Descarga.com's Best [Afro-Latin] CDs of 2004

As for the Descarga list I must confess to not having even heard of let alone heard much of it. I do have and like the Victor Manuelle cd which for better or worse is his slickest thanks to Emilio Estefan's production. I've been meaning to pick up the Spanish Harlem Orchestra cd...

This thing about genre boundaries and musical families can get very perplexing. I don't know how to sum it up in a tidy way, but it's pretty clear the sort of thing they specialize in. I think the term Afro-Antillian is actually handy, but I myself keep forgetting exactly all of what's included. The focus would be: Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

I haven't heard most of these CDs either.

Have you gone back and heard Manuelle's earlier albums? Sergio George is just as slick of a producer as Emilio Estefan. Manuelle's earlier stuff was mostly just as slick as Travesia, only better. These three CDs in particular. Of course, that may just be because this was the first Manuelle material I haerd, but I know a lot of people (virtually at least) who would agree with me. (I still like Inconfundible when I'm in the right mood.) I was shocked Travesia even made it onto this list.

You, Rockist Scientist, and a guy in the Beat magazine all like the Sonora Poncena cd.

I sorta understand that despite reggaeton being in Spanish and coming from Puerto Rico (and now other Spanish-speaking countries) the Descarga folks are not interested in it. Although I think the sometimes salsa romantica of Travesia made the list, because Watrous, like his NY Times successor Ben Ratliff, in fact likes some popular stuff. You're right however that Sergio George productions can be just as slick. I only have one prior Manuelle disc and I haven't listened to it in awhile.

That's two of us then. (Were you joking? I am not changing names in order to confuse. I'm tired of the whole rockism/anti-rockism thing.)

I don't think the reggaeton thing is out of scope because they think pop=bad. Reggaeton is mostly cut from materials from Jamaica (so, outside Latin America) and the U.S. Where salsa borrows from Cuban roots, it's still borrowing from within that Afro-Antillian matrix (sorry but I can't think of a less pseudo-academic description at the moment). They don't cover reggae, but they doesn't mean they dismiss reggae. Of course, they do carry a fair amount of reggaeton now, so there is some amiguity about it. (But they often throw in the odd Latin American thing outside their main focus: a little Brazilian music, roc en espanol, etc.). I mean, if there had been a popular movement of Puerto Rican bands playing roots reggae, without altering it significantly, I don't think they would have included that on their end of the year lists either. Venezuelan rock bands aren't included either.

I think my latin-jazz loving Dad got the Bebe Valdes/Cigala cd. I keep meaning to borrow it from him.

The Afropop.org top 10 includes Spanish Harlem orchestra and Peruvian Eva Ayllon.

I'm thinking of salsa, obviously.

To quote Peter Watrous:

Colombia and Venezuela and Europe stepped up to fill in the blanks left by the nearly dead Puerto Rican/New York recording scene. And Cuba's releases have dwindiled significantly as well. So up pop records of Afro-Cuban/Gypsy genius from Spain, and German pianists fronting Cuban bands, and high powered Venezuelan Timba and Colombian salsa.

Now Colombia, especiall Cali, Colombia, has established itself as a center of salsa, and maybe Venezuela as well; but what about Europe or salsa from other parts of the world? How scattered can it be and still remain healthy. Could, say, Scandinavia and Germany and Australia carry a Latin dance genre that usually has Spanish lyrics (even assuming the presence of Latino musicians)? Can timba, often described as quintessentially local, survive transplanation to locales outside of Cuba?

Can anyone else think of a case where a dance genre that was, musically, maybe losing a lot of its vitality (and definitely losing some of what would have been its audience in its native environment), while the associated dance continued to spread across the globe? (Swing isn't really a good comparison, since that was/is more a matter of a revival of an old genre.) There is still a significant, if minority, contingent of people who want to dance to salsa, and it's a newish thing in many parts of the world, but is that enough of a demand to maintain the music?

(I think when he says that the PR/NYC salsa recording scene is nearly dead, he isn't talking in terms of quantity of releases, but more in terms of what he sees as their quality, although I could be wrong.)

I'm guessing you might like Azucar Negra (I might even like this, based on the audio clips), even though I haven't heard that CD (so my guess is pretty worthless, but at least I'm trying to be helpful). Also, I think that Osdalgia CD is going to be good, and I think they might be correct that she's poised to cross over into general "world music"dom. She has a really good voice anyway.

Are their any genres thriving in 2004(let me arbitrarily define "thriving" as music being created and enjoyed by folks of all ages including and especially teens and twenty-somethings) that are designed to be danced by couples? Are people growing up learning to salsa dance around the world, or are they just taking lessons as adults ala many Americans (and ala swing). Of course salsa can be appreciated and played by those who can't dance properly to it(like me although I wish I had the time to take lessons and stick with it and learn), so I guess it can hang on as Palmieri style Latin jazz niche genre. I guess zydeco is still being made and danced to by Creole-American couples in Louisiana and Texas, but it's heavily influenced now by hiphop and I'm not sure whether it's as vibrant a scene as it once was.

Another consideration: I can think of at least four major new sounds in salsa from the 80s to the present: salsa romantica (which, of course, tends to be villified, but I think as another possibility for salsa, it was a good thing); Colombian salsa (which sounds different enough to add variety); timba (though I'm cheating a little, since most of the time I don't even consider it a sub-category, but rather as a category in its own right; but it's not just a matter of timba, it's a matter of timba coloring in what is still clearly salsa); and the borrowing of the remix idea (not that important to salsa, but effectively used in a number of songs I could name off the top of my head that became pretty substantial club hits).

In the zydeco world children of musicians are now becoming musicians and keeping the genre alive by employing both what they've learned from their parents, and by adding to it some of what they've heard on the radio. I bet salsa may or is becoming the same way as far as the music-making is concerned with the younger Puentes and O'Farrill.

I wonder if in Puerto Rico and Cuba people are still learning at a young age how to partner dance, or is hiphop discouraging that?

I don't know the answers to your questions about the partner dancing tradition. I'm pretty sure Latin Americans and Latinos around the world are still learning how to dance as kids in some cases, but I'm not sure how much it is the rule.

Yea, great point about the religion helping to keep the music alive. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival this past summer featured such sounds. I think they're showcasing Latin trad sounds again next summer.

I think I should add African salsa to this list, even though I haven't looked into it much. I don't like that much of what I've heard in the way of African salsa, but some of it I like and there are some distinctive strains developing there (or hints of them).

I was surprised to see the Sonic Liberation Front show up on one of the Village Voice jazz lists. They haven't gotten too much attention, but I'm cautiously curious about their mixture of free jazz and Afro-Cuban rumba.

I'm not sure if liking Rio Baile Funk means you'll like reggaeton by the likes of Daddy Yankee or others. Rio Baile Funk, as you know, incorporates old-school electro hiphop and Run DMC style with Portuguese lyrics and some uniquely Brazilian samba-derived touches, reggaeton draws more from current hiphop and dancehall and is wordier(in Spanish) than Baile Funk is (in Portuguese). But you may like it anyway.

I liked Bebe in the movie Calle 54, now I have to check out his most recent cds...

Azucar Negra - Sin Mirar Atrás
Félix Baloy - Un Poquito De Fé
The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra - Live At The Blue Note, NYC
Anthony Blea Y Su Charanga - Virgen De La Caridad
Jimmy Bosch - El Avión De La Salsa
Pedrito Calvo - De Aquí P'allá-Pedrito Calvo Y La Justicia
Luis Centeno Y Su Orquesta Melaza - Rumba Callejera
Edwin Bonilla Y Su Son - Pa' La Calle
Cadaver Exquisito - En Vivo Desde Terraza Del Ateneo
Felipe Labrada Y Su Grupo Santiago De Cuba - Ayudame Babalú-El Diamante Del Son
Dorance Lorza & Sexteto Café - Salsa Pa' Ti
Victor Manuelle - Travesía
Osdalgia - Suenan Los Cueros
César "Chino" Pérez - Amigo Incondicional
La Puertorriqueña - Don Perignon Presenta A La Orquesta Puertorriqueña: 20th Aniversario
Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Paseo - Gonzalo Rubalcaba & New Cuban Quartet
Rumbaleros - Protesta Carabali
Sebastian Schunke - Mouvement
The Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Across 110th Street
Bebo Valdes - Lágrimas Negras: Bebo & Cigala