lots of practice to get.

I appreciate it too, but I am a little more into the Latin Jazz side, which I know is not quite your bag.

Dancing well seems so hard to me.

I think it's hard to go from learning in a classroom setting, the typical classroom setting anyway, to making the dance your own and being expressive and so on. I have mixed feelings about a lot of the criticisms of salsa instruction I've seen over the years, but at the very least I think there should be more emphasis on teaching basics, rather than teaching complex combinations early on. I don't know though--see I can't even say this without ambivalence--because I think it would have taken me forever to learn to put simple things together myself. I don't know, I just know that the emphasis seems to be wrong.

Skimming this. So professorial it's pretty funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DmpsRz5Wi8

Wow, there's a video message for him from Tito Ortos!

. . . which I guess is why it came up as a related video when I think I was watching Tito Ortos clips.

Jon Caramanica reviewing salsa in the NY Times:

NG2

Puerto Rican Salsa

“Al Borde de la Locura” (New Born) is the refreshing new album from NG2, the salsa duo from Puerto Rico made up of Norberto Vélez and Gerardo Rivas (whose father is Jerry Rivas, of the long-running salsa outfit El Gran Combo). The duo, which has been recording for about a decade, has an easy rapport on these songs, which are mainly written by Mr. Vélez, the highlights of which include the booming “Y Ahora Me Voy” and the confidently temperate “Siempre Has Sido Tu.” On their own, the two are direct, smooth singers, and sometimes a little whimsical. But on a few songs here, they beef up their sound by inviting guests with bigger voices — Elvis Crespo on “Tenia Que Acabar,” Rubby Perez on “Yo Se Que Es Mentira” and, very memorably, a swelteringly intense Luisito Carrion on “No Llorare.”

Clicked on that video from Tuesday and listened for a few minutes. When does it get interesting?

I found the dryness amusing. I guess I'm weird.

and, very memorably, a swelteringly intense Luisito Carrion on “No Llorare.”

I will have to hear this. Luisito Carrion saves the day, once again.

Oh, I may have skimmed this album already last year.

In terms of discussion, there are some worthwhile dance-related discussions of salsa over at salsaforums from time to time. This one has some interesting stuff, and some social dancing videos I hadn't seen before:

http://www.salsaforums.com/threads/the-definition-of-sabor.20690/

Specifically, DJ Ara is really goddam annoying and repeats the same pet rhetorical phrases over and over again.

Xiomara Laugart's La Voz is a good album. (Note: "good" generally means better than "pretty good" in my descriptions.) I think I should put it back on my list of favorite albums from 2010:

http://open.spotify.com/album/1ulFDEuS1pPYKAFKpLs8bf

Afro-Cuban standards (mostly anyway) with a stripped down, fairly jazzy, often percussion-heavy accompaniment--and Xiomara Laugart's wonderful voice over top.

Specifically. . .

This would have made sense if I had previously posted a comment I ended up not posting about certain contributors on that thread being annoying.

What are the others suggesting? Do you mean the Latin Beat Magazine proponents of NYC revivalist salsa and latin-jazz or something else?

I wasn't talking about "discourse" so much as the music itself. I mean, I didn't hear other artists picking up on the possibilities I thought I heard in the sources I mentioned.

Again, my views are probably pretty idiosyncratic and far removed from what is actually commercially viable.

I thought there were good concrete suggestions of a different sort in this, now somewhat old, article (even though it's fairly cubanocentric):

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/archives/Article22

Those ideas might also be commercially hopeless too. Not that I wouldn't be into supporting underground sorts of bands if I liked what they were doing, but still, musicians need food, shelter, and clothing (and medical care, and sometimes recreational drugs) like the rest of us.

New Bomba Estereo:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25062.10?RiaCphZa;;393

Also: http://open.spotify.com/album/5KSD41QEnrUKusEEIjeExy

Finding this a bit boring.

Ned Sublette is speaking at a salsarueda fest in San Francisco

speaking tomorrow morning at 11:15 -- the title is "From the Contradanza to the Cha-cha-chá" -- but my big talk, titled "The Timba Explosion: How a new style of Cuban dance music appeared when the world was looking the other way," is Sunday at 5.

And how the world continued looking the other way. . .

Ha, I was kinda wondering how he will explain the current status

In fairness, it hit bigger in some European and some Latin American countries than it has in the U.S.

I'm listening to the new Bomba Estereo again and the main (female) rapping here reminds me of Mala Rodriguez, kind of pleasantly rolling, but a bit bland.

Also I'm getting bored with the prevalence of afrobeat in current (maybe undergroundish) Latin music. It just doesn't excite me much.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171071468/boricuas-in-the-house-new-music-from-puerto-rico

NPR like Puerto Rican indie-rock (and more)

Still need to read that Chris Washburne book. Been seeing all the guys in his band except him. Run into his right hand man Ole on the subway last Saturday.

The Washburne book has some wild stuff in it, beyond just stories of this person or that being shot. Some of the business practices he describes are maybe even more shocking than the violence that comes up sometimes.

I remember when that was about to come out, setting near him at The Jazz Standard while he was eating before a gig with the Bobby Sanabria Big Band and he was telling somebody something to the effect that in his book he was trying to offer up and be true to the perspective of a working musician, which might be lacking or in short supply in other academic works. He phrased it a lot more deftly and diplomatically than I am doing here.

Think their next gig is at SIng-SIng.

He used to come down to DC with Sanabria's band and others, but I haven't seen him live in awhile.

Listening to my main commercial latin radio station this morning-- all bachata except for a Latin version of "Gangnam Style"

I should turn on the radio more often. I just heard a banda-bachata version of "Lluvia" (you know the salsa romantica song sung by Eddie Santiago, among others). smh.

I heard a banda-bachata song too. I wonder if that's the one I was listening to

These are the lyrics. I know neither one of us are Spanish speakers, but a lot of the words are fairly easy to make out:

No me digas nada
ya lo sabía,
que nuestro romance
acabaria-a.

No me digas nada
no quiero más palabras,
pues aún siendo tuyas
me lastima-an.

No me digas nada
marchate,
no llames amor
tu hipocresía-a.

No me digas nada
que junto a tí sigo yo,
me dañaron rosas
tus espina-as.

Lluvia tus besos
frios como la lluvia
que gota a gota fueron enfriando
mi alma, mi cuerpo y mi ser.

Lluvia tus manos
frias como la lluvia
que gota a gota fueron enfriando
mi ardiente deseo en tu piel.

Ahora tengo que olvidar
ahora tengo que escapar
de tus recuerdos y tratar
de ser feliz con otra.

Que no me trate como tú
y que me ame como tú,
nunca amaras.

As far as Latin alternative type (a la Bomba Estereo) bands go, I am enjoying this Novalima more than most of that type of thing, though I still don't know I'd rank it as super great:

http://open.spotify.com/album/5rZQiYQlODXkifY9ogwKVt

They've got an electronic Afro-Peruvian thing going.

Okay, now this I like. New bachata song by someone named Bimbo (who turns out to be a guy), featuring Juliana (la reina del mambo). This sounds mainstream enough that it could be a hit in Puerto Rico and the U.S. I hope so. I want to hear more from Juliana.

https://soundcloud.com/elfurgonmusical-1/bimbo-ft-juliana-con-solo-una

(No "wait, I thought she was the bimbo" jokes.)

Or on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHdrYoB8deI

Old song, TV live performance. Say what you will, she can sing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiyFlsHSFY8

The harmonies are extremely well done on "Con Solo Una Sonrisa."

. . . especially the part that start around 2:09. Seems very sophisticated. Maybe it's ordinary, but anyway it's effective.

I think part of it is simply that she is singing in a lower register. I'd like to hear more of that from her.

Avant tribal (?). Anyway:

http://maligna.bandcamp.com/track/mexican-mexico

(The rest of the compilation includes underground acts in various genres.)

As noted on: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=95169

I think this Washburne book has provided a large part of the explanation of why NYC salsa, and salsa in general, just isn't what it had been, and what brought it down. It's not a pretty answer: the loss of drug trafficking organization sponsored salsa venues thanks to the war on drugs has massively undermined the live salsa scene in New York (at least), and nothing has really filed the void. I guess I never realized just how much the business side of salsa is intertwined with cocaine trafficking.

One reason I put off reading this book is that I thought it was mostly going to be gritty anecdotes about the world of salsa. It's much more than that, much more of an overview of the not insignificant underbelly of salsa.

So was Washburne doing those gigs as well, and not just Latin-jazz ones in Manhattan jazz clubs? Or was he just writing about those salsa ones as a knowledgeable observor? Obviously I have not picked up the book yet.

Bachata (whether you like it or not) is thriving without such sponsorships

Popular bachata doesn't require a large band. Even traditional bachata doesn't. So that's a different thing. And are you really sure those sponsorships don't exist there.

Washburne absolutely played with numerous salsa acts, some quite prominent, some less so.

He's not glorifying the drug trade, just honestly spelling out the enormous role it played economically in providing capital for salsa venues. Sometimes it is truly bizarre how important the drug trade is in general. (See Sibel Edmonds on NATO's Gladio B, for recent/current examples.)

Oh look, that was easy:

Alt.Latino co- host Jasmine Garsd reminded me of that troubled legacy after she found this story about the arrest of Franklin 'Junior" Romero, the president of a popular bachata record label, on cocaine trafficking and money laundering charges.

Romero's label, Premium Latin Music, includes a host of bachata performers, including superstars Aventura and up-and-coming indie musician Rita Indiana.

A casual Google search turned up another possible warning sign of a resurgence of drug traffickers bankrolling a section of the Latin music industry: in November another bachata singer, Jimmy Bauer (Ramon Alcides Rodriguez), was waiting to board a flight from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to New York when a couple of the 88 pellets of heroin he swallowed burst. He was taken to a hospital and arrested for trafficking.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/altlatino/2011/03/05/134199185/making-music-with-more-than-passion

(Not coincidentally, the story also mentions Washburne.)

There are many googleable stories about drug dealers and banda and norteno music in Mexico and Central America as well.

I realize Washburne was not glorifying the drug trade.

When prohibition of alcohol existed in the US, there were probably musicians performing at illegal speakeasies as well.

Absolutely, back when jazz was popular music, similar stuff was going on.

The funny thing is all this time I have been under the impression that it was much more of an issue in Mexican regional music than it is in salsa. Well, maybe that's true of salsa now, but it looks like those close ties to the drug trade existed more in salsa at an earlier date. One thing that's a bit misleading is that there isn't much salsa music about drugs in general, so it's not out in front the way it is in some other genres. (Which is more than fine with me.)

I would guess this book hasn't been promoted as much as it might otherwise, because for the people in the salsa community who would normally be pushing a good book on salsa might, this book hits a little too close to home in terms of the criminal/shady sides of the genre.

Tito Ortos changes the direction of his "slot" all the time (when he has space)! School taught followers need to learn to deal with this sort of thing. Yeah, I was doing a cross-body lead and sent you there, but now we've rotated a little because of something else I did and I'm sending you somewhere else. Is that really so confusing? (Of course, I'm guessing my lead isn't quite as good as his.) Is it time for me to just start dancing the way I want to, even if I can't? I think the answer may be yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IIp7l3N6EM

Anyone else heard Elements of Life by Eclipse? First thing on Fania in like a decade or so. It's a massive undertaking by Louie Vega -- two discs, the first one a concept album full of new-age salsa bangers (including a Fela cover) with spoken-word stuff from Ursula Rucker, the second a kind of out-takes disc including a 33-minute mastermix of Fania stuff by Vega. Still not sure how I feel about the "children of the world"-type lyrics, but damn does this have some great disco moments.

Fania is busy pushing this Vega effort. I received an email about the Miami release party/gig for this. I still haven't heard it yet. Didn't realize Vega was still around doing music.

Speaking of still around, El Gran Combo are at the Howard Theatre in DC tonight for $55. Loved them 5 years or so ago live, but I'm not able to make it there tonight.

I am just well enough (sinus-wise) to possibly go out dancing tonight, but it's at a venue I've never been before, some distance from my house, in an area I don't really like driving at night (the street layout is confusing); so if L.L. doesn't get in touch and say she's going, then I probably won't either.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2013/03/22/175080694/bebo-vald-s-giant-of-cuban-music-is-dead

94 years old

another obit of him

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/22/v-print/3301645/pianist-bebo-valdes-giant-of-cuban.html

Seeing Bebo and son Chucho reunite in the movie Calle 54 was pretty touching

Ned S*blette's plug for a show at the Zinc bar in NYC Wednesday night the 27th--Cuban filin singer with NYC -based Cuban jazz and more band:

Gema Corredera will be singing with Yosvany Terry's quartet. One set only! And it's an early set -- at 7 pm . . .

Yosvany Terry music-directed and co-produced Gema Corredera's new album Derramando Luz, the title song of which (composed by Alejandro Gutiérrez of Havana Abierta) is a delicious cha-cha-chá whose hook is "Yo quiero verte derramando luz" (I want to see you radiating light) and which ends with her singing a trumpet solo.

RIP Bebo Valdes. I just am not familiar enough to say much. I've mostly only heard music from his last years. There's some discussion here by those more in the know:

http://www.salsaforums.com/threads/bebo-vald%C3%A9s-has-died.21531

*

This is connected to that salsa choke stuff I was posting about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAJY-B-7yeY

(I'm really just lifting all of this from salsaforums, frankly. Lazy, unconnected.)

You know what, I think I'll just do this:

http://www.salsaforums.com/threads/salsa-choke.21572/#post-241746

Check out that Cali club footage.

lol i like that people are thinking salsa choke is a thing vs people just doing the choque whenever to whatever

www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhnUp4369Nhj5596c2 - Similar
Sep 19, 2010 ... Called the choque submitted by Ojula. ... Ridiculous? New Dance Burnin In
South America! ... It's Baile Choque, that's been going on for years.

fauxmarc don't ruin the choke craze with your facts.

Rather cool psychedelic salsa from Bogota:

Meridian Brothers - Salsa del Zombie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OgaHv4ouWU#!

The below movie, starring members of Yerba Buena, is showing April 15th & 16th in DC. I think the excerpt below saying that she is the first touring artist to appear in Cuba in over 50 years, is not correct.

Amor Crónico
JORGE PERUGORRÍA
USA, Cuba, 2012, 81 minutes, 35mm, Color, official site
In Person: Stars Cucu Diamantes and Andres Levin (guest appearances are subject to change)

Grammy nominated, New York-based singer Cucú Diamantes returns to her homeland in Cuba to perform her songs while becoming the first touring artist from outside the country in over 50 years. Along the way she realizes that she is "too much of a Cuban to live in New York and too much of a New Yorker to live in Havana." This paradox, along with a new-found romance, sets her semi-fictional lead character on a whirlwind tour through the Cuban heartland. Cuban filmmaker Jorge Perugorría mixes live concert footage with an over-the-top fiction smorgasbord to create a love story and a road movie with a flashy musical twist. —Miami International Film Festival

dig the meridian brothers, reminds me a bit of the lat-teens

Mas Fuego:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jm3UNWw8cE

Lido Pimienta, underground Colombian songstress and 1 woman dance party.

I just saw her last night in NYC, and her performance blew me away,

Someone sent that to me

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147240536/lido-pimienta-love-with-a-sense-of-doom

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/1559643/don-omar-jenni-rivera-win-big-at-billboard-latin-music-awards

mostly the same ol, same ol

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/1559645/billboard-latin-music-awards-2013-winners-list

It's dumb having a Latin female artist of the year award with so few nominees and just lumping together the most well-known in America artists from numerous genres.

Shocking, I know.

Well, I guess that's what all award shows do. I confess to not knowing about Venezuelan pop (reggaeton?) artists Chino & Nacho.

In non-Billboard music news, was just reading about Ninety Miles, a collaborative effort (and upcoming movie doc) between jazz guys David Sanchez, Stefon Harris,& Christian Scott in Havana with Cuban pianists (whose names I forget). Sanchez and Harris are touring now with Nicholas Payton and 3 unidentified others. The Cuban pianists apparently couldn't get permission to come to the US for the tour.

Have not listened to it enough to say if it is just standard conventional Latin Jazz.

x-post =also don't know Brazilian-popster Michel Telo, who is apparently big with soccer players

Many football players have used the signature dance to "Ai Se Eu Te Pego", during goal celebrations, spreading the song's popularity.

Cuban music (and Cuban-American music) that NPR & KPFK dj likes:

World music DJ Betto Arcos returns to weekends on All Things Considered to share what he's been spinning on Global Village, the show he hosts on KPFK in Los Angeles. This week, Arcos brings some of his favorite new Cuban music. His picks include Pedrito Martinez's convergence of Cuban and flamenco rumbas, an ancestral tale from The Creole Choir of Cuba, Tiempo Libre's amalgam of jazz, funk, and R&B and Yunior Terry's nod to salsa.

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/28/179058622/new-cuban-sounds-rooted-in-tradition-from-global-village

I hate the phrase "global village" so so much, as well as descriptions like "new (ethnic) sounds rooted in tradition" and "amalgam of jazz, funk, R&B and (ethnic music)"

chino y nacho've been around for a few years, nothin special tho just cute

Somehow Hurting's post reminds me of this interview with John Storm Roberts, http://www.furious.com/perfect/roberts.html, in particular these quotes

You only have to think for two seconds to see that all of this about 'music is the universal language' is purest nonsense!

This comes back to the nonsense about music as the universal language. They don't speak the language and they don't want to

Crossover Artist of the Year:
Chris Brown
Flo Rida
PSY
*Rihanna

...huh

There are so many ridiculous things in that Billboard Award list, but that may be the worst.

x-post re the NPR thang---

The phrasing of those two sentences is not even credited to a specific person, just to "NPR staff."

Pedrito Martinez and Yunior Terry have been mentioned previously upthread. Latin-jazz that Ned Sublette and some others love, I think.

Pedrito Martinez and Yunior Terry have been mentioned previously upthread

Actually on the 2012 thread. Sasha F-Jones wrote a 2012 New Yorker bit on Pedrito Martinez. I see that he's coming in the fall to the University of Maryland C Smith Ctr near W. DC

x-post --3 BallMTy at least won some of the Billboard awards

People love to go see Pedrito at Guantanamera, apparently celebrity musicians drop by as well, I've only been once. Yunior's brother Yosvany hasn't let success go to his head, he is still a reasonably friendly and polite guy.

There might actually be a counterexample to John Storm Roberts comments about the universal language of music: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?showall=true&bookmarkedmessageid=4295329&boardid=41&threadid=54623

Martinez and his band have won over dozens of people the writer has taken to see him, despite common confessions to not liking jazz or not understanding Latin music. If anyone can move Afro-Cuban music into greater visibility, it’s Martinez.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/05/14/120514crmu_music_frerejones

Sasha Frere-Jones line from his New Yorker 2012 piece. Hmmmm. I guess I should reserve judgment until I see the guy live.

will check it out on spotify. I remember that sfj review now, been meaning to at least see what it's about

not a bad record. Something a little too sweet about the production for me, but I'd probably reasonably enjoy this guy live.

I would say not bad too. I can understand someone liking it a lot, but it doesn't do much for me. I wanted to like it more. Given what's been coming out lately in Afro-Latin music (or what I hear of it anyway), I can see how people would latch onto it. I'm not that into rumba, pure or otherwise, too, so that has to be taken into consideration. And I'd probably be willing to check him out live. His voice reminded me of someone else's, but I can't remember who offhand.

Actually, I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Marc Anthony album, although this (Cheb Khaled cover) doesn't seem too promising:

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

I'll pretend end up not liking the album. Anyway, that song just seems too much big pseudo-anthemic nothing designed for Dancing With the Stars. MA's voice sounds good as always, but otherwise, eh.

I mean I'll probably end up not liking it, obv. I don't think that's too Freudian a slip. Just rushed when I posted.

I got around to listening to Tommy Olivencia's Plante Bandera in my car and it sounded really well recorded, or re-mastered or something. This was a copy from the Fania Emusica reissues. I am warming up slightly to Chamaco Ramirez's singing, but I still only really love a couple songs from the album: the title track and Trucutu. So my salsadurification is proceeding apace.

I really hate what they've done to coros in current New York salsa. Most of the time there's no punch to them. They are supposed to add punch and push things to a higher level, at least in my book.

New major release out of New York, by Ray Viera. Usual suspects. Not awful, but not inspiring either, at least going by these clips.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coro-preg%C3%B3n

defining types of coros

http://www.latinomusiccafe.com/2012/01/17/salsa-music-best-all-time-coristas-part-1/

old-school coristas

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/04/3380491/cuban-bolero-giant-cesar-portillo.html

Considered a fundamental author of Latin American music, Portillo was one of Cuba’s most prolific composers and a giant in the bolero genre. He, along with other Cuban musicians like Jose Antonio Mendez, was founder of the musical movement called "filin" -- a Spanglish term for the English word "feeling" -- which renewed the bolero genre in the 1950s by incorporating harmonic and melodic elements used in jazz.

Quincy Jones managing Cuban pianist:

The idea of managing musicians came to him in 2006 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, after seeing a performance by the avant-garde Cuban jazz pianist Alfredo Rodríguez — who had no manager, much less a record deal. An impressed Mr. Jones told Mr. Rodríguez he wanted to work with him.

Lured by the offer, Mr. Rodríguez defected from Cuba on a trip to Mexico in 2009, then waded across the Rio Grande at Laredo, Tex., with nothing but a few T-shirts and a suitcase full of his compositions. The vice president of Quincy Jones Productions, Adam Fell, flew Mr. Alfredo to Los Angeles, then housed him for two years while he started touring and working on a debut album.

Mr. Jones encouraged Mr. Rodríguez to delve into his Latin roots on his rhythmically eclectic 2012 debut, “Sounds of Space” (Mack Avenue). For his client’s second album, to be released this summer, Mr. Jones has paired Mr. Rodríguez with Esperanza Spalding, the Grammy-winning jazz singer and bassist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/arts/music/latest-quincy-jones-hyphenate-manager.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130522

I don't know about Alfred Rodriguez, but pairing him with Esperanza Spalding should quickly get him more attention.

I just posted it here to see if anyone else had heard of the guy. I haven't either

Oops, I left off the "o" on his first name. I think I've seen his name before, but that's about it (possibly just on descarga.com's editor's pick pages).

Speaking of Cuban pianists, the guy who usually plays with John Benitez at his Sunday night jam session, Axel Tosca, is really good and has a very distinct look (need to post a good photo). He also leads his own group, plays with Pedrito Martinez and has even played with George Clinton and P-Funk on occasion.

Have you seen this production-

From Bagels to Bongos: Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

with special guests Steven Bernstein and Anat Cohen

I've seen O'Farrill and his group a few times but not doing "big band jazz, the convergence of traditional Jewish music and Latin Jazz, and the virtuosity of eighteen accomplished musicians, with special guests Steven Bernstein and Anat Cohen. The performance features works by Latin jazz legends such as Tito Puente, Machito, and Chico O’Farrill, as well as classic Jewish melodies."

They're gonna be in W. DC as part of the DC Jazz festival on Sunday June 9

If you get a chance to talk to the drummer, ask him about his phone.

O'Farrill's drummer? I'm not much of klezmer fan so I may not see this O'Farrill event. Haven't decided.

A description of some of the bandmembers from an emailed press release for the upcoming June released Buika album

some of New York's strongest and most progressive Latin jazz musicians like drummer Dafnis Prieto, bass player John Benítez, and percussionist Pedrito Martínez,

That's not the personnel of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, that's another group. Vince Cherico is the regular drummer, not Dafnis. Since Ricky Rodriguez moved on, Gregg August has become the bass player- on Sunday nights, when the Orchestra play at Birdland, John Benitez is in Jackson Heights running a jam session.

http://www.afrolatinjazz.org/orchestra.html#

x-post-- Sorry for my poor grammar. I was simply referring to some of the personnel on Buika's upcoming album; not the specific members of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and not the specific members of the Sunday night jam session band you were also mentioning. My cut and paste is from the Buika press release. I re-posted it here, just to show how those 3 individual musicians are perceived and what they are also doing.

Oh wait, sorry, I misread. If this was bigger thread I would have been much less likely to think somebody was responding to my post.

I need to get out to more live music--Gonna miss these 2 events this weekend --

Fri. 5-24 El Gran Combo at El Boqueron II
_________________________________________________________
Sat. 5-25

Rakim y Keny (reggaeton) at Diamond Lounge, 7203 Little River Tpke, Annandale, VA

http://www.npr.org/blogs/altlatino/2013/05/20/185511016/black-puerto-rican-and-proud-guest-dj-tego-calder-n

June 7th -Alexander Abreu with his Havana D'Primera big band plus Barbaro Fines & Mayimbe at the Palace, Woodbridge, VA (Cuban Timba, salsa). A few other gis in the US as well

Barbaro Fines y Su Mayimbe en NY Saturday, June 15, 2013 - 8:00pm
Pure New York
62-05 30th Avenue
Woodside Queens, NY

James Redd can check out this Cuban event

http://www.tickeri.com/events/barbaro-fines-y-su-mayimbe-en-ny

Trumpet player Abreu and company are doing 3 gigs but not NYC

http://music.broadwayworld.com/article/Alexander-Abreu-and-Havana-DPrimera-to-Appear-at-Three-Stages-525-26-20130426

Alexander Abreu is often compared to legends such as Louis Armstrong. Four years ago, he pulled together an ensemble of seasoned musicians - who played alongside some of the best bands of the golden age of contemporary Cuban salsa and timba - to form Havana D'Primera. Concerned with the decline of Afro-Cuban dance music on its home turf, Abreu decided to pick up the standard once carried around the globe by the very bands he had played with, such as Isaac Delgado and Paulito FG y Su Elite. Havana D'Primera is now considered today's top contemporary Cuban band. "Alexander has managed to combine the essence of Cuban music with sounds from other countries to create a style that is different, exciting and yet familiar" (Gabriel Wilder & Martin Karakas, Timba.com).

Havana D'Primera means "first-class musicians of Havana, Cuba." They have created the soundtrack to Cuban life over the last five years. Their first albumHacienda Historia quickly made Alexander Abreu y Havana D'Primera a favorite among Timba fans and gained crossover success in the Salsa world. Their latest album Pasaporte is currently a huge international hit.

Oops I was wrong, the double-bill with Abreu and Fines is in NYC at SOBs Wed. the 5th and Thursday the 6th

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/alexander-abreu-havana-dprimera-barbaro-fines-y-su-orquesta-mayimbe

I'm waiting for Rudipherous to post about how these timba bands I've listed don't float his boat

Descarga of course loves Abreu's group:

Havana D' Primera is arguably one of the best modern bands in Cuba,

Has there even been a negative review on Descarga?

They have product to sell. I never understood why Peter Watrous left the NY Times and then started doing reviews at Descarga. Maybe he has another job as well or a rich family or something.

Abreu made his rep as a trumpeter but I get the impression he is more a vocalist and bandleader now. $50 to see his group and Barbaro Fines' band Friday. Hmmm, can't decide.

Speaking of Cubans, a tribute to percussionist Daniel Ponce who came over to the US on the Mariel boatlift, got acclaim for awhile and then disappeared seemingly. He died in Miami recently at age 59 of a heart attack. This is coming up in NYC

DANIEL PONCE - HOMENAJE PARA UN RUMBERO
Monday, June 17, 2013 / St. Peter's Church / 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street
7:00pm, doors 6:30pm

This musical tribute will feature Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, David Oquendo y Raices Habaneras, Olu Femi, and Michele Rosewoman. Enrique Fernández will be the Keynote Speaker

http://ancienttofuture.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/daniel-ponce-the-tragic-passing-of-a-cuban-master-drummer/

More Cubans coming: Harold Lopez-Nussa was a pianist on that 90 Miles project with jazz guys vibraphonist Stefon Harris, tenor saxophonist David Sánchez and trumpeter Christian Scott in 2010 with Cuban bandleader Rember Duharte also. Lopez-Nussa just finally got a visa to come here

Harold López-Nussa U.S. Debut:
June 12 / Kuumbwa Jazz Center / Santa Cruz, CA
June 13 - 16 / SFJAZZ Center / San Francisco, CA
June 18 / Jazz Standard / New York, NY
June 19 / An die Musik / Baltimore, MD
June 21 / Regattabar / Cambridge, MA
** also appearing at the Montreal Jazz Festival on July 1 **

I wonder what now-Miami-based (I think) Cuban singer Isaac Delgado is up to these days.

Ned Sublette I think used to postulate about what if Cuban music was part of the same conversation as the rest of the Latin music world; but it seems like timba, etc. just exists in its own little world; and other Cuban musicians move to NY and become part of the Latin-Jazz world, while others (Delgado say) try to go pop, but don't succeed.

Actually I agree with Sublette! I just like to disagree, I guess (so agreeing with Sublette means I can disagree with you). But it clearly is part of the same overall "conversation." As far as the audience for timba, you have to distinguish between different countries. In the U.S., it doesn't have much of a foothold. That's not true in some other countries. Also, even without a popular audience for timba, salsa musicians/producers have borrowed ideas from it.

Issac Delgado has actually had a fair amount of success making salsa in the U.S. I wouldn't say he has particularly gone pop, unless I've missed something. There was that Nat King Cole tribute, but even that wasn't exactly a going pop sort of move. Delgado is an example of a singer who left Cuba who was well positioned to go into salsa in the U.S. For one thing he likes it more than some timberos. But look at the people he's worked with here. I think he's done quite well.

I'm sure Abreu is a good musician. I don't care for his sound, but nothing surprising about that. I still like Cesar Pupy Pedroso best of the timba bandleaders, and even with him I'm pretty selective.

But I need to get back to records for U.S. Census documents.

red bull music academy explains some classic music logos including fania's + masters at work

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/iconic-logos

x-post

Delgado hasn't released anything since 2011; that Cole tribute was in 2010. He hasn't been that prolific recording-wise since defecting in 2007. I thought I remember him saying he wanted to go pop, but maybe I'm wrong (maybe he just meant or said he did not want to only do timba).

Delagado has put out four albums from 2007 to the present. That seems pretty respectable. Two years isn't that long a period of time to go between albums or even releases. I think Gilberto Santa Rosa goes that long between albums. Marc Anthony hardly ever puts anything out it seems, though he has a lot of other stuff going on.

It does look like his albums have charted progressively lower, but Supercubano was never going to do that well in the U.S. market and there's no way he could think otherwise. That one was pretty Cuban.

OT: curmudgeon, do you ever check out the UK dance/dance-pop threads? That music seems to be on a roll right now. Although of course UK funky fizzled just when I discovered I like some of it. (I still only like a smidgeon of that music, but that smidgeon is very enjoyable.)

Rather than baiting me into saying the same things I've said 50 times before on this thread.

I don't know, maybe Delgado did say something about going pop. Maybe you just guessed that from the salsaton that was included on Supercubano if I recall correctly.

Quality voice, boring singer.

: curmudgeon, do you ever check out the UK dance/dance-pop threads?

Once in awhile, but not lately. Too much to keep up on. Was listening to Julieta Venegas' latest pop en Espanol cd this morning. I was first ambivalent about it, but its growing on me. Might be her best effort in years.

This is coming up in Baltimore June 22 and 23rd

*Baltimore Latino Fest at Patterson Park with Toby Love; Herman Olivera (salsa); Frankie Vazquez; La Firma ; Spanglish Fly; Grupo La Maquina de El Salvador and more 12 noon to 9 (not clear who is performing on Saturday and who is on Sunday)

while in the DC area on the 23rd is

*El Zol 107.9 radio concert at Rosecroft Raceway in Ft. Washington, MD with Gilberto Santa Rosa (salsa), El Torito, Los Hermanos Rosario, N"Klabe, Toby Love, Angel y Khriz (reggaeton), 24 Horas, Juan Esteban (salsa) and more

Ray De La Paz is probably the big Albuquerque salsa event of the summer. Not quite the east coast here.

the dc capital congress is next weekend. new swing sextet performing.

http://www.capitalcongress.com/

Are there certain dancers that you are excited about seeing, or groups performing or instructors?

There are a bunch of new releases or obscure reissues up in this latest batch of descarga.com editor's picks. Just started listening to the Guayacan Orquesta 25th anniversary CD, on Spotify.

New La 33. Well, one can hope they start living up to the hype.

Well this Guayacan is kind of boring so far.

Well.

I think I am going to eat some Red Hot Blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ezgXJ014rE

I wimped out re seeing Havana D'Primera.

This was my favorite Friday night salsa spot in Philadelphia, when it was open:

http://hiddencityphila.org/2012/07/almost-heaven-on-the-eighth-floor/

Are there certain dancers that you are excited about seeing, or groups performing or instructors?

the instructors are always on point for these things... in terms of performances the cobo brothers, julissa cruz, reflejo de lorenz and the lorenz latin dancers i trained with a bit in new york, as well as our own team cazike's performances are coming along pretty nicely. really i'm just antsy to get rehearsals out of the way and get through this, i'm "retiring" a bit and getting time back for other things.

Just discovered that the Latin Day Fest on Sunday at Six Flags in Maryland is sponsored by Univision who are having La India perform; plus bachata singer Andy Andy.

there's some "la vida de la raza" or something or other fest in va this weekend i think with t. bambino and some others

Oh yeah

Festival de la Raza at Manassas Fairgrounds with Tito El Bambino, Bachata Heightz, Rene Alonso and more (cumbia, regional Mexican)

Plus Jose Alberto El Canario and band is at the Diamond Lounge in Annandale tonight. He was pretty good when I saw him a few times years ago.

Posting solely because of the band's name, but not bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ9y9cmMT9c

Jowell & Randy have a new album out that might be worthwhile--I still think El Momento was pretty decent--if you can tolerate all the vocodorish stuff. A little less interesting than a collaboration between J&R and 3Ball MTY would be, but okay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw73npUsDrs

Where is the wave of great electronic dance music I was expecting out of Mexico in the wake of 3Ball MTY? Maybe it's there and I'm just not hearing it. At least the Brits are doing good things, or maybe my ears have just finally adjusted to house, etc.

Just asking-- is it possible there's good post 3-Ball MTY dancey stuff that is under the radar because Spanish-speaking Mexico gets less attention than Brits?

Re house, I always liked the old-school Detroit and New Jersey r'n'b rooted house, and have more trouble with it when it gets away from those soulful roots

Absolutely! There's probably lots of Spanish language stuff going under my radio.

Try this

I mean under my radar, haha.

Anyhow, I guess it would take a lot of sifting to pick out the stuff you might consider more traditionally soulful in UK dance pop, but I think most of these new UK dance pop vocalists have at least one foot, or one toe, in something soulful, even jazzy at times. It just seems like there are a lot of solid vocalists doing this music all the sudden. One of the things they are talking about on some of the relevant dance threads is the way the underground dance scene and vocal oriented pop is working together in a healthy way at the moment, or that's my paraphrase anyway.

Meanwhile I am missing more live salsa and other Latino sounds this weekend. Gonna just go see indie powerpopper Mikal Cronin tonight rather than Victor Manuelle (a Rudiph fave-- I kid) and then there are those competing festivals

*Baltimore Latino Fest at Patterson Park with Toby Love; Herman Olivera (salsa); Frankie Vazquez; La Firma ; Spanglish Fly(bugalu); Grupo La Maquina de El Salvador and more 12 noon to 10 (not clear who is performing on Saturday and who is on Sunday)

*El Zol 107.9 radio concert at Rosecroft Raceway in Ft. Washington, MD with Gilberto Santa Rosa (salsa), El Torito, Los Hermanos Rosario, N"Klabe, Toby Love, Angel y Khriz (reggaeton), 24 Horas, Juan Esteban (salsa) and more

Great to see so much new talent! (Okay, not saying these people wouldn't be worth going to see, but. . . I mean, hell, I'm excited about possibly seeing Ray De La Paz.)

I would buy some of these Rareza reissues, but why should I pay $15.95 plus shipping for a CD with ten to twelve tracks poorly remastered from vinyl by a label which probably doesn't even own the rights?

x-post -- That's why I don't feel too bad about missing these shows.

Listening to this on Spotify and it seems pretty good so far:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25158.10?JaE8bD5o;;405

She has a cumbia voice, but the whole thing might be a little too Latin alternative for me--but before I judge I need to finish listening. Had a Gaby Kerpel CD years ago but never really got into it.

The descarga description of her voice does not inspire me to want to listen. Feel like I know the name Gaby Kerbel. Will look it up later.

Unrelated:
So I see that the few still living Buena Vista Social Club members have some new folks onboard and are touring the states this fall. I liked them years ago live.

I like her voice, I think. The whole style seems a little too removed and above it all, which is my problem with a lot of Latin alternative. Like, they hold dance music forms at some sort of remove. They don't want to get to close to them.

Well put. ^^

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/1568665/marc-anthonys-salsa-revival-exclusive-qa

Not a moment too soon. I haven't been listening to any salsa for over a month, I think. That's kind of unheard of. I just burned out on my existing collection. If I had the money I'd just buy more stuff but can't right now and my free downloading options seem a bit limited these days.

(Frankly I'm enjoying warming to more house/etc. but I still wish I had a steady stream of new-to-me salsa to listen to.)

This made me chuckle a bit. Is Anthony really a salsero? Yes and no. But having come from Latin freestyle and jumping on the late 90s salsa revival bandwagon, he isn't necessarily in a position to talk this way. Also, disappearing from salsa recording for so long while doing pop and TV and movies. . .

Salsa at its heigth there were a lot of artists who were viable and vibrant and had their sound and their following. I think when other people started jumping on the genre who really weren’t salseros and who did it just to do it, I think a lot changed.

This is interesting though, and I think it applies to some people most would consider real salseros:

I think that people started recording shitty albums just to gig. People weren’t looking at it as a body of work. And I think that really diluted bodies of work or potential bodies of work. And you get what you give.

He says "shit" a lot in this interview. Seems to be going for the street persona.

For that matter is this the work of someone who is "really a salsero?"

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

The rest of this damn album better be better than that. This sounds like a "salsa" track that would appear on a third rate reggaeton act's album, aside from the fact that yes, Marc Anthony has a great voice.

Listened to a new Bio Ritmo instrumental track last night. Nothing new but it was nice enough

Aduio quality is WTF but here's a preview of the new album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HfK2LpvBc

Honestly, this sounds like it could be good overall. Hard to tell at this point.

Mmmm, the bolero others are mentioning sounds nice.

Pareles re the Latin Alternaive Music Conference live gigs in NYC:

The usuals-- Carla Morrison, Natlaia LaFourcade, Julieta Venegas etc.

Alternative

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/arts/music/latin-alternative-music-conference-in-new-york.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130715

Plus Los Rakas and more including Nortec Collective Presents Bostich + Fussible, the Tijuana group that puts ominous electronic pulses behind the oom-pah of norteño music; Bostich and Fussible, the programmers, were joined by sousaphone, accordion and guitar

Eh, I think seeing Lafourcade do her tribute to Augustin Lara would probably have been the most interesting

Alternative will never die.

I keep checking it out as I am looking for something other than the commercial bachata I hear on the radio

Marc Anthony has a great voice.

― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, July 11, 2013 1:21 AM (6 days ago

Watched him do a nice rendition of "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch of last night's Major league baseball all-star game. Really.

New Marc Anthony CD and a new Grupo Niche as well? I think it's new material. I don't recognize any of it so far. Sounds different from there last few albums which I think kind of dead ended in a way. A bit more stripped down with definite echoes of some their earlier sounds (they have a variety to pick from given how long they've been around).

Haha liveblogging one minute audio clips here. But holy fuck does this (or most of it) sound better than just about anything else new out there in the salsa world:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25183.10?DStDJT2i;;405

Previous albums dead ended in the sense of maybe getting too caught up in a studio perfectionism.

Getting back to this one, "Eres Tu" sounds like the pure uncut stuff.

I think maybe they are inspired to do a suitable tribute of sorts to the late Jairo Varela. I mean, I'm not sure if the album is exactly a tribute but the title and cover make me think so. Varela's absence is necessarily going to loom as a huge presence.

I want this NOW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2VNzigqjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUR5RFtq6mQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LQAWyuJyqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S05_Sw3vnxM

The quality is so consistently high that I'm wondering if these are remakes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLafbyXn5Hg

The vocalist on "Eres Tu" reminds me a bit of Luisito Carrion, a good thing in my book, especially since I wouldn't accused him of slavishly copying Carrion's sound.

Grupo Niche blast from the past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxRHBBvT9Q8

This is up on Spotify. I somehow never checked last night, but last night I was too tired to get up and go to bed for a while there, so no surprise.

A bunch of racists freaked out on twitter seeing Marc Anthony singing at the Allstar game. They did not deem him a true American who could be allowed to sing that song.

Are you going to listen to that Grupo Niche album? I'm willing to say it's the best salsa album I've heard in at least a few years, maybe longer.

Yessireee

Will check it out, thanks.

One caveat: I'm not actually that taken with the title track. I think it would have more impact if I understood Spanish, because it seems to be particularly about Jairo Varela.

At 3:52 on "La Novia" it's so smooth, but it's SO SMOOTH. You could be like, why do they want to get so smooth (not that they haven't in the past), but it's so smooth it's jolting and brilliant. It's unexpected because they've already had a different chorus that was punchier (and which sounds very much of a piece with the tough coros on some of their songs from a few years back, like "Culebra," though it's not quite as clipped as the one in that song). And then the trumpet solo comes in and it doesn't sound played out and I am very gratefully it doesn't quote "Historia de un Amor" (not that I don't love that song, but enough with throwing it into solos already, really).

It's also like a signature of their being masters. Like, they can make it tough and toss out some very hard soneos and coros, but they can shift gears and make something perfectly smooth, even with a corny synth sound underneath and claves making the clave explicit, which isn't normally going to get me fired up to say the least.

Calidad.

"La Novia": the song moves on high heels, or dances mostly on its toes with or without high heels.

Anybody ever heard of Meridian Brothers? Apparently they're some psychedelic experimental rock group from Bogota; I just got a compilation culled from three albums they recorded between 2005 and 2011. (Their 2012 album came out on Soundway, the first full-length of theirs to appear on a label outside of Colombia.)

Actually, La Lechera is a big fan and there are some other slightly unlikely fans of theirs around here. gr8080, I think is one, unless I'm getting him mixed up. I am ultimately not really into their sound. Some of the same personnel appear on the first track I posted on this thread.

This is back up on youtube. Not just my favorite Cesar Pedroso and possibly my favorite timba songs, but one of my favorite songs--period. Unfortunately, youtube rip does not do justice to how intense the bass gets as the coro goes on:

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

Love this post from gr8080, campaigning for a Merdian Brothers track last year:

CAMPAIGNING THREAD FOR: 2012 ILM SUPER-MEGA YEAR-END ALBUMS 'N' TRACKS POLL

Meridian Brothers are a generally too whimsical for me and something like what I said earlier applies:

The whole style seems a little too removed and above it all, which is my problem with a lot of Latin alternative. Like, they hold dance music forms at some sort of remove. They don't want to get to close to them.

But maybe I'm the one making a mistake judging them too much in dance music terms.

(Not that that was brilliant or anything but it said it better than I'm going to say roughly the same thing at the moment.)

Also I kind of think this Soneros All Stars album with Pupy (with Pepito on vocals some of the time) didn't get the credit it deserved, and I'm not into contemporary Cuban stuff. It doesn't help that the album kind of disappeared, went out of print or something, wasn't available for download where you'd expect it to be (I mean legally), etc. And it did get rave reviews from people who pay attention to this sort of thing (all half dozen of them who write in English).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgYrl1VoEGE

It might have come out on EGREM, Cuba's national label, which is always an adventure.

I remember reading someone talking about going into the state run CD shops and finding pirated CDRs of CDs released on EGREM. Something like that. The government was pirating the music it owned.

Nice extended piano solo here by Pupy, in a more traditional style than his timba keyboard playing. (Not saying it's better. In fact, I like Pupy's keyboard playing pretty much always.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0bxtxNkcYY

I know I linked to a page that had streamable mp3s of this when it came out, but since I am only just seeing this on youtube (as far as I can remember), I think it's worth mentioning this album again, and especially these two tracks.

"More traditional" is lazy, but I don't want to say the wrong thing. I guess it's more son/salsa, specifically.

It still bugs me that they deform the rhythm with that emphasis on the five, if I'm hearing it correctly. Anyway, that downbeat sort of thing they do in so much timba or just timba-influenced music is one of the dealbreakers most of the time. In this case it's just an irritant, at least in my current mood.

I'm sure they'd be interested to be told by me that they are deforming the rhythm. The point is I just don't like the feel. It changes the rhythmic feel. Obviously I don't know what they know about their own music but I know what I like.

This is from last year. I don't think I ever heard it, but it's the sort of thing I might have turned off quickly if I was in the wrong mood. But I think it's pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85fp5dnYwRg

The New Marc Anthony is officially out today (leaked a couple days ago but I didn't try too hard to find it and I never got into the torrent thing) and already up on Spotify. Voice still sounds incredible. Sergio George has not metamorphosed into Papo Lucca overnight. Sounds a bit 90s but hey just in time for various 90s revivals. (Still I'm not overly enthusiastic about bringing back major salsa sounds from the 90s, if they ever went away.) Sounds like Sergio George.

But it's good to have some new Marc Anthony salsa to listen to. I will complain about this and that but I'll probably still end up on the dance floor for some of these.

His voice sounds like he's just picking up where he was before. Maybe he sounds a little better even.

In fact, it's a little surreal to be listening to all this new Marc Anthony salsa all at once. That mixture of recognition and novelty at the same time.

I have to love the shamelessness of the chorus at the end of of "Dime Si No Es Verdad." Is this the Barry Manilow influence (as admitted to by MA in an interview) rearing its head again?

He and George should just be avant-garde and do a whole album where the vocals are exclusively: za ba ba bada

Pretty solid album. On first listen, neither a big letdown nor any big pleasant surprise. I think the Grupo Niche album is a lot more impressive even if its iffier tracks might be iffier than anything on 3.0.

Single is nice on this, thanks.

I dont like the single!

I think I hear about four or five other single here. I mean, come on, it's MA and SG together again. They will have hits.

I'm trying to be a smart-ass, but the: za ba ba bada (etc.) part really is the high point of that song for me.

So I've posted clips from and talked about music from two of the biggest acts in salsa (neither of whom have put out an album of new material fro a while) and there is virtually zero response (and I mean from the handful of people, or couple of people, who are regulars on this thread, not the board at large which I wouldn't expect to take an interest, though Noodles apparently checked out 3.0 and had a few things to say about it).

I checked out the one Marc Anthony track that you posted a YouTube link to. His voice sounds good, but the instrumentation is way too sugary and gloopy for me. I need something hard-edged. Honestly, for me - since I don't dance, or leave my couch after dark really - salsa is almost entirely a retro thing. I don't care about almost anything recorded after 1975. (I did like a couple of albums by the Colombian group La 33 from a few years ago, but that was the only real exception I can think of.)

Your taste is your taste, but there's plenty of hard edeged stuff recorded after 1975. Not Marc Anthony though, admittedly. Oh wait, you did say "almost anything." Still, I don't know.

I'm really a lot more into Colombian band Grupo Niche's Tocando El Cielo Con Las Manos (hereafter: Tocando) than 3.0. I have more to say about Tocando, some of which I've posted elsewhere. I would like to draw attention to "Aprieta." In fact, 誤訳侮辱, if you are still on the line, you might appreciate this song at least on an abstract level (but then what's really the point of that?). It's the most "muso" track on the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w__9NhEsoTE

It does one unexpected thing right away. It begins with some melody from the middle of "Las Caras Lindas" (originally sung by Ismael Rivera, and I think written by Curet Alonso). At 2:11 it gets almost 70s soundtracky (though this is also a new part of Niche's sound palate, so not too unusual). This recurs. Then at 3:15 they switch into Cuban timba territory, which I mostly like here. I especially like the way the piano goes off, but the keyboard parts in timba are easily the most palatable part. Anyway, the piano here is distinctively different from what's normally in salsa, although I can't explain why. (If you want a real explanation of these things, timba music theory guru Kevin Moore is the person to read.) The trumpet sound at 4:19. I don't think I've ever heard anything like that in Grupo Niche before. It really jumps out, and I think it is intentionally going for a more Cuban sound. I was saying it's the timbre but maybe it's the phrasing primarily. Incidentally, I don't like the horn sound better or even as much as the usual sounds Niche go for with the horns, but it makes me chuckle to hear that sound pop out so much. If salsa is going to borrow from timba, I trust Grupo Niche to do it palatably. But 誤訳侮辱, I could see how the sound could still just be too smoothed out for you on this. I think you might enjoy post-75 salsa more if you could focus more on the vocal lines and percussion and less on the horns. Just a thought (and I'm not really big on turning music listening into a chore, especially when it's popular music).

Or maybe I should say the vocals and the rhythm section. That's where so much of the action is.

Wait a second. I think the horn at 4:19 is different on the album version than it is on that youtube clip. Now I'm not even sure. It could just be the audio quality. I think they may have modified it when they released it on the album, to make it stand out even more.

Someone on an amazon.com review complains about the vibrato of the new singer (one of the new singers?) Elvis Magno. It's funny, because I normally am not a big fan of extreme vibrato in salsa, but on "La Novia," for instance, it's so exaggerated and sounds so intentional that I enjoy it. Though that doesn't sound like an actual explanation. I'm not sure why I like it. I can completely see how it could be a stumbling block for some listeners, and I'm relieved it isn't, for me (since I wouldn't want to give up on this band).

One good thing about Niche is that their personnel turnover over the years has actually worked for them and given them a more diverse sounding cataloging than they might have had otherwise. A lot of singers have passed through the band, going off to form other bands or have solo careers, with more or less success. Son de Cali is one of the big spinoffs from Grupo Niche. They've also pulled in people who already had established careers, notably Tito Gomez, who sang with La Sonora Poncena.

I admit, with a song like "La Novia," I hear it as a dancer, in a sense, even though I hardly dance these days.

If nothing else, Magno has an extremely mannered style and the vibrato is part of it. I'm into it. Still don't know why. But the fact that it feels like he is in control helps. When I hear vibrato that even sounds out of control (whether it is or not) it bothers me. Honestly, I find Andy Montanez's vibrato sort of bothersome, especially after his El Gran Combo years. (I don't remember it being an issue when I saw him live, but I was maybe too busy being blown away by the band he had with him.)

I mean when you hear Magno soneo, you hear he can clearly part with the vibrato.

I liked the instrumental parts of that song - recognized the Ismael Rivera lift right away. The horns are hot, which I'm into. The vocalist is talented; he's got a powerful voice, but it's not timbrally the kind of thing I'm attracted to. (A big part of why I don't like modern salsa is modern production - it's the same reason I prefer jazz albums from the 1950s and 1960s to albums from the 1990s and more recently. I like distortion and room sound, and you don't get that now because bands don't record live together in a room anymore.) My biggest problem with the song above, though, is that melodically it's not that memorable - the bit they stole is the bit that's gonna stick in my mind, not the song's own chorus.

Yeah, it's more interesting for the arrangements and the pastiche than for the melody, although obviously I do like the vocals too. I think some of the other songs are stronger melodically, but there would probably more you don't like (or less you do).

When I hear vibrato that even sounds out of control (whether it is or not) it bothers me.

meant to write: that even sounds a little out of control

Oh yeah, the other thing I wanted to say is that the beginning of "Colombia Mi Seleccion" reminds me a little of a song from the last new salsa album I heard that I thought was any good (2009), fairly obscure Philadelphia band Bannakumbi's Un Nuevo Dia. I didn't have time to check which song I'm thinking of. It would not surprise me at all if Grupo Niche checked out that band. It seems like the sort of thing they'd appreciate.

Incidentally, I've come to a couple simple conclusions about what would have made that album more effective. The more expansive songs with all the vocals layers (primarily "No Se" and the title track) should go on for a lot longer than they do rather than stick to a pop song length. I think they could have made them longer and kept them interesting. The other thing would be harder to simply "fix." I think the album needed a couple tracks that were ideal for the dance floor. Anyway, that's my take, fwiw. It's still a pretty exceptional album.

I kind of like the fact this guy has crazy vibrato. It will keep the posers away.

This guy: Elvis Magno. I still haven't sorted out how many people do lead vocals on the album though. I don't think it's always him.

Luisito and coro doing a chorus line dance in the middle really makes it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYc3rCzlPDo

Oh wait, wrong one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOeYgMcR5cc

There. That one. I heard the beginning of this song while I was watching a Tito Ortos dance clip so I had to listen to it at least once.

Planning on going out tomorrow night and I feel like I might be up to it. Hopefully it doesn't get rained out.

Local Latin jazz band opening for Ray De La Paz tomorrow night. Why Lord? I will probably try to get there late, but then it doesn't last that long. Must time it right.

When people go out salsa dancing they don't want to be "edified" by a Latin jazz band. Maybe it will turn out to be danceable. It sounds like some or all of the personnel is from local salsa bands.

Hearing that Latin Jazz drummer Steve Berrios passed away.

RIP. Wiki says he passed July 25th, but I don't see anything else online yet. I think I saw him with Jerry and Andy Gonzalez years ago. Wiki mentions his percussion work with Mongo Santamaria and with Pucho & his Latin Soul Brothers.

Wikipedia didn't actually have that last night. I heard it first hand from some musicians who were checking their FB pages for further news.

Some of these Niche tracks hark back to a pre-A Golpe de Folklore sound. I particularly here that in the horn parts on "El Hijo."

x-post

http://blogs.artinfo.com/blunotes/2013/07/remembering-drummer-and-percussionist-steve-berrios/#more-2289

Magna Gopal coming to the ABQ Latin Dance Festival in August. I might go to one of her classes (if I make it at all) just to see her loveliness in person. Not completely sold on the connection between her dancing and the music a lot of the time, however.

Someone has asked me to write about Meridian Brothers, for money, so once that review is published, I'll provide a link or at least tell you where it's gonna appear.

Fair enough. It's good to get paid.

On succeeding listens, this Marc Anthony album is sounding more and more like every other MA album I've listened to: too much Marc Anthony for one sitting.

Do you think he'd sound better in another context: if he did guest vocals on other people's albums, for example? (Serious question - sometimes vocalists work better as guests than as the primary performer.)

I like a bunch of his songs as part of a flow of salsa songs in general, in a club specifically. I think I just don't like his style enough to sit through a whole album's worth. I probably would get up to dance to some of these songs on an individual basis, and enjoy it. It's just too much MA all at once

Obviously a lot of people disagree with me since he sells better than any other current salsa singer, as far as I know, but that's because he picks up so much of a crossover (but still Latino) audience.

I wouldn't say he'd be better doing guest vocals.

I think he should do an all-bolero album though. I think that suits him. Or maybe bolero and cha cha cha.

I like just about every track on the MA compilation Desde un Principio, but it still can be a slog to listen to the whole thing at once.

Live recordings might be another option. There was a song from a live DVD that I used to hear in clubs sometimes--I forget what song it was--but it was a real epic version and very intense. I'm a little surprised he's never done a simple live CD. I've never seen him live, but I've heard good things about him as a live performer from people who have.

I saw his HBO concert special from a few years ago, live at Madison Square Garden - that was very good. It's on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6jqHd6WgHQ

And here's another concert, from 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I28FELtIU34

Thanks, I've actually never thought to looking up his live material on youtube, but it would be worth my checking out some time.

Check out that 2012 show. He opens with a version of "Aguanile" that's absolutely crushing.

Incidentally, I never made it out to Ray de la Paz last night because my sinues went haywire, but that saved me from getting stuck in hurricane like conditions. My concert wasn't at the zoo, but it was fairly close to that area.

(The pressure changes related to the storm system moving in was probably partly or mostly responsible for the sinus trouble actually.)

And if my head is any indication, we'll be getting a big storm tonight, for the third day in a row.

Longtime singers Ismael Miranda y Andy Montanez are gonna be at the Palace, a club half an hour or so down a highway from W. DC August 16th. I'm thinking of going.

A memorial will be held tomorrow evening, Aug. 1, in New York City for drummer Steve Berrios, who passed away July 25. The event will take place 5 p.m. at St. Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Ave., at 54th Street, in Manhattan.

Andy Gonzalez will serve as musical advisor, Todd Barkan will be the master of ceremonies, and the event will also feature Larry Willis, Joe Ford, Sonny Fortune and others.

A suggested donation of $25 is requested to help defer funeral costs. Donations can also be made at Jazz Foundation of America.

by The Entity, Grupo Niche

???

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tocando-el-cielo-con-las-manos-grupo-niche/26343875?ean=97037125332

Look at the top of your display.

I don't understand why descarga.com, which lavishes praise on the most unworthy candidates, doesn't have a bit more to say about this album.

I looked at the Billboard tropical charts earlier. Marc Anthony in first place. Niche holding on to the number ten spot. Two Prince Royce's in the middle--smh. And who is Leslie Grace?

Wiki tells me young New Yorker Leslie Grace did "Will U Still Love Me Tomorrow", a bilingual, bachata cover of the 1961 Shirelles hit, co-written by Carole King.[2] Her version peaked at number one on both the Billboard Tropical Songs chart and Billboard Latin Airplay charts, becoming the youngest female artist to do so.[3]

Old-school salsero Oscar D'Leon loves to tour. I think he was just in the hospital and now he's back on the road again. He comes to D.C. pretty often. He was great the one time I saw years ago

Saw the poster a few days ago, afraid I will have to miss again.

Ned Sublette is reporting in his email the death of Saxophonist Eddie Pérez who was a founding member of Cortijo y Su Combo before he, along with pianist / bandleader Rafael Ithier and other members of that group, co-founded El Gran Combo in 1962.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/10/eddie-perez-dead-el-gran-combo_n_3736421.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices

Eddie Perez Dead: Co-founder Of Puerto Rico's El Gran Combo Dies

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- One of the founding members of the renowned salsa band El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico has died.

A daughter of Eddie Perez said he died Friday at a Puerto Rico hospital from a blood infection following a foot amputation.

Mariel Perez said her father made his debut at age 13 and had played the saxophone for more than 60 years. She did not provide his age, and calls to the band's office went unanswered.

Perez was nicknamed "The Bullet" and was known for always shaking his left shoulder before playing.

He was one of the only two remaining original members of the band, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

El Gran Combo has released more than 40 albums and won a Grammy in 2003 for Best Tropical Album.

Friday night August 16th south of D.C. at the Palace in Woodbridge, VA for $45 and Saturday night at Lehman in NY for a bit more. Wonder if these guys still sound good and how the band will be

ISMAEL MIRANDA
45 AÑOS DE TRAYECTORIA
With Special Guests ANDY MONTAÑEZ and PAQUITO GUZMÁN
Tickets: $60, $55, $45

http://lehmancenter.org/th_event/una-vida-de-salsa/

New album my Mayito Rivera:

During his 20 years with Los Van Van, Mario “Mayito” Rivera came to be one of the iconic voices of the contemporary Cuban dance music that we refer to as Timba. In 2011 he left Van Van to pursue a solo career, and after two years of touring the Americas and Europe, Mayito has released his second solo album. His first, the 2005 “Negrito Bailador” ("Llegó la Hora" in the US release), was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Mayito has taken a risk with the new CD. It is not a timba album, or even a salsa album. As the title indicates, "Alma de Sonero", recorded with Soneros de Verdad, is a celebration of Cuban traditional dance music. Mayito presents his mission statement in the son "Tienen Su Brillo" - Yo quiero cantar un son, un son que me suene bien, que tenga el sabor de hoy y la elegancia de ayer. And he does, with aplomb'!

The album contains ten original compositions, all written and arranged by Mayito.

http://www.timba.com/reviews/alma-de-sonero

Son music...

Very interesting

Longtime singers Ismael Miranda y Andy Montanez are gonna be at the Palace, a club half an hour or so down a highway from W. DC August 16th. I'm thinking of going.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, July 31, 2013 2:18 PM

The gf and I spent the big bucks and went to this. Our dancing paled compared to others there. The place was packed (interestingly, a shoutout to Peruvians drew a huge response) and I think we were the only gringos there. Really. The show went from midnight to 2ish in the AM. Montanez sang first and after an hour he and Miranda did a duet (lotsa phones out for this one) and then Miranda sang for an hour or so. Good younger band. Montanez' songs seemed to have more variety in the melody department, while Miranda came across as a better singer but he stuck with just salsa dura. Conga, timbales and cowbell player just kept going and going, song after song.

Do you know if the band was Andy Montanez's crew? I guess if Miranda was headlining then probably not. When I saw Andy Montanez ten years ago (yikes! ten years ago!) the band was great and fairly young, but it also included some members from his family, children and others.

And Peruvians seem to be great connoisseurs of salsa, rimba, reggaeton, from what I keep hearing.

Unfortunately I don't know much. They used the same band and I saw online (maybe I posted it above) that they were playing at a college in NYC Saturday. Maybe someone wrote about it. I had been too busy all week to write anything about the DC area gig and find details, so we just paid the big bucks for the tickets and went. I don't think there are any other English speaking music crit types in the DC area who went or wrote about it.

No mention of the band in this NY preview of Miranda:

“I still have my voice intact and on top of that I’m in good shape,” he says.

With a biography in the works as well as another album, Miranda isn’t slowing down.

“Victor Manuelle is producing my next album, which we begin recording in September,” he says.

“My book should be finished this year and will be out in January. And then there are the concerts celebrating my 45 years in music. I just got back from Peru, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico, and now I look forward to performing in Miami and New York.

“I take care of myself and I take care of my family,” says Miranda. “Every year it gets better.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/ismael-miranda-rocks-lehman-center-celebrate-45-years-music-article-1.1420508#ixzz2cQqUry1g

http://www.salsaforums.com/threads/free-summer-2013-nyc-latin-music-concerts.22193/

You New Yorkers had your choice of old-schoolers this summer

Gonna be up there for a few days at the end of the month and I see this:

Larry Harlow | August 29, 7 pm @ East River Park ( FDR Drive near Williamsburg Bridge )

Anybody been to shows there?

No, but I bet it will be crowded

Maybe gf & I will go to that and we can meet you there--ilx salsa fap

Hopefully I can make it.

just sent you a webmail

Got it

Victor Manuelle is producing my next album

Oh! How exciting!

Ha, I knew that would bug you. I saw a movie doc on the Malian Festival in the Desert last night so I missed another salsa old-timer Oscar D'Leon's latest local appearance. He was at that same Latino club where I saw Miranda and Montanez

x-post --Looks like I might have to meet gf's sister & hubbie for dinner instead of Larry Harlow unless I can persuade them to go. James Redd, anything you recommend seeing Thursday through Saturday?

Also, I am confused about which East River Park the show is taking place at:

http://events.nydailynews.com/bronx_ny/events/show/337431883-larry-harlow-and-the-latin-legends-band-dj-set-by-dj-lucho

This says the show is in the Bronx . I think it is correct but

http://ny.remezcla.com/2013/latin/summerstage-larry-harlow-latin-legends-band-east-river-park-nyc/

This says the show is at East Rver State Park in Brooklyn in Williamsburg http://nysparks.com/parks/155/details.aspx

or is it here:

https://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&daddr=40.71125,+-73.97797+(Center+of+East+River+Park)

Why don't you come out my way, curmudgeon, to see something at Terazza? http://www.terrazacafe.com/.
I'm definitely going to try to go on Friday to see Yuri. Check out the fancy praise on the Terazza calendar.

Oh that looks good. But alas, we're going to Orioles/Yanks at Yankee Stadium Friday, and staying in Brooklyn. Too bad. we still have Saturday night open.

Grrr Afropop.org. They said Larry Harlow would playing late at the Summerstage gig in East River Park near the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan. But when we got there at 9 something they were cleaning up and heading home.

Sorry about that.

I went home and crashed last night, had a friend's gig at 8:30 I didn't go to either.

Hope you had a good to time in NYC, curmudgeon. Sorry we couldn't get together. If you were still here you could have come to Terraza tonight and heard this guy http://www.chipboaz.com/blog/2009/09/03/focusing-the-spotlight-a-little-bit-more-about-darwin-noguera

Had a good time. Caught the end of Cumbiagra's set at Barbes in Brooklyn, hung out a bit at the jampacked Brazilian Day today, did museums and such, ate a lot.

Oh you went to 46th street, did you?

Yep! Not long, but caught some good drumming and some just ok rap-rock

This is really blog fodder but since I don't have a blog. . . I have to admit that lately I've been wanting electronics in my music and I've been wanting something that sounds contemporary, or that is at least chronological new. The long-term dearth of worthwhile salsa combined with my inability to afford buying lots of old stuff combined with my inability to get out dancing regularly, is chipping away at how much of the time I actually want to listen to salsa.

Mostly I want to hear more DJ Q at the moment, but wish he'd be a little more selective with the songs he works with on his mixes. (Most are fine but some really awful ones stick out at times.)

It doesn't help that I've missed every major local salsa event of the summer (for health, weather &/or financial reasons).

I understand. Although I must not be listening to the right electronica as I attended over the weekend a Ghostly Records International event (at gf's request) and the acts did not sound much different than any other laptop and programmed sound music I have heard over the last 20 years. Salsa's roots go further back of course, but since I always dabble around among my fave genres, it's old-school approach still sounds ok to me.

I kind of admire your being the last holdout to still use the term "electronica." Again, if you haven't checked out some of the stuff on these threads, what are you waiting for?

Duke Dumont and A*M*E - Need U (100%) - Rolling UK dance pop interzone thread

Or for the summary, check the mix here:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/20/uk-dance-music-back-pop

the ineffable genius of DJ Q

This is a good place to start with DJ Q, a mix he created and put up specifically for his fans on ILM:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/bzqryx

I'm really not even talking about pure electronic music, just music that includes electronics.

I love spamming my thread with OT stuff.

This is a good place to start with DJ Q

At least I think so and I think it would be for you. This is probably the "jazziest" mix I've heard from him.

And lately I'm just in the mood for big R&B/funk/jazz drum roll samples and fractured vocals and psychedelic house electric keyboard, etc.

Thanks. Electronica still seems like a good term to use to cover all the millions of sub-genres (uk funky trap blah blah blah) and its better than EDM since some of the stuff isn't dance music.

In NYC I also stumbled onto old-school roller skaters dancing to house/disco in Central Park. I have forgotten the dj who was there --they were selling his mix cds. I like the old-school soulful vocals of some of the cuts he was playing and even the remix of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky"

Really, in some ways it's a matter of (my) circling back to African-American forms of music, however refracted through a UK lens. At least at the moment. + whatever I ever liked about electronic dance music, etc.

(I really think you'd like most of this DJ Q exclusive and it's only 33:06 long.)

Or check this out. So finely done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMFEzqj09Fc

(I have to admit I love that photo. It's like the ultimate hipster photo. Though that is just associated with this particular youtube channel.)

I haven't liked this much current music out of the UK since, say, 1982, which I'm sure says more about me and my taste than it does about anything else, but I do think something is going on. Okay, sorry, I know if everyone did this on every thread it would be anarchy.

Sometime soon I will check it out.

But what about this guy whom I just received a pr email about:

Alejandro Fernandez, Latin Grammy winner and multiplatinum selling artists re-writes history once again debuting #1 in the United States and Puerto Rico with CONFIDENCIAS, his long-awaited new album, becoming his highest selling debut ever.

Mexican pop. Not my thing.

Too sappy. Not mine either

Put on some El Gran Combo on the way to work because I couldn't think of what else to play (from what I have in my glove compartment), and even that I was feeling much less than usual. I'm guessing this is temporary though. It was probably a bad pick today. I had been listening to some Boris while I was getting ready this morning and I was feeling really impatient and yelling to myself about slowpoke drivers once I left.

And there's a part of me that's like: I've been trying to get back into regular salsa dancing for over ten years now and haven't been able to for reasons out of my control. After those three hours of salsa class back to back last Monday, my left leg started to have some of the same sensations I had last year when I somehow injured muscles overtaxed by trying to jump back into rope jumping. (This is not just aging. This is becoming out of shape due to other health reasons. No doubt aging doesn't help.) So there's a temptation to just say fuck it. I'm going to need to scramble certain things in my life anyway in order to go on. A couple more stabs at dealing with the sinus issues and then it's time to throw some chaos into my life if I'm to go on at all. (What? I thought this was my blog?) I've been on borrowed time for forever, but in a couple years I'm going to feel that way even more, as I eliminate more possible solutions.

These DR dudes seem cool. They only have one single out (this one), but their live shows are supposed to be killer. Not that I'm likely to ever find out.

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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2013/09/11/gloria-estefan-ricky-martin-and-more-to-perform-at-white-house-latin-music-event/

Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan and Arturo Sandoval are among the artists who will perform in Washington next week at a White House celebration of Latin music. “Música Latina: In Performance at the White House,” hosted by the President and First Lady Michelle Obama, will also feature performances by Natalie Cole, Lila Downs, Raul Malo, Prince Royce, Romeo Santos, Alejandro Sanz and Marco Antonio Solís. The concer will be taped in the East Room of the White House on Monday, Sept. 16 and will air next month on PBS.

Lotsa sappy balladeers

9:30 PM to 12:00 AM - The Luis Perdomo Quartet with special guest "Ignacio Berroa"

Do you have any fave cds with Berroa drumming on them that you recommend?

I heard a bachata version of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" on the radio yesterday. I think it was Jen Rodriguez (and it was mostly/all in English)

Look for some youtubes of Ignacio playing with Dizzy, if not "Ignacio" with "Dizzy".

curmudgeon did you send me an email within the last 24 hours? I have one from you (not at the email address associated with this login) but the subject line looks suspicious.

In which case you may have a virus on your PC, unless something is reading my gmail contacts and sending bogus emails. Anything is possible these days given how secure everything has become.

all fixed

Got your response. Was it a bug? I never opened the original suspicious email anyway.

Latin Grammy Nominations are out:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/music/la-et-ms-latin-grammys-2013-nominees-winners-list,0,786011,full.story

Award show on Univision November 21

Here's a virus bug for ya: the The Latin Grammy salsa nominees

Salsa Album

"Una Mujer Que Canta" — Albita

"25 Años, 25 Éxitos, 25 Artistas" — Guayacán

"Me Llamaré Tuyo" — Víctor Manuelle

"Que Seas Feliz" — Tito Nieves

"Gilberto Santa Rosa" — Gilberto Santa Rosa

"Sergio George Presents Salsa Giants" — Various artists

Some worthy recipients of lifetime achievement awards anyhow:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oscar-dleon-juan-formell-roberto-menescal-toto-la-momposina-palito-ortega-eddie-palmieri-and-miguel-rios-to-be-honored-with-the-latin-recording-academy-lifetime-achievement-award-222155871.html

Tego Calderon is in the DC area tonight. He hasn't released a new album in ages, has he? I saw him live 6 or so years ago-- pretty good as I recall.

Ned Sublette is all excited about

Miguel Zenón’s Rhythm Collective's new CD, Oye!!! Live in Puerto Rico, and

Michele Rosewoman and New Yor-Uba, 30 Years: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America,

I wonder if you have to be a hardcore Latin-Jazz fan to dig these?

Couldn't tell you.

Will try Spotify and youttube later. Have found prior Zenon releases too jazzy and academic for me with not enough clave.

Yeah, haven't really gotten into his stuff either.

Donald Harrison, in town for the Messenger Legacy shows (through Sunday at Jazz Standard), will speak on Monday at NYU's CLACS (Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies), part of their Interdisciplinary Seminar series called Afro-Latin Soundscapes. It's free.
Donald Harrison: "The Influence of Congo Square on Popular Music"
Monday, October 7th, 2013, 6:00 p.m.
Location: King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC) Auditorium, 53 Washington Square South, New York University, New York NY 10012

Latin-jazz kinda letting me down again (plus a W. Post review saying it was more than that)

Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca has a new release out and is touring and doing headlining gigs plus playing onstage with Buena Vista Social Club. Listening to the album on Spotify now. Song "JMF" adds prog-rock, orchestral Yanni like flourishes that I don't like at all, but the next cut starts out nice with just distinctive minimalistic piano , until he brings strings in.

And old 70s style jazz-fusion on it that I don't like mixed with afro-Cuban female jazzy vocals that I sort of like. Next I have to listen to Pedrito Martinez whom the Post also reviewed.

Latest Pedrito Martinez is not on Spotify I don't think

But an older one is

Most of this new Grupo Niche CD still sounds very good to me.

I listened to it again too. I agree

Michele Rosewoman and New Yor-Uba, 30 Years: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America is not on Spotify, just older releases of hers

Gonna see Malian Vieux Farka Toure tonight, which means I will miss

Orquesta Salsa con Conciencia, previously La Excelencia,(a nine-person salsa ensemble that has some socio-political lyrics ) from NYC for free from 6 to 7 pm at Kennedy Ctr. Millennium Stage. Although this will be video-streamed and archived.

and

Tito Rojas (salsa de Puerto Rico) y Antonio Cartagena(Peruvian salsa) at 9:00pm at The Palace, 13989 Jefferson Davis HwyWoodbridge, VA

Saw Tito Rojas once before.

Saw Tito Rojas once before.

Once is enough.

Why did La Excelencia change their name? (Because they aren't really? Sorry. Not that they're bad, but not very gripping, at least in recorded form. I have yet to see them live, and the way things are going may never get to see them live.)

As for me, I've decided that since I can't even make it oout dancing even once a month, there's no point in taking any more of the supposedly upper level classes I've been taking. I was no longer having fun with the most advanced one, and what's it all for when I never get to practice it in a real world setting? Not to mention that that class didn't exactly fit my vision of where I would want to take my dancing if I were dancing regularly. So I'm going to try to make it to a class that I'm hoping will be more fun-oriented. Since the only time I ever get to dance these days is in classes, I don't want to be overloaded with trying to learn lots of things at one time. The problem is making it to a class on my day off. Might not happen since I can barely get done the chores I need to do, as it is. The advantage of this other class was that it was very near work. (Wasn't feasible long term any more though since I've been getting other people to work for me on Monday nights when I normally am assigned to work--well, I do a swing shift regularly.) I had hoped I could do an end run around the health issues by getting so confident in my dancing again (by taking classes) and getting to know people in the local dance scene (by taking classes) I would end up going out on those nights when I could go either way and just needed some extra incentive to go out. The problem is there are very few of those nights when I am on the fence. Generally there is just flat out no way I will go out.

I'm thinking of trying to find convenient solo dance classes of some sort, or even take some beginner classes in other partner dances (which should be pretty unchallenging and fun for me, while still giving me some added skills).

Sorry about your health issues.

When I saw Tito Rojas he looked like he had been drinking a little too much.

Had a dream someone I work with (an avowed non-dancer) was teaching a "boogaloo" dance class, but I was on the fence about whether to go or not. She was teaching some sort of move where you lifted up one leg and clapped your hands together underneath it. Chorus line-y. That was one of three salsa related dreams I had last night! I have stirred up my unconscious apparently by these rumblings about semi- dropping out. The other dance class dream involved my real-life recent teachers, one of whom told me I could pick out the first song for class, so then I took all this time looking at the few CDs that were there, and I wasn't really that satisfied with the collection. One of the students had a CD that had a song that looked interested, followed by X. And I was like, oh, I like that band. And he said something like, I'm sure it's not the same band. And I said, X the punk band from Los Angeles? And he said it was. And then a snippet of vintage X played (I forget which song--or maybe it was just pretend, but I think it was one of their actual songs). And I woke up a bit later.

Thanks. I don't mean to fish for sympathy. Just needing to talk about the situation.

I understand. Although I must confess that I have always struggled so much in beginner dance classes that I have never had the discipline required for me to practice practice practice till I improved. Although I remain envious of those who dance well. I understand your passion for it, and the struggle involved when it is not working out how you want; or the difficulty involved when you have to change your mind re what you want.

So in a non-dream, the dj who was programming music front and center onstage for 40 some minutes before Julieta Venegas came onstage last night, played Latin club dance music. Some reggaeton and bachata flavors but mostly mainstream edm. Very little that I enjoyed.

Not sure that most of the Venegas crowd liked it too much either, but who knows.

Ned Sublette's did a big tribute talk about Los Van Van at the Womex conference, that's going on in Wales now. Los Van Van were performing as well. Not sure of their current membership. Ned emailed his talk and rock & rap confidential forwarded it around as well:

Here's one paragraph

You can’t imagine Cuban music without Los Van Van, any more than you can imagine the world’s music without Cuba. Havana was the first great music capital of the hemisphere. Already in the 16th century, musical ideas traveled from Havana back to Spain and up through Europe. Cuban influence has been heard worldwide ever since then, and Cuba’s a world power in music today. But following the change of government in 1959, after Cuba declared independence from the United States, a whole world came crashing down. Many musicians left, but more stayed. Technical resources vanished. Spare parts couldn’t be gotten. Impresarios fled. The country was embargoed, and, unfortunately, still is, by the United States. Cuban music had to be rebuilt, phoenix-like, out of the ashes. That process took years, out of earshot of most of the world, and it took until the 90s for Cuban music to reclaim its place on the world’s music stage after disappearing for decades into the memory hole.

and more:

Formell changed the rhythmic matrix of Cuban dance music. There’s a steady pulse, which people raised on rock and roll can identify with – cha, cha, cha, cha, easy for anyone to dance to. But then there are all these internal polyrhythms. Formell brought in the rhythms of the great classical music of West Africa, the batá rhythms of the Yoruba religion, into the basic dance texture. He reconceptualized the rhythm section. He popularized the use of the electric bass instead of the upright in Cuba. Los Van Van were brought electronics into Cuban music in a different way than any other band I’ve seen. They used a drumset, something you only previously saw in Cuban jazzbands and rock bands, but they used it differently. Los Van Van has had in forty-four years, only three drummers – Blas Egues, the mighty Changuito, and for the last twenty years or so, the drummer’s been Formell’s son, Samuel Formell, who’s presided over an era in which the present-day members of the group all grew up listening to Los Van Van.

Driving home from work I heard critic Banning Eyre on NPR hailing New Yorker from Cuba Pedrito Martinez and his group. I still haven't heard that latest effort that's getting all the ink and pixels.

meanwhile Rudiph's fave Grupo Niche gets no crossover attention.

Was listening to the Grupo Niche latest on Spotify this morning. Just good solid salsa-- which means its less likely to get crossover media attention.

Old-school salsa coming to the DC area:

Fri. Nov. 15th-La Sonora Poncena at the Palace (Puerto Rican salsa band, founded in 1954 by Enrique "Quique" Lucca Caraballo. Quique's son, Papo Lucca, directs the band.)

Fri. Nov. 22
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico at the Palace, 13989 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Woodbridge, VA (legendary salsa band)

Meanwhile the onetime future of tropical music (ha ) is in the area tonight
Tito El Bambino at the Palace, 13989 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Woodbridge, VA

Saving my pennies, and will likely miss all those shows

Talk about old-school:

Pregones Theater & The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater presents
The Harlem Hellfighters On A Latin Beat!
A special concert featuring Danny Rivera
& the members of Pregones' Ensemble

Danny Rivera stars in the acclaimed jazz-rag-danza concert commemorating the formidable legacy of James Reese Europe, visionary bandleader of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment, and the extraordinary Puerto Rican musicians that helped him make history, including the great Rafael Hernández. Based in part on The Memoirs of Lieutenant 'Jim' Europe by Noble Lee Sissle, archived at the Library of Congress. Directed by Rosalba Rolón with musical director Desmar Guevara.

Saturday NOV 16 @ 8PM / Sunday NOV 17 @ 3PM
at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater • 304 W 47th Street, New York NY 10036
Located between 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan
$40 Advance / $60 Door / 718-585-1202

He's never wowed me, but...

Miguel Zenón free talk
Monday, November 18th, 2013, 6:00 p.m.
Location: NYU Silver Center, Room 220, 24 Waverly Place, New York, NY

In 2011 he founded Caravana Cultural, a program whose main purpose is to present free Jazz concerts in rural areas of Puerto Rico. The program makes a "cultural investment" in the Island by giving these communities a chance to listen to jazz of the highest caliber, while at the same time getting young Puerto Rican musicians actively involved in the concert activities. Over the last seven years Zenón has also personally organized "Jazz Jam Sessions" in the area of San Juan, as a way of creating a platform for younger jazz musicians to grow and interact with one another

http://clacs.as.nyu.edu/object/clacs.events.colloquium

One more for you Nueva Yorkers:

Fri. Nov. 15th- La Salsa Vive! at Madison Square Garden with El Gran Combo, Ruben Blades, Oscar Deleon, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz, Tito Rojas, and from the DR: David Kada, Alex Matos, Clasicon

The salsa just keeps coming

NYE Latin Gala 2013 with Grupo Niche Monday, December 31, 2012 - 9:00pm
Cococabana
2031A university blvd.
hyattsville, MD 20783

All of these live events, whether in NYC or DC, are kinda pricey, but if one can swing it, I'd say (based on seeing some of these groups live in the past) they'd be fun. Due to me saving bucks and a busy schedule, I'm missing out on the DC area ones (and of course they are getting no crossover media attention)

I'd love to see what the current configuration of Grupo Niche sounds like live.

I listened to some of the new Orquesta Salsa con Conciencia (the new name for La Excelenica, as if they sat around and came up with a way to make their name less easily remembered). Some of it came pretty close, but still didn't quite hit the spot.

Oops, I posted above last year's Grupo Niche gig, but they are coming back shortly just not on New Year's Eve this time

Grupo Niche en Virginia Friday, December 6, 2013 - 9:00pm
The Palace
13989 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Woodbridge, VA

I'd love to travel back in time and see last year's Grupo Niche lineup.

Ha. I might be able to see this year's version

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-katherine-hagedorn-20131119,0,2199617.story

On Ned Sublette's e-mail list just read about this Professor into Santeria and Cuban music who sadly passed away from cancer at age 52

Univision will broadcast the 2013 Latin Grammys live on Thursday night (8-11 p.m. ET/PT).

Latin Grammys Tonight! Woo hoo. Probably nothing too much of interest performance-wise but who knows.

Missed the first hour and a half, just saw Marc Anthony sing well; plus a large female ranchera/banda singer. My Latin-pop fave Julieta Venegas presented an award.

Sergio George Presents Latin Giants wins salsa album Grammy and Sergio just brought a bunch of names up there with him to get the award and they sang together for about 15 seconds--Oscar Deleon;Ismael Miranda; Marc Anthony; El Canario Jose Alberto

Now Pitbull's on with another rapper and a bunch of scantily clad gals doing gymnastics and rolling around

I'm at work (but don't have TV access at home anyway). Funny though, I was in the mood for 90s salsa romantica this morning. Listened to Gilberto Santa Rosa and Marc Anthony on the way to work.

Draco Rosa (one-time Menudo member) just won album of the year for his album Vida. He is recovering from cancer I see via google.

Ha ha , Charo's on now and she looks the same as I remember her

Now Yandel is performing solo with dancers. Did he dump Wisin? Or is this a one-off

Euro-techno club beats reggaeton but with sampled Mexican accordion. I like the latter but not the cliched beats

Oh, Wisin performed solo at the beginning of the show (I see on twitter)

Marc Anthony just won some big award

Salsa Latin Giants performing now! With dancers !

I wish I knew who they all were. El Canario and Deleon I recognize

google says these folks were on the album

Oscar D'León, Cheo Feliciano, Luis Enrique, Andy Montañez, Willy Chirino, José Alberto "El Canario", Tito Nieves, Nora from the "Orquesta de la Luz" and Charlie Zaa.

Oh that's Tito Nieves (I looked at google images)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/rainstorm-washes-out-latin-grammys-green-carpet/2013/11/21/897f6724-5310-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html

The Pedrito Martinez Group album is up on Spotify. I think it's probably too Cuban for me, though it doesn't particularly sound like timba. Though there is the same heavy--heavier than in most salsa--Afro-Cuban rumba foundation going on.

Sounds very well done, but probably not my thing.

Have only heard a track or 2 from earlier efforts from him, and they were Cuban traditional or jazzier than I like. But yes, well-done.

Rudiph, Ned Sublette was raving about a guy who lives in Philly who he says was arguably the first to use the word salsa in a title

Sublette saw at the uptown NYC Crystal Ballroom of Taíno Towers Salsa Wednesday gig, Steve Colón and Siglo 20 -- a charanga with violin / flute / trombone that featured Pupi Legarreta, who lives in Philly

Bobby Sanabria this weekend at Dizzy's but not sure if I can make it.

That Pupi Legarreta stuff is a little too hardcore for more, frankly. Charanga is kind of rough going, for me.

Henry Fiol's son, Orlando (who I think still lives in Philadelphia or close) has worked with Legarreta, as well.

Excellent write up on Orlando Fiol here:

http://www.thedp.com/article/2012/09/playing-his-way-through-blindness

Great live Fuego en el 23 by La Sonora Poncena, with more audience dancing on display than usually see in these clips. (Mostly very low-key dancing however.) I would guess this is early 90s or late 80s. Papo Lucca's tightly wound keyboard playing locks right into my psyche at this point. Typical hot and technically polished trumpet work as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz1Pe2ZP_ik

Wish I had seen them a little while back.

Was discussing with a co-worker from NY of Puerto Rican descent how old-school salsa dancers for the most part feel less a need to do as many flashy turns and spins and such than younger dance lesson taught salsa dancers.

The Fania All Stars' 1974 show in Kinshasa is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaG_8tFlwlk

Thanks, will watch that later. I'm sure its awesome

I haven't even listened to the latest Carlos Vives album, but nothing he does that doesn't sound like Fruta Fresca really sticks with me.

(Doubt I've ever heard any of his other songs in a club either, except maybe at Tierra Colombiana in North Philly, but the name explains the exception.)

Formula for too many current recordings:

[ ] All Stars - A Tribute to When Salsa Was Good

x-post - I think Vives won a bunch of Latin Grammys and they were calling it his comeback

That's why I brought him up out of the blue.

Formula for too many current recordings: [ ] All Stars - A Tribute to When Salsa Was Good

These get filed right next to all the Young Nobody Plays The Music Of Dead Legend albums from the jazz section.

Thinking this is not one of those formulaic efforts, however I know nothing about now-deceased Mexican songwriter/singer Augustin Lara, who is the subject of Natalia Lafourcade's tribute album. It won a Latin Grammy for best alt-rock album. She's doing a short USA tour starting next week in Texas and moving on to Chicago, DC and NYC. She's not Afro-Latin, and some think her voice is thin and too art-pop stiff, but I think she comes up with nice vocal pop melodies and her light, high voice works with her material.

I'm a big fan of hers. I thought the Lara album (which is all duets with male vocalists) was OK, though she's gone a little too Bjorky in the last few years. I liked her best when she started an actual rock band, Natalia y la Forquetina, on her second album. She's very talented, though; she did all the arrangements for Julieta Venegas's unplugged disc, and recorded an EP of instrumentals the other year that's quite cool. I might try and see her when she plays NYC.

Just looked it up; the NYC date is Thursday 12/12, and my end-of-year vacation starts that weekend. I might be able to convince myself to attend that show.

Augustin Lara been gone for forty years. He is quite well-known in Mexico and other Latin American countries, so much so that people even sometimes attribute songs to him that he didn't write. Here he is singing one of his best songs, "Veracruz." You can ignore the cheesy video or use it to read the lyrics and sing along karaoke-style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-c_p6J9u_g

Hm. Only one 'u' in his first name, "Agustín."

Never knew he was once married to Maria Felix.

Not familiar with actress Felix's films and just learning about her hubby, composer Lara now. Lafourcade occasionally retains Lara's bolero and tango arrangements but other times goes twee indiepop/'60s Brit girl pop on this new one,such as on her duet with Cafe Tacuba's Meme, "Limosna."

In this a bit too cute video she's going for a silent film look with Meme as Charlie Chaplin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0XO2xlWw8

Bounciness? That's a measure of how rhythmic and "sonically spiky" the music is: tech house, reggae and salsa have bounce to spare, while choral music and atmospheric black metal are... less so. And interestingly, we're not in the bounciest age of music.

"In the ’70s, popular music grew bouncier once again — but that was its last peak. Music has been getting less bouncy (i.e. smoother) ever since," explains the blog post.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/25/pop-music-louder-less-acoustic

I know the terms like "bounciness" are being given specialized meanings in this analysis, but it somehow bothers me to hear salsa described as bouncy, since I prefer a non-bouncy style of dancing to it (unless it's got some ridiculous amount of cumbia in it).

I see what you mean I think. They seem to be defining "bounciness" very broadly

Now that I think about it, a lot of beginners, maybe most beginners, in salsa classes, tend to dance it in a bouncy manner. So the whole smooth/non-bouncy style of dancing to it may be a stylistic overlay that doesn't reflect the music. I'd have to think about that. I think there's a "street cool" aspect to hold yourself steady, moving from your center of gravity without bouncing up and down.

I suspect it's something that is generally learned but not felt directly in the music.

Experiment: Listened to some in the car on the way to work this morning and it didn't feel bouncy to me.

One reason beginners are bouncy is that they make jerky movements in an attempt to capture that elusive beat that keeps escaping from their step.

tech house, reggae and salsa have bounce to spare,

This seems too simplistic to me---while these 3 genres might have certain aspects that are more in common, oh than they would have with other genres, they are also very different. If I was a musician I think I could better explain the use of rhythm and why also some folks use the term "bouncy" to refer to certain melodies

We need that sometime ilxor stat guy quoted in the piece to explain where their "bounce" definition came from. Bounce is also used to describe a current DC go-go offshoot, and to describe New Orleans club music as well.

Washington Post critic just put the Roberto Fonseca album in his top 10 for the year. He's the youngish Cuban pianist who toured on his own and sat in with Buena Vista. I listened to a few songs on Spotify and was not wowed, but never did listen to the whole album.

NY Times jazz critic and Peter Margasak-- jazz and international and more critic at Chicago Reader like him

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/music/roberto-fonseca-at-the-highline-ballroom.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/music/roberto-fonseca-at-the-highline-ballroom.html

Oops on the links

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/09/27/the-syncretic-sounds-of-cuban-pianist-roberto-fonseca

also, since both critics used the same word

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/syncretist

Finally listened to the whole Fonseca album. Eh. He jumps around from piano jazz to fusion and prog and there's a song with great Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, and a song with Arabic chanting...but not much clave

songo?

Timba?

This could be good, but probably won't be:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25291.10?DNe9t2MQ;;411

Much of their earlier work was great, but "Marking 34 years since their last release on the Combo Records label" says it all. I will listen if I can stream it somewhere, however.

x-post re Fonseca- not much songo or timba...just Latin-jazz and straight=ahead jazz and than various other things thrown in-- classical, Malian, middle Eastern

Oh fuck yeah to the coro on these Puerto Rico All Stars clips. Maybe they should move the coro to the front because I'm sorry, these old veterans managing the lead vocals are so far beyond their prime. . . Band sounds tight though.

Why do they never do a project that sounds like this, with this kind of a band, but with the best relatively younger singers upfront?

Still. Two versions of Usted Abuso? I love that song, but the Celia Cruz/Willie Colon recording is so perfect, why touch it?

Might actually get this one.

Hearing good male vocalists like Luisito Carrion and Pedro Brull singing Usted Abuso is actually interesting and novel.

Listen to the band here. This is what salsa coming out of NYC does not sound like ever any more.

It's happened before that good salsa albums get released near the end of the year.

And after my crack about the <<Blank>> All Stars. But this is a genuine all star group and they've already proven themselves in the past.

Still confused though. This might be a mixture of old and new recordings. This "Bomba del Corazon" sounds the same as the one I have.

These clips don't sound bad to me either, but something feels weird about jumping back into reggaeton business as usual when it's been so under the radar (under my radar anyway).

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25301.10?29d6U5Cs;;436

And some of this Juan Pablo Diaz sounds good. It's up on Spotify too. A little bit lighter than I'd prefer, but it's still tight and swinging. "A Pie" especially jumps out on first skim. There's a throwback to a Ruben Blades sort of sound with the strings, but it doesn't end up sounding pathetically derivative. Though I do hear some Blades in his delivery as well.

He's actually got more of a rapid fire thing going, at least some of the time, than Blades typically had/has from what I remember.

I will definitely for "A Pie."

Er, rep for.

Will check that out later, thanks.

In mostly non-salsa news and non Latin Grammy news, here's the regular grammys nominees for some awards:

Best Tropical Latin Album
3.0 - Marc Anthony

Como Te Voy A Olvidar - Los Angeles Azules

Pacific Mambo Orchestra - Pacific Mambo Orchestra

Sergio George Presents Salsa Giants - Various Artists

Corazón Profundo - Carlos Vives

Best Latin Jazz Album
La Noche Más Larga - Buika

Song For Maura - Paquito D'Rivera And Trio Corrente

Yo - Roberto Fonseca

Egg¿n - Omar Sosa

Latin Jazz-Jazz Latin - Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet

Best Latin Pop Album
Faith, Hope Y Amor - Frankie J

Viajero Frecuente - Ricardo Montaner

Vida - Draco Rosa

Syntek - Aleks Syntek

12 Historias - Tommy Torres

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album
El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco - Café Tacvba

Ojo Por Ojo - El Tri

Chances - Illya Kuryaki And The Valderramas

Treinta Días - La Santa Cecilia

Repeat After Me - Los Amigos Invisibles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfxeO6O4WxI

something feels weird about jumping back into reggaeton business as usual when it's been so under the radar (under my radar anyway).

With Latin-pop radio so seemingly bachata-driven these days, reggaeton sounds like a throwback there and the folks who do it without utilizing Euro club beats just seem like outcasts. But others who know more might differ.

Still need to listen to Puerto Rico Allstars and to some other stuff mentioned upthread

Wonder if I should know Willie Gonzalez & Edgar Joel, salseros I think coming to the DC area for a gig?

from Washington Post critic's top pop singles list:

14. Marc Anthony, “Vivir Mi Vida”

A stadium chant-along about individuality courtesy of the deepest lungs on Earth.

I think I might have seen Edgar Joel once but don't remember. From what I've heard in recorded form I'd say he's okay, but wouldn't call this show a must-see.

The Anthony single is certainly massive, but I am not into it.

Big mass appeal amongst Latino audiences, but from what I gather online the hardcore salsero response is a bit lukewarm.

Not that those two categories don't intersect! But only very partially.

I've heard it on Latin pop radio amongst the bachata and club-beat stuff

I saw Natalie Lafourcade and band last night. A bit uneven but I liked the set. Not exactly Afro-Latin unless you consider boleros and indie-popped boleros with looped guitar plus trumpet Afro-latin.

I was at one of the New Mexican places where I usually by lunch and I again noticed that they were again playing music in the kitchen that sounded kind of like merengue or plena. I asked about it and I think one of the women working in the kitchen said simply "parranda." She also just said it was Mexican, at some point. (She doesn't really have a lot of English and normally works in the kitchen, but happened to come up to take my order. A younger guy who is normally at the counter and who sounds like a native English speaker, but I think is bilingual as well, couldn't help me with specifics.)

Anyway, it leads me to believe that maybe Mexico has a tradition of Christmas music for frame drums, like Puerto Rico (and probably Colombia, guessing from some Colombian song lyrics). But it seems kind of obscure. Maybe it's not even just Christmas music.

Here we go, except I'm pretty sure I would have recognized cumbia if that's what it had been. But the instrumentation was similar.

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

I had heard the term in association with Puerto Rican X-mas traditions but wiki I see also says (without mentioning Mexico for some reason):

Parranda, Parranda de aguinaldo or Parang is an Afro-Venezuelan/Trinidadian musical form from the coastal area of the states Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela. It is also popular in Trinidad as well.

In Puerto Rico, parrandas (or asaltos) are musical festivities in the Christmas season holidays.

and saw this in google:

Jenni Rivera La ultima parranda

Some people on salsaforums are talking about this band and it is indeed quite good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTz7Sga8O8#t=125

Good female vocalists are obviously rare in salsa these days.

Is that Latin Beat Magazine (and website) defunct? My quick google search only finds December 2012/January 2013 content.

i finally saw my former students' afro-colombian ensemble the other night at our holiday party and it was AWESOME. lots of energy in the music, serious but relaxed players, killer beats, and super cool singing, like two female voices kind of hollering in unison. folk singing rather than pop singing.

anyway, this is them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zp_L1CFxnE

They sound good, at least as far as I can judge from that audio. I once caught part of a free performance by this local group that sometimes covers Afro-Colombian material:

http://www.malamanamusic.com/

here's a longer sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPytMjwLBg8

You've mentioned bits and pieces I think, but I've kind of lost the thread. Do you teach music? Are these former music students, or are they former student you taught in other capacities, while helping to inspire their interest in Afro-Colombian music?

They do sound good, and like they've rehearsed and played together a lot.

They are Colombian, were in my speech class several years ago, my teaching has had little/no effect on their music, but I hope it has had an effect on their speaking skills. They were top notch students! The bass drum (?) player and older lady singer are married. Not sure who everyone else is tbh.

Thanks, La Lechera. I may have gotten this crossed with your talking about playing that Chicago salsa comp. for some of your students (I hope I am not getting that wrong as well).

I checked out the Conjunto Sabrosura album and I'm afraid I am not that excited by it. Once again, I imagine someone marking off a checklist. Their music follows some sort of a roots/salsa dura template but I can't bring myself to like it just because it checks off all the right boxes. It's not moving me. I dunno, maybe it's just drawing too heavily on areas of salsa that don't mean that much to me.

The jazz critics poll (now associated with NPR and with the Village Voice & elsewhere in the past) also does a top Latin jazz category:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/16/251761858/the-2013-npr-music-jazz-critics-poll

Latin
1. Michele Rosewoman, 30 Years: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America (Advance Dance Disques) 19
2. Chucho Valdés, Border-Free (Jazz Village) 13
3. Miguel Zenón Oye!!! Live in Puerto Rico (Miel Music) 8
4 (tie). Alexis Cuadrado, A Lorca Soundscape (Sunnyside) 7
4 (tie). The Pedrito Martinez Group, The Pedrito MartinezGroup (Motéma) 7

Haven't actually gone through this yet, but Raquel Z. Rivera has a series of interesting looking posts on the connection between bachata and bolero, as well as Puerto Rican jibaro music:

http://cascabeldecobre.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-las-decimas-del-amargue-reason-1.html
http://cascabeldecobre.blogspot.com/2013/11/why-las-decimas-del-amargue-reason-2.html

I'm still not wowed by that Pedrito Martinez album

I like this. Seems to be new (2013 anyway):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbOu2t1T4w

LOL at looking for English language coverage of what's happening in contemporary Dominican music.

http://latinmusic.about.com/od/playlists_merengue_bachata/tp/Top-Bachata-Songs-Of-2013.htm?nl=1

Ha, there's this. At least a different writer than the one they used to have.

http://latinmusic.about.com/od/playlists/tp/Best-Latin-Songs-of-2013.htm?nl=1

This was a great year for Latin music.

I want some of what this guy is smoking.

Rolling Afro-Latin Music All Stars - Tribute to Afro-Latin Music Thread 2014 (DVD incl.)