En La Misma Onda

We begin this news overview with two latin music figures who passed away too soon.

Gerardo 'Toto' Rotblad, who was the percussionist of the legendary Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, died of pulmonary edema at the age of 38. Despite this sad news, the remaining members of the band announced a reunion for this fall, and the web is buzzing about a possible new album by the Argentinean ska band.

Elvis Manuel, a succesful Cuban reggaeton artist, has gone missing and is presumed dead. Lured by a lucrative record deal in the US, Manuel made the jump to Florida on a raft with his family, friends and producers, but wasn't recovered after it sank. The Latin Americanist has the full story, Mister Bryans digs even deeper.

The Latin Americanist reports that the violent attacks against 'emo' youngsters (that started in the Mexican city Queretaro) are now spreading across the continent. Chili, Peru and Colombia have all seen their share of anti-emo violence, often originating from homophobic and extreme-right sentiments. Not good.

On a more positive note, a new solidarity concert has emerged: ALAS, meaning América Latina en Acción Solidaria, or the Spanish word for 'wings' - how cute. This Sunday May 17th, dozens of artists will be performing for free concerts to focus attention on the 32 million impoverished children of the continent. El Zócalo in Mexico City and Constanera Sur in Buenos Aires will probably fill with 300,000 enthousiastics for performances by Alejandro Sanz, Babasonicos, Calle 13, Chayanne, David Bisbal, Gustavo Cerati, Jorge Drexler, Juan Luis Guerra, Juanes, Los Tigres del Norte, Maná, Miguel Bose, Ricky Martin, Shakira, and many more!

According to Blogamole, 2008 will finally bring a new album from the queen of latin pop, Shakira. It's been two years since the double release of the Spanish-language Fijación Oral, vol. 1 and its English counterpart Oral Fixation, vol. 2.

Despite the very commercial nature of the Premios Billboard, there were a few deserved winners this year. Juan Luis Guerra took home 3 awards, and Marc Anthony and Gloria Estefan were victorious in the 'Tropical Album' category. Latin Gossip rounds up the other winners.

Blog Reggaeton informs us that the highly successful Panamese rap duo La Factoría is splitting up. Both ladies want to pursue a solo career in the distinctive reggaeton panameño genre that got them continent-wide hits such as "Todavía", "Perdoname" and "Moriré". Here's a piece on La Factoría which we wrote back in 2006, when the reggaeton genre was just exploding.

A new addition to our blogroll! Club Fonograma may only exist for little over a month, but has already proven to be an essential read if you're into latin music. The sharp pens of bloggers Carlos Reyes and Paulo Correa deliver quality reviews of recent latino releases - for example this review of Alegranza! by El Guincho. There's also a great article on the most anticipated 2008 albums.