En La Misma Onda

Our favorite altrockers Café Tacuba lead the nominations for the 9th Latin Grammys with 6 nods, including Record and Song of the Year. Juanes and Gustavo Santaolalla have 5 nominations each. Some of the surprises are the New Artist nominees, who for once are truly undiscovered talents, and the 2 nominations for rapper Tego Calderón in the urban category. Here's the full list, if you have a few minutes time! The Latin Grammys will be awarded Nov. 13th in Houston.

The Complete 78s is a collection of classic 78 RPM recordings of Tito Puente and his Orchestra and Quartet from 1949 to 1955, remastered and never before released on CD. Part I is already in stores, with Part II coming up soon in November. His close friend Joe Conzo selected 160 tracks of the King of Mambo for this series. Wanna feel the magic of his old days again, and don't have a rare LP lying around? More info on this great collection here.

Tropicalidad informs us that the legendary Buena Vista Social Club concert at Carnegie Hall, New York in 1998 is finally available on CD. The concert was prominently featured in the 1999 documentary film by Wim Wenders that sparked an Afro-Cuban revival throughout the world. Check out the funny album cover (quality photoshopping, since Ibrahim Ferrer sadly died in 2005) and a free mp3 of "De Camino a Vereda"!

Fat Planet breaks the silence for an excellent post about the load of nueva cumbia releases in the last few weeks. ZZK Records brings us mixtapes from El Remolón, Fauna and Chancha Vía Circuito (the last being my favorite). And El Hijo De La Cumbia released Freestyle de Ritmos on Soot Records. But for all the info, background and mp3s, head over here!

And may I point you again to our two favorite sources of latin indie, pop and alternative music? Ritmo Latino did another great podcast with Monareta, Señor Coconut and Sonidero Nacional among many others. And Club Fonograma keeps delivering quality CD reviews in an [onnavolgbaar] tempo. Juana Molina, Jovenes y Sexys (also below!), Coconot and Vicente Fernandez all got really high ratings recently, be sure to check out their albums!

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Cumbia: Villa Diamante

Yup, I keep on ranting about that nueva cumbia thing. Or should I call it digital cumbia? At least that's what the primary gathering place for new cumbia deejays (Zizek Urban Beats Club in Buenos Aires) named the movement: check the site of their newest record label ZZK Records. There you'll also notice the first 'official' cumbia digital compilation for sale there, though sadly the best mashups are not on the CD (probably thanks to those damned copyrights). Luckily a small scroll downwards reveals a more than excellent mixtape by Zizek resident Villa Diamante, with the latest batch of superb mashes: "Modeselektor vs. Calle 13" (German electronics meet Puerto Rican rap), "Pibes Chorros vs DJ Uhn" (deeply rolling beats spice up a slow cumbia rebajada rhythm), and that Sonidero Nacional track with the heavy raggacumbia bass. I'm not the type of guy to jump on every mixtape released, but I guess I'm just that obsessed with this totally fresh sound :) I love how Jay-Z, some long forgotten cumbia band, hip elektro beats, and ragga & reggaeton can all be blended into one multi-continental set while still sounding as if they belong together. It kinda defies borders, genres, cultures... And it's freely downloadable ;)

I'll make use of this new post to point you again to Bersa Discos (this time with the correct link), the San Francisco-based cumbia digital label run by DJ Oro11, which recently released a first EP. Not without accompanying free mixtape, of course ;)

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Back on Track: Blogs

The final post in our quick updates on what you all missed while we were gone, focuses on the tons of good stuff posted on other blogs we like. Enjoy!

VivirLatino lines up the latino winners for the 'real' Grammies. However they don't mention the striking similarities with the Latin Grammies: Juan Luis Guerra wins 'Best Tropical', Calle 13 takes home 'Best Urban' and Pepe Aguilar is the 'Best Mexican'.
And About Latin Music has extensive commentary on Univision's Premios Lo Nuestro. As usual I totally disagree with the winners (Jennifer Lopez best new artist of the year? That's TWO times wrong - she's not new, and certainly not the best!).

Venezuelan authorities (i.e. Hugo 'El Presidente Loco' Chavez) has cancelled another concert of Spanish pop singer Alejandro Sanz. Sanz is not best friends with Chavez after making several remarks in the press criticizing him. Latin Gossip reports that 85 latino celebrities now showed their support for Sanz in a public letter.

Calle 13 made quite an impression at the annual Viña del Mar festival in Chile, easily the biggest music happening in the whole continent. After a performance, artist earn different awards according to the enthousiasm of the audience, and the Puertorican rappers took home every single one for their headlining show that lasted until the early hours. Read more on VivirLatino. The duo confirmed the release of a follow-up to their Grammy-winning albums Calle 13 and Residente o Visitante scheduled this fall.

mun2 has a profile on Mexican art-rockers Porter. Next april they will perform at the Coachella festival, alongside other important Mexican acts like Café Tacuba and Austin TV.

SoundRoots reviews the latest CD of the unknown Argentine indie-folk band Tumbatú Cumbá. The accompanying mp3 "Bajo Del Arbol Un Tambor" reveals a female voice of intense beauty, backed by subtle percussion. Certainly worth checking out!

As nueva cumbia keeps conquering Latin America, Masala posts a very hip crunk-reggaeton-cumbia mashup by the Super Kumbia Bros. That's certain to do well on any dancefloor.
The club around which this movement seems to be revolving, Zizek in Buenos Aires, is sending its deejays out north on a US Tour. No better way to celebrate that than a freely downloadable EP! Dates here.
Also, cumbia DJ Oro11 let us know that some of the Zizek crew united themselves under the label Bersa Discos. They plan to release a 12" every couple of months, the first one sounds very promising (check the MySpace). And what's even better: he mixed up some old & new cumbia in a nice 45-minute mp3 that you can download totally free here!

The Latin Americanist dedicated this week's video posts to famous Latin American protest songs. See the video for Aterciopelados' "Canción Protesta" here, and click through for the other videos - Manu Chao, Los Tigres del Norte and more!

And finally, after Barack Obama's reggaeton anthem, check out the Obama mariachi song below!

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Lost in MySpace: La Nueva Cumbia

The internet is buzzing about a new scene emerging in Buenos Aires (and, thanks to MySpace, in the rest of the world): la nueva cumbia. Young but influential latino producers are rediscovering traditional cumbia songs, and mixing them up with all kinds of modern influences - from crazy electronics to hiphop beats, even dancehall. As long as it's rhytmic and mixable!

All you Europeans definitely heard at least one example - DJ Samim might not be Argentinian, but he did use a cumbia sample in THE European club hit of this summer, "Heater" (video). The sample is actually <"La Cumbia Cienaguera", a popular Colombian cumbia from the 1950's, in a version by Alberto Pacheco.

Central in the Buenos Aires scene is an urban dance club called Zizek. What's Up Buenos Aires and the Muy Bastard blog (in Spanish) are excellent starting points for discovering the artists associated with the club.
The distinctively Argentinian cumbia villera from the late 60's is used in slow chill-out electronic tracks (Chancha Via Circuito), chopped up to an experimental dub beat (El Remolon) or drowned in worldly urban sounds (El Hijo de la Cumbia).

Going international, American producer Oro11 mixes the cumbias with baile grooves to form a bass-rich mashup that's damn infectious. Check this out: "Pibes Chorros vs DJ Uhn - Que Calor" (via Muy Bastard).
He also has two very dope cumbia-house-reggaeton beats up on his MySpace.

A special mention goes out to cumbia rebajada, which basically consists of pitching down those old cumbias until they sound okay to mix with r&b/dancehall stuff. I kinda needed to flip a switch in my head before I liked it, but the idea is great in its simplicity. Bolivian DJ Sonido Martines has some great examples, along with a fine 'guaracha mix' of MIA's "Paper Planes".

Other producers are already picking up the trend - Diplo (Bonde do Role, MIA) even did a whole podcast on the Zizek movement. Villa Diamate mashes up everything he gets in his hands - check his website packed with mp3s of rap vocals over reggaeton and nueva cumbia rhythms.

More reading on this quite exciting movement on the better urban world music blogs: Masala, Ghetto Bassquake, Mudd Up! and Wayne&Wax.

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Vallenato/Cumbia: Felipe Pelaez, Renzo Guerrero

To my own suprise I noticed we've never written about the wonderful carribean music called vallenato. It's sun-drenched and joyful afro-latin folk, very popular in its native Colombia. You'll recognize it by the distinct sounds of the accordion, the guacharaca and thumping African drums.
One song that recently caught my attention (though technically more merengue than vallenato) is "Borracha" by Felipe Peláez. Hasty guitar plucking, quick-paced congas and a contagious chorus is all it takes to make this one of the feel-good factors in my summer!

Renzo Guerrero is in a totally different music segment (namely commercial Peruvian cumbia) but his song "Vuelvo A Buscarte" has a very similar vibe. I hear sea, sand and sun in a farily typical tropical-pop song. But the sheer positivism of the song lifts it above the mass:

Vuelvo a buscarte
Para encontrar tu cariño
Y que me vuelvas con un beso
La felicidad

Heart-warming? Nah. Corny? Maybe. Uplifting? Definitely! And admit it: you HAVE to move your feet (or at least gently swing your hips) to songs like these.

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Felipe Pelaez - Borracha mp3
Renzo Guerrero - Vuelvo A Buscarte mp3

Felipe Pelaez - Borracha

Renzo Guerrero - Vuelvo A Buscarte

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Tropical: Bonka, La Banda Chula, Los Toros Band

Get your groove on with the latest cumbia and merengue hits.

If you're in need of positive vibes, "Traga Maluca" by Bonka will certainly please you. We've had Bonka on these pages before, and to be honest this song sounds exactly the same as the one posted before. But no other cumbia band succeeds in creating such a sunny atmosphere - Traga Maluca is a song to forget all your problems and enjoy.

Two typical merengue songs: "Un Nuevo Amor" (Los Toros Band) and "El Candigato" (La Banda Chula). I love the semi-outdated sound of the first song - the echo on the voice, the sentimental tone, the melancholic trumpets all contrast wonderfully with the fast and modern rhythm. The instrumental parts remind me a lot of Juan Luis Guerra's nineties classic Bachata Rosa (a timeless album, if you don't have it, buy it now).
El Candigato on the other hand, is pure fun. Lyrics are nonsense, all that matters is rhythm and dancing. No wonder this was a big club hit in the Dominican Republic...

Bonka - Traga Maluca mp3
Los Toros Band - Un Nuevo Amor mp3
La Banda Chula - El Candigato mp3

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Tropical: Tecupae, Vos Veis

Since things are a bit slow on mainstream tropical bands, I thought I'd show you two poprock bands issuing tropical songs.

Vos Veis is a tropically-inspired pop band, and in their home country Venezuela they've scored quite some radio hits with sugar-sweet romantic ballads. But "Niña Dura" reminds me more of early work by Juan Luis Guerra: a merengue rhythm combined with a lot of trumpets and (cheesy?) backing vocals. It sounds very carribean, a guaranteed hit on beach parties. Lyrics are definitely cheesy, try to ignore them!

Tecupae are also Venezuelan, and they succeed to combine cumbia and rock influences in "Ven Ven". Their previous (rock) song "Dejate Querer" was also featured in our playlist some time ago.
The accordeon and rhythm are unmistakenly cumbia elements, and they add a special vibe to the song. The singing/rapping in the verses even suggests hip hop (or reggaeton) influences - you might say the song is a four-minute summary of contemporary Venezolan music. Or: you might say "Ven Ven" is chaotic and structureless. It's up to you!

Vos Veis - Niña Dura mp3
Tecupae - Ven Ven mp3 buy@iTunes

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