Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2023: Reggaeton, Salsa,Bachata, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

Defining the music broadly here but trying to emphasize Reggaeton, Salsa,Bachata, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Merengue, Urbano (more than pop-rock but occasional mentions of that are ok too)

Last year's thread

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2022: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

¡Felisa, me muero!

Vive

Sorry, that’s the punchline of an old joke I learned from an Argentine friend.

So saw the Colombian band Meridian Brothers show up on some best of 2022 album lists . They are touring the US this month. Old school Latin dance music with touches of rock and psych that has made them the band of choice for some rock fans who aren’t listening to more traditional acts. In DC, Meridian Brothers are playing a small club known for young indie rock , rap, and tik tok acclaimed pop. DC punk bands are opening

from press pr bio :

Meridian’s new album is a tribute to New York’s 70’s era Salsa Dura. For the project, they have created an avatar, a fictitious group named El Grupo Renacimiento, and written a new repertoire trying to emulate the writing style of those late 60’s and early 70’s groups while retaining the Meridian Brothers idiosyncratic style of arranging and recording. The sound of instruments has been modified to fit the Meridian electronic templates,

not to be an old, but they rly don't make dembow like this anymore 😭 2013 was a moment pic.twitter.com/nD8DcrzOsX

— Isabelia Herrera (@jabladoraaa) January 5, 2023

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/angel-dior-gale-yendry-latin-acts-2023-1234655204/

Rolling Stone article on acts to watch for in 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTSKHQzqyk4

Les Cotites are a female Afro-Peruvian singing and percussion duo

The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance & The Town Hall Present

Dizzy, Chano and Chico — The Original Influencers: 75 Years Later at Town Hall
Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 8pm

With Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Featuring Pedrito Martinez, Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jon Faddis and Daymé Arocena

With Adam O’Farrill, Zack O’Farrill, Jacquelene Acevedo and Melvis Santa

All-Star Event Celebrates Joint Centennials for Town Hall and Jazz Legend Chico O'Farrill

Pr email I received about this January 14 NYC gig

Tom Hull Jazz critics poll has a separate breakout LAtin category. Here’s some of what they liked in 2022

2022 Totals: Latin

Miguel Zenón, Música De Las Américas (Miel Music) 41
David Virelles, Nuna (Pi) 8
Danilo Pérez, Crisálida (Mack Avenue) 4
Dafnis Prieto Featuring Luciana Souza, Cantar (Dafnison) 4
Roxana Amed, Unánime (Sony Music Latin) 3
Martin Bejerano, #Cubanamerican (Figgland) 3
Conrad Herwig, The Latin Side of Mingus (Savant) 3
Flora Purim, If You Will (Strut) 3
Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Imágenes Latinas (Ovation) 3
Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini, Auburn Whisper (GroundUP) 2

Cool. I like Conrad but I went to show of that album and I didn’t really care.

There was some beef within the band that eventually got resolved, I think, but there was still a little evident tension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oie--p6YqJo

fuerza regida & grupo frontera "bebe dame"

nice melody on that cumbia meets corrido or something and now I see after listening to it that its moving up the Billboard "hot Latin" chart

Fuerza Regida and Grupo Fronter kick off the year with the greatest gainer on the Hot Latin Songs chart, jumping 19-5 this week. The viral track, released Dec. 16, also debuted No. 91 in the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Regida’s first-ever entry on the all-genre chart and Frontera’s third title on the tally.

Produced by Fuerza Regida’s frontman Jesus Ortiz Paz and co-written by Paz alongside Latin Grammy-winning produced Edgar Barrera, “Bebe Dame” is a romantic cumbia-grupera song about an unforgettably special person.

x-post- I still haven't dug into most of the Latin" albums that the jazz critics like, but I am guessing most are following very closely what is the formula for Latin Jazz as it has been played for last several decades. I once saw a tweet from Migue Zenon that made clear he has listened to reggaeton, but I don't hear that in his music. But some are obviously happy with his approach and the last thing they want from him is to be influenced by programmed rhythms (although Bad Bunny among others incorporated various genres like salsa, bomba, and more in certain songs in 2022)

I think there's room for jazz artists to embrace reggaeton. It would probably require something like the R&B cyberfunk approach Miles Davis took in the late 80s. I mean, the reggaeton bat isn't that far off a go-go beat.

Will be on the lookout for jazz artists who incorporate reggaeton.

I also don’t hear jazz acts incorporating the music the construction workers next door to me are blasting— duranguese, ranchera, Banda, and bachata

Catching up on Eladio Carrion

Last year I was worrying that Eddie Palmieri had cancelled some NYC shows due to health issues. I just saw on Facebook recently someone's photos of him performing up in the Boston area , so that is good to see.

x-post - From Wiki on Carrion- On December 2, 2021, he released his third studio album Sauce Boyz II, a sequel to Sauce Boyz, this featured collaborations with international artists such as Arcángel, Bizarrap, Duki, Jay Wheeler, Jon Z, Karol G, Luar La L, Rels B, Sech, Myke Towers, Nicky Jam, Noriel, and Ovi.

And Carrion put out a mixtape in 2022

Good to know.

https://www.billboard.com/lists/latin-spanish-artists-to-watch-2023/

Rolling Stone re Bad Bunny opening performance on the Grammys:

The Puerto Rican superstar started offstage, moving through the audience while singing a few lines of “El Apagón,” or “The Blackout,” the anthemic track that celebrates the strength of his homeland amid constant power outages that have affected the archipelago for years. He seamlessly mingled with the crowd, dapping up LL Cool J on his way to the main stage. Then, he dove into “Despues De La Playa,” the mambo/merenegue-fused standout from Un Verano Sin Ti, that gave him an opportunity to offer a full-on tribute to the Caribbean.

He performed alongside eight plena dancers, who showed off the traditional Puerto Rican folk art, and seven plena musicians. Meanwhile, several cabezudos, characters with giant heads common at festivals and processionals in Puerto Rico, represented some of the island’s most beloved icons: baseball legend Roberto Clemente, reggaeton pioneer Tego Calderón, poet Julia de Burgos, songwriter Andy Montañez, and revered composer Ismael Rivera, among others.

Meanwhile, the Dominican band of Dahian el Apechao, who composed sections of “Despues De La Playa” performed live while about 40 dancers pulled off stunning merengue moves. The performance got Taylor Swift grooving and got Jack Harlow on his feet

While a bit disjointed, it was fun .

Mentioning it here rather than the Bad Bunny thread due to his nods to various genres and Afro-Caribbean culture

Grammys best Latin jazz - Arturo O'Farrill & Afro Latin jazz Orchestra -"Fandago at the wall in New York";
Best Latin pop album- Ruben Blades and Boca Livre- "Pasieros"
Best musica Urbana album- Bad Bunny - "Un Verano Sin Ti"
Best Latin Rock or Alternative album- Rosalia "Motomami"
Best tropical Latin - Marc Anthony - "Pa"lla Voy"
Best Regional Mexican - Natalia Lafourcade- "Un Canto por Mexico"

Jazz writer Gene Seymour 2022 Latin Jazz faves

Ryan Keberle’s Collectiv do Brasil, Sonhos da Esquina
HONORABLE MENTION: Miguel Zenón, Música De Las Americas (Miel

Mexican reggaeton status

https://remezcla.com/features/music/meet-charly-gynn-tempvs-music-the-future-of-mexican-reggaeton/

Celia Cruz will be on the quarter in 2024.

Wow! ¡Azúcar!

Wait how? She passed away 20 years ago.

Lol sorry my bad I thought the US Quarter was a venue.

Ha. Pretty cool she will be so honored in 2024

Lol sorry my bad I thought the US Quarter was a venue.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/arts/music/karol-g-manana-sera-bonito.html

Interview with Karol G re her new album

Still haven’t listened to new Karol G yet but intend to do so

Ha, Karol G album isn’t streaming yet. NY Times interview up early

Meandering, awkward long article about Cuba to Florida musician Willy Chirino who is subject of an exhibit in History Miami Museum.

Should I read the whole thing? I skimmed part of it

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/02/01/willy-chirino-miami-museum-florida/

Ned S likes to keep these Thursday zoom events on the down low

Pablo Herrera + Alexis El D'Boys: Afro-Cuban Rare Groove Sessions #1.
We listen to and talk about selected cuts of digitized vinyl referencing Afro-Cuban and African American popular music connections by Los Zafiros, Orq. de Música Moderna de Las Villas, Wilson & His Combo and more, drawing on Alexis's vast collection of Cuban 33s and especially 45s.

Gonna have to miss this one sadly

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latin-grammys-spain-first-time-not-in-us-rcna71762

Latin Grammys to be held in Spain! First time . Hmmm

For New Yorkers next week

friends & colleagues in NYC! a reminder that I'll be coming to town next Monday to talk dembow / habanera at NYU alongside @ReggaetonXGata (!!). our 6-8pm panel is open to the public with RSVP. hope to see some of you there!https://t.co/Gon9ivVbhW pic.twitter.com/1Mq9Mzh4px

— wayne&wax (@wayneandwax) February 22, 2023

https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/2023-premio-lo-nuestro-winners-1235259132/

lots of award winners

I missed Afro-Cuban Allstars latest dc area gig this past Friday but saw some nice video clips on Facebook. Have enjoyed them in the past

This is an old song but my wife just showed it to me because she heard it in Matar a Jesús, a movie by the Colombian director Laura Mora Ortega that she really liked. It's by a salsa group from Medellín called Sonora 8.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_bf5tfkttc

Nice classic salsa there and a fun street scape video

New York French Canadian Bernard Labadie conducts Orchestra of St Luke’s “Viajes y Raices” (Journeys and Roots) string quartets by composers with Cuban and Andean roots, including Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León, inti figgis-vizueta, and Keyla Orozco; at Hostos Center in Mott Haven, The Bronx on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 7pm. Free with registration

I am 5 hours or so south of NYC by car but can’t make This Thursday free event in the Bronx

Weird how some categories have 5 nominees, others 6, and others 3

Only 3 nominations for musica Urbana Grammys seems crazy to me

Omara Portuondo album Vida is now out

The Latin Grammys are tonight Thursday. In Spain for the first time. Airing @ 8 ET in US on Univision, Unimas, and Galavision. On RTVE in Espana

Barrera, 32, is likely to gather even more trophies on Thursday night, when the 24th annual Latin Grammys are broadcast from Seville, Spain. He is the most-nominated musician this year, with 13 citations including producer and songwriter of the year. In some categories, Barrera is competing against himself. Two songs he co-wrote are nominated for song of the year, while three each are nominated as best tropical song and best regional Mexican song...

...Barrera is also the main songwriter for Grupo Frontera, an accordion-topped, cumbia-based regional Mexican band from his hometown, McAllen, Texas. He heard them playing for a handful of people at the opening of his brother-in-law’s tire shop in 2022. Barrera co-wrote and co-produced Grupo Frontera’s collaboration with Bad Bunny, “Un x100to,” a Top 5 pop single in the United States Barrera grew up in southern Texas, near the Mexican border, and he soaked up both American and Latin American music; his father was in a cumbia band and had a large record collection. Barrera named his own label and publishing company BorderKid because, he told Billboard, “I’m always in the middle.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/arts/music/edgar-barrera-latin-grammys.html

Looks like Latin Grammys are happening now in Spain and of course are on tape delay tonight in US. Edgar Barrera won composer of the year

https://x.com/LatinGRAMMYs/status/1725222077689373021?s=20

x-post - Jon Pareles in NY Times on the American Grammys snubs of Latin music acts

Emerging Latin stars get left behind.
After a year in which Latin music continued to explode on streaming services and forge all sorts of cross-cultural hybrids, this year’s Grammy nominations are, well, puzzling. Edgar Barrera, the Mexican American songwriter who has collaborated on hit after hit for singers across the Americas, is rightfully a nominee for songwriter of the year. But there’s no best new artist nomination for Peso Pluma, the cutting-voiced Mexican songwriter whose career skyrocketed in 2022 and 2023 — he’s touring arenas this year — and who bridges regional Mexican corridos and Latin trap. Peso Pluma’s 2023 album, “Génesis,” is just tucked among the nominees for música mexicana. Other emerging Mexican-rooted acts that had a blockbuster year — among them Eslabon Armado, Grupo Frontera, Grupo Firme, Christian Nodal and Natanael Cano — go unmentioned.

Then there’s the oddity of the música urbana category. Its three — only three — nominees are deserving: the reggaeton producer Tainy, the electronics-loving pop experimenter Rauw Alejandro and the Colombian songwriter Karol G, whose 2023 album, “Mañana Será Bonito,” was the first Spanish-language album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. But música urbana — encompassing reggaeton, Latin hip-hop, dembow, Latin trap and more — is a crowded, competitive, hugely popular format. The Grammys couldn’t find five nominees? All they had to do was turn on the radio. JON PARELES

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/arts/music/grammy-awards-snubs-surprises.html

Billboard on Latin Grammys snubs and surprises

https://www.billboard.com/lists/2023-latin-grammy-awards-snubs-surprises/

Rolling Stone on snubs from nominations time in September :

WHEN THE LATIN Grammys announced its nominees last week, the corridos tumbados of Rancho Humilde’s top acts were notably missing from its list. Not a single project from the likes of Fuerza Régida, Natanael Cano, or Junior H made the cut.

https://x.com/RollingStone/status/1706734471783784719?s=20

LA Times also took American Grammys to task for snubbing Mexican regional music

Karol G won a couple of Billboard Music Awards and performed too (in water)

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/listings/items/grupo-niche-and-hector-acosta-nov-24/

I previewed Colombian salsa greats Grupo Niche gig at MGM National Harbor tonight, but going to be busy with family, so will miss the show. Oh well

dang i would love to see them -- classic!!

Me too.

Listening now to DJ Jim Byers play mambo and boogaloo and stuff on WPFW . Great stuff . He's on to 8 pm ET and his show is archived on the WPFW website.

I didn’t know they still were a going concern.

Grupo Niche have had many membership changes but they're still at it

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/theater/buena-vista-social-club-musical-cuban.html

Buena Vista Social Club becomes an off -Broadway musical with actors playing the musicians, the songs in Spanish, and the dialogue in English. Short off-Broadway run at Linda Gross Theater in NY through Jan 7

Buena Vista musical sold out when I am up in NYC area December 14 and 15. Not seeing Old school salsa gigs at Hostos in Bronx on those nights. Need to check Tickeri closer to date also. Maybe Barbes has something

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/this-great-new-book-chronicles-the-indie-blog-era-across-latin-america-and-its-diaspora/

Isabelia Herrera talks to author of new Spanish language book re early 2000s Latin indie

If you are a millennial elder (or viejiennal, as I like to say in Spanish), you might remember a time between the mid 2000s and early ’10s when it felt like music blogs ruled the world. Back then, entire scenes and careers blossomed thanks to websites run by overeager nerds who fawned over artists no one else cared about. This is the largely extinct ecosystem that inspired Testigos del fin del mundo, Javier A. Rodríguez-Camacho’s ambitious survey of the last decade of Ibero-American (or U.S. Latine, Latin American, and Spanish) indie music.

Cool. I don’t know anything about any of that stuff at all.

Jon Pareles in NY Times has Karol G album in his best of 2023 list

And Pareles has Peso Pluma and Kali Uchis in his additional top 20

Just got a copy of Eddie Palmieri's Live at the University of Puerto Rico in the mail. It's a double LP recorded in 1971, while the campus was full of demonstrations and battles between students and cops; it's been edited down to a single CD in the US (and on streaming services) but the whole thing is available as a 2CD set in Japan, so that's what I bought.

Cool to get the full thing

That jazz critics poll always has a separate “Latin” category. But it doesn’t get posted till January I think

*NPR Jazz Piano X-Mas w/ Cuban pianists Melvis Santa, Alfredo Rodriguez, & Hilario Duran @ Kennedy Center tonight Saturday December 2 (pricey ticket)

Anyone know these pianists? I don't . Need to research 'em

I still haven’t googled those Cuban pianists

https://los40.us/2023/top-latin-artists-of-2023-13881.html

X-post re Melvis Santa- she’s a Cuban pianist/singer now based in NY I think, who has a band called the Jazz Orishas

Her bio- Melvis graduated from the prestigious Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana Cuba in 2001 in Piano and Music Education. She has toured and performed extensively with multiple projects as a bandleader, as well as part of other bands, including Kenny Garrett, Chucho Valdes and Irakere, Muñequitos de Matanzas, and Buenavista Social Club. Other special collaborations include Charles Tolliver, Andy Bey, Ravi Coltrane, Arturo O’Farrill and ALJA, David Virelles, Roman Diaz, Xiomara Laugart and others.

Karol G, Peso Pluma, and Bobby Sanabria showing up on a few 2023 best of lists

Come back to this thread please ilxors

Or not

Ha, you rang? Meant to post earlier that I didn’t even know Bobby Sanabria had a new record out recent.

Actually I think Arturo O’Farrill “Fandango at the Wall “ has gotten more attention now that I think about it

I gotta study the Rolling Stone top 50 Spanish language albums of 2023 list when I get a chance

Happy 87th birthday Eddie Palmieri! WPFW dj Jim Byers played some great songs from his first solo album Sunday night on Byers radio show

x-post

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/the-50-best-spanish-language-albums-of-2023-1234922548/

From Tainy’s mind-bending opus Data to Diego Raposo’s brash reinventions on YO NO ERA ASÍ PERO DE AHORA EN ADELANTE, SÍ, some of the most interesting sounds this year embraced innovation head-on. Música mexicana continued to reach global heights with artists like Peso Pluma, Junior H, and Carin Leon plotting new paths. And other acts, among them Francisca Valenzuela, Grupo Frontera, and Karol G found magic by embracing a sense of honesty and intimacy.

Grupo Niche - Sinfonica is the one salsa album on the list

Critic Geoff Himes has Pierrick Pedron and Gonzalo Rubacalba album “Pedron Rubacalba” on top of his jazz album best of list. Maybe it has some Latin tinge ( haven’t heard it)

Pedron Rubacalba is a nice jazz effort but I don’t hear any mambo, salsa, son, Norteno, reggaeton, Latin trap, etc

I need to dig more into that Rolling Stone 2023 list .

The one salsa album on it by Grupo Niche is a good one

Listened to Tainy album Data. It’s instrumental programmed music . Doesn’t wow me, it’s ok

Ha. Dumb me....Data is out both as an instrumental version and one with vocals. Near the end of the one with vocals is Bad Bunny rapping over 80s synths on one cut. This is a little more interesting to me.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-music-latin-spanish-artists-2023/

Kiko el Crazy y more

Ned S8blette showed the "Omara" film doc tonight that has just been at movie festivals. It's a doc on Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, who came to fame for many via her role in the Buena Vista Social Club. After the screening on Vimeo, Ned had a Q&A with filmmaker Hugo Perez. A knowledgeable interesting guy. Great doc w/ archival footage, plus recent tour footage of her in NY, NJ, Cuba, Mexico City, South Korea . I didn't know she was the daughter of a white Cuban mother and a black Cuban father. Her mother got excommunicated from her well-to-do White family in 1927 for marrying her Dad. Dad was a baseball player and sang at home with Mom and the kids.

Perez has been a consultant on the off-broadway Buena Vista Social Club onstage theatrical musical show in NYC (despite admitting he didn't love the album or tour-- he felt the big large band's playing overwhelmed Omara's singing). He says it may get on Broadway next fall.

RIP Afro-Colombian champeta & cumbia singer accordionist Lisandro Meza who did an awesome take on Fela's song Shakara called "Shacalao"

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

https://www.time.com/6548823/best-latin-songs-albums-2023/

Time Magazine critic lists fave Latin pop, dance, and rock

Listened to Mon Laferte again -- like some but not all. She has a range of influences which is good.

Also listened again to Rosalia & ex-fiance Rauw Alejandro ep .

Yeah, I kind of feel the same about Mon Laferte, but what I do like, I really like.

Just saw elsewhere 2 best of 2023 references to Piconema: East African Hits on the Colombian Coast . I haven’t heard it yet and haven’t seen references to it elsewhere here on ILM

It's 2024, time for a new thread

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2024: Reggaeton, Dembow, Latin Pop, Salsa,Bachata, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx