Sensitive Souls (Aventura, Jarabe de Palo)

I'm not a big fan of bachata music, or any other romantic music, but Dominicans Aventura managed to stand out again with "Un Beso". Their last notable song, Obsesión, ultimately became a worldwide hit, and caused a revival in bachata music (like in the 90's, when Juan Luís Guerra released Bachata Rosa).
Un Beso is different, including classical guitar parts and non-standard song structure (though it still includes bachata principles like overly romantic lyrics and a godafwul boysband video clip). It's a song for sensitive souls, but aren't we all sometimes?

Another sensitive song is Jarabe de Palo's "Que Bueno Que Bueno". Minimalistic guitar and percussion bring the song to a subtle climax, while lead singer Pau Dones is joined by Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler. This track would be the ideal soundtrack to a road trip through the south of Spain, sunset in the mirrors and girlfriend by your side.

Aventura - Un Beso mp3 video
Jarabe de Palo y Jorge Drexler - Que Bueno Que Bueno mp3 video buy@iTunes

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Antilliaanse Feesten Indoor: Update

Dear users, sometimes you will find posts in Dutch on La Onda Tropical. That's because we also cover the Latino party scene in Belgium and Holland, which is probably of not much interest to you, our international reader!

Update: DJ Eliel, één van de belangrijkste producers in het genre van de reggaeton, is toegevoegd aan de line-up van de Antilliaanse Feesten Indoor (18 maart, Sportpaleis). Hij was vorig jaar al te zien achter de draaitafel bij het concert van Don Omar, nu doet hij het met enkel een MC en wat dansers. Eliel speelt als warming-up voor Elvis Crespo, en zal nadien het festival afsluiten met een explosie van reggaeton-beats.

Meer informatie over het festival in deze post of op de officiële site.

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Premios Lo Nuestro

Last night, the 18th edition of the Lo Nuestro awards took place in Miami. These awards differ from others because only public votes determine the winners (hence "Lo Nuestro" - meaning "Our Own"). Here are some of the winners:

• Pop: Shakira was the big winner here, taking home the Best Album, Best Song and Best Duo awards, for her latest album Fijación Oral and single La Tortura.
• Rock: Sadly all awards went to pop mega-artist Juanes, while promising new rock bands were overlooked...
• Tropical: Merenguera Olga Tañon won Best Merengue, Best Female, Best Song and Best Album; while Marc Anthony took home the Best Salsa and Best Male awards.
• Regional Mexican: four awards for Mexican banda Intocable, while "El Buki" Marco Antonio Solís got Best Male and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Urban: Reggaeton producers Luny Tunes won beforehand, since they had a hand in all the songs nominated for Best Song. Daddy Yankee's "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó" won, and El Cangri took home Best Artist as well. "Mas Flow 2" (by Luny Tunes & Baby Ranks) deserves the award for Best Album very much.

You can read an overview (in Spanish) at the Univision website.

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Rock: Fobia

Next sunday, The Rolling Stones will rock Mexico City. Nothing spectacular, but it came to my attention that Mexican rock band Fobia will be opening the concert. Fobia was very popular in the nineties, and after a decade of silence they recently released a new album (Rosa Venus) produced by Gordon Raphael (The Strokes). Single "Dos Corazones" is conquering radio waves in South America now, but I'm still not sure if I like it or not. Fobia wants to sound very much like modern British rock bands, though they're not very good at that. On the other hand, the chorus is quite catchy, and the video is great (showing the true meaning of the line "Two hearts are beating inside me").
Sadly the album is very hard to acquire outside of Latin America, good luck finding a copy!

Fobia - Dos Corazones listen video

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Welcome to La Onda

After a bit of restyling and rethinking, the former Latino Muziek Blog is now La Onda Tropical. Onda literally means wave, but in a very broad way: it can be the feeling something gives you, or a new hype, or an underlying meaning. Something in the air you can't quite grasp, but know it's there: la onda.

We're now posting in English. There are many reasons for this, most importantly because 25% of our readers live in the US, and another 50% should know a little English. We're an mp3 blog now, too. This means that we're not gonna bring you a bi-weekly playlist anymore, but we'll update more regularly, with a couple of songs each post. The playlist on the right now serves as an overview for recently posted songs.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the new concept, all comments are greatly appreciated!

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Reggaeton: Voltio & Residente Calle 13

I haven't had time to listen to the entire thing, but the first singles of Voltío's self-titled album are quite promising. It's acutally a kind of re-release of his first solo album, Voltaje A/C, with a couple of new songs. "Chévere" has a nice dancefloor flow, and the melancholic voice of co-rapper Notch makes it an exceptional reggaeton track. "Chulin Culin Chunfly" (whatever that means) is a duet with Residente Calle 13. It's a very typical reggaeton song, meaning: heavy beats, annoying horn sounds instead of a REAL melody, and lyrics praising the female body. Not my favourite, but the song's hot in Latin America AND features Residente Calle 13, the new reggaeton hype.

I like Residente Calle 13 because they don't take reggaeton serious. Their approach is very realist, like the genre is all one big joke. Exactly my thoughts ;) A few lines from "Atrévete-te":

Yo se que a ti te gusta el pop-rock latino
Pero es que el reggaeton se te mete por los intestinos
Por debajo de la falda como un submarino
Y te saca lo de indio taino [...]
[...] ¿Que importa si te gusta Green Day?
¿Que importa si te gusta Coldplay?

You can apply this to both rappers, Residente and Visitante: what does it matter that they are middle-class and white? Or that they went to art school instead of dealing drugs? Their music is an evolution of reggaeton, and I like it.

There's a nice article about Residente Calle 13 in the Miami Herald.

Voltío ft. Notch - Chévere mp3 buy@iTunes
Voltío ft. Residente Calle 13 - Chulin Culin Chunfly mp3 video buy@iTunes
Residente Calle 13 - Atrévete-te mp3 video

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