Festival Report: Antilliaanse Feesten Day 2

Saturday, August 9th

Click above for more pictures. Some are courtesy of tropicalidad.be, you'll recognize them by their sharpness and beautiful composition ;). Dutch version of this article here.

All ready for a second night of caribbean fiesta, I could handle the few raindrops and the dark sky. The queue at the entrance was something else however - the crowd was overwhelming, even on the festival grounds. So I had to skip Amarfis y la Banda de Attake (merengue from the Dominican Republic and frequently featured on this blog), a bummer. Yet another cancellation - Puchy y su Coco Band mysteriously disappeared after they took a bus in Madrid - was the final blow for the festival line-up: on the main stage every band was either a replacement, cancelled or not my taste.

So the night started off in disappointment, but as soon as Gente D'Zona came on stage, it was replaced by awe and joy. The Cuban reggaeton duo only has a small repertoire of mostly similar songs to rely on, but the more exotic and less agressive cubaton had a strong appeal on the salsa-loving audience. A fanatic horde of Cuban girls was lining the front rows and singing along to every word - if you haven't guessed, Gente D'Zona is immensely popular in Cuba. The rest of the tent enjoyed the view of all the youngsters climbing the stage to show off their moves and their bodies - musically there wasn't much to experience anyway.

Afterwards my company and me were listening with a half ear to the sugarsweet bachata pop of Monchy y Alexandra (website) while sipping a cocktail and enjoying the atmosphere. It was raining a little, but nobody seemed to bother: the crowd of 30,000 people from all over the world was here for dancing, singing along, drinking, having fun. The Antilliaanse Feesten are definitely a very laid back festival with an almost tangible positive vibe (if you go next year, be sure to stay camping to be fully immersed!).

Then came the second chance for Son de Cali (myspace). Word of mouth about yesterdays performance filled the Joker tent to capacity - no room for salsa dancing this time, but the Colombian band was in much better shape now they got to know the audience. A phenomenal drummer and percussionist gave the salsa a thriving rhythm not found on their albums - while speedy piano work and great singing improvs fired up the audience.

Headliners Wisin y Yandel had to cancel at the last minute (see previous post), but I was pleased to see Angel y Khriz (website) replace them - I like their softer, more exotic Dominican reggaeton better than Wisin y Yandel's fairly unoriginal bling-bling. But alas the show was a complete disappointment: no live instruments, both rappers just shouting over a bassline (mostly off key as well), and uninspired versions of their hit songs "Ven Bailalo" and "De Lao A Lao". The audience seemed to have fun at least - though many came for Wisin y Yandel and expected a bigger show.

Off to the Joker stage for an unexpected discovery. Djunny Claude is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as such no material for this latino blog ;) But in the wee hours of the Hoogstraten night, he managed to get our tired legs to jump and dance for more than an hour to his contageous soukous music. The show was crazy, disorganized but wonderfully charming - at one moment the whole band dropped on the floor, after which for some reason Djunny started a dancing contest between the Congolese dancers on stage. Probably to show us white people ways of moving our body that we will never grasp. One to watch if you're into world music!

The honors for closing off two days of passionate, border-crossing music were for Carimi (myspace) from Haiti. It was their third time in Hoogstraten, and in this period they seemed to have picked up a lot from US culture. Which might be good for the show, but I came for the lovely, fast-paced compas music from their homeland, not for r&b and hiphop. After a while they did seem to find the right balance, but while they were building an explosive party on the main stage, I was already heading back through the mud to my tent.

This edition of the Antiliaanse Feesten suffered quite a lot from the many cancellations, though many replacements did a very good job. Altogether we had a wonderful weekend of exotic music, and we'll certainly be back in 2009!

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Festival Report: Antilliaanse Feesten Day 1

Friday, August 8th

Click above for more pictures. Some pictures courtesy of tropicalidad.be (usually the sharp ones ;)). Dutch version here.

A beautiful sunset over the Blue Forest in Hoogstraten (on the border between Belgium and Holland) marked the beginning of an exotic night with lots of surprises. The knee-deep mud and the amount of cancellations couldn't ruin the atmosphere at the Antilliaanse Feesten, the biggest Caribbean music festival in Europe: the multicultural crowd was ready to party all night long with dozens of musicians from all over Latin America and the Caribbean.

And the start couldn't be better than with Rocola Bacalao (myspace), an energetic ska band from Ecuador. The nine members jumped around frantically while putting their heart and soul in their trumpets and guitars - which worked very contageous on the crowd at the Cahier Club stage. Their best songs mixed cumbia (and even merengue) with clever lyrics and an incredibly positive attitude - they just wanna have fun. Only when the guitars were cranked up, things got a little too loud and hyperactive for me.

Over at the main stage, Dominican merengue star Chichi Peralta kept us waiting for a while with a strange and totally unsuitable apocalyptic video - not the kind of intro you want for a sexy session of merengue. Chichi himself was hardly behind his percussion set, entertaining the audience while two not very talented youngsters took care of most of the singing. The usually exhilarating merengue was brought routinely, and though Chichi played the crowd quite well he didn't seem to have a lot of fun - maybe he's tired of performing? The multiple power failures didn't help either. Still, the latina girls jumping on stage to show off their dance moves were nice to watch ;)

Meanwhile, Manolito y su Trabuco (myspace) were setting the Joker stage on fire with their Cuban salsa and timba. It always strikes me how Cuban artists seem to have music and rhtyhm in their blood - with great professionalism Manolito and his band spun 15-minute long versions of their timba hits, playing the crowds with accelerations and improvisations. Lots of room for dancing, so all you could do was get carried away. Manolito ended the concert with a whirling "Loco por mi Habana", smiling from behind his piano.

Soca music might not be a focus of this blog, I had to see Machel Montano (website). The self-proclaimed king of soca (and honored with multiple awards at Trinidad & Tobago carnival over the years) has an excellent live reputation, and indeed the show was 2 straight hours of jumping and dancing. Realizing the simplicity of soca music can't carry a show on it's own, and being the pure entertainer he is, Machel brought some variation with r&b and dancehall bits mixed between his own songs. And the audience digged it: 10,000 people jumping and whirling around flags is an impressive sight!

I ended the first night with Son de Cali (myspace) from Colombia, who replaced their compatriotas Grupo Gale. They were visibly tired when they got on stage - and to be honest, starting a concert at 3:45 AM is unearthly late (thanks to accumulated delays - or let's just say, latino spirit). They deserved a second chance - saturday on the Joker stage, and I'll tell you more about that in a few days!

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Festival Preview: Wisin y Yandel

Important update below!

We're mentally preparing ourselves for the Antilliaanse Feesten this weekend in Hoogstraten (on the border between Belgium and Holland). It's the biggest caribbean music festival in the world, and practically our only chance to catch a live performance of the artists we blog about. Both El Guiri and me will be covering the festival, and world music fanatic Pieter from Tropicalidad will be there as well, shooting his signature classy concert pictures.

As usual a few last minute cancellations changed the program a little - but in my opinion, the replacements could have been headliners themselves. Cuban timbero Manolito y su Trabuco replaces the charanga outfit he used to be part of - Maravilla de Florida. And while la Maravilla is a true Cuban monument, Manolito has grown even bigger during the last few years - the island is just crazy about timba.
Also, Grupo Gale, currently the #1 salsa band on almost every Colombian radio station, had to cancel their whole European tour, and will be replaced by the equally magnificent Son de Cali.
Other artist we're looking forward to seeing live on Belgian soil: Dominican merenguero Chichi Peralta (who used to be part of Juan Luis Guerra's band), soca king Machel Montano (a genre we rarely blog about but secretly enjoy), the unknown but apparently captivating salsa combo Magia Caribeña (we might do an article on them soon), and the Ecuadorian rock band Rocola Bacalao.


But the biggest stars of the festival are undeniably Wisin & Yandel. The Puerto Rican duo was part of the beginnings of reggaeton - we're talking 1995, unnamed tracks on compilations, and CDs burned in some sleazy home studio. Success slowly built up, and W&Y exploded into mainstream with "Rakata" off 2005's Pa'l Mundo, thanks to superproducers Luny Tunes. Now Wisin y Yandel have their own record label and sold a couple of million albums (all of this in the internet age!). Their latest effort Los Extraterrestres may not be excelling in originality, somehow Wisin y Yandel manage to lock every single they've released in the last few years in the top spots of sales & radio charts. We'll see this saturday if the success is deserved!
For now, here's the latest single "Ahora Es". Yes, the chorus says "dale sin miedo" AND "hasta que se rompe el suelo" - the two biggest clichés in reggaeton lyrics. Yes, the video has loud engines and dancing females. Yes, the song is probably as annoying as "Gasolina". But I dare you to listen to it - we'll talk in a week, when you might finally got that beat out of your head ;)

Wisin y Yandel - Ahora Es mp3 buy@iTunes buy@Amazon myspace

!!! UPDATE !!!
The Bad News: Wisin & Yandel cancelled their whole European tour (Milan, Rome, London, and the Antilliaanse Feesten festival) due to the serious illness of Wisin's mother. We wish them peace and love going through these tough times, and hope for the best for Wisin's mother.
Another last minute cancellation is the venezuelan salsa combo Magia Caribeña. They can't make it due to 'third person incompetence' - read: red tape.
There's only one suitable comment here: FUCK! The festival usually gets some cancellations (mostly due to visa problems) but if you look at the line-up now, it's completely different than a month ago.
The Good News: The festival organisation has managed all the cancellations very well in my opinion. Khriz y Angel will replace Wisin y Yandel - they may not be as famous, but honestly I like their music better. Plus, considering the cancellation happened minutes before W&Y got on the plane, it's a small miracle they found a similar artist so fast. The same with Amarfis y la Banda de Attake very last minute but a welcome addition!

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Upcoming on La Onda

Sorry for keeping you in the dark the last two weeks. It's almost June, and faithful readers probably know things always slow down a bit in this dreaded exam period :) But here's a little teaser to what's coming up this summer!

First of all, next month La Onda celebrates its third anniversary already. So look out for a special contest soon! We're also thinking about a remix-themed post again like we did last year, but we'll need your help this time. If you find noteworthy remixes of your favorite latino artists, send them to laondatropical@gmail.com - you decide what appears on the site!

We will continue to provide you with latino concert reviews during the summer festival season - traditionally a great time for European latin music lovers. After the very successful tours of Mayra Andrade and Spanish Harlem Orchestra (and the sadly canceled Eddie Palmieri show), here's our selection of the best latin music festivals this summer. If you're in Western Europe, each of these is definitely worth the trip!

Couleur Café (June 27th - June 29th, Brussels, Belgium)
Colorful vibes from all over Africa and Latin America on the inner-city Thurn & Taxis festival grounds. We'll probably be checking out the 'Rolling Stones of salsa' Los Van Van, who are apparently a once-in-a-lifetime live experience. French-Cuban singer-songwriter Raul Paz is the next big thing in the mestizo movement, mixing hiphop, dub and ska with Cuban traditionals. And Kassav' will get the party started with crazy zouk from the Antilles.

Antilliaanse Feesten (August 8th & 9th, Hoogstraten, Belgium)
The festival that always brings the biggest names and the best Caribbean atmosphere to the lowlands. We'll be staying on the multiculturally flavored campgrounds for extensive coverage of this world music walhalla. In the weeks prior to the festival, we'll shine a light on some of the performing artists. During the event we hope to set up some sort of live blogging for the less fortunate who can't be there. And afterwards you'll read all the concert reviews, interviews and backstage gossip first here at La Onda!

Here are some of the names already announced: on the salsa front there's Grupo Galé from Colombia, Magia Caribeña representing Venezuela, Maravilla de Florida from Cuba, and round the clock salsa dancing in the mirrored Palacio de la Salsa. Especially Magia Caribeña have an excellent live reuptation, you'll be hearing more from them soon! Gente D'Zona were already featured here with their exotic cubatón, you all know Monchy y Alexandra from their bachata pop hits, and Chichi Peralta brings infectious merenge from the Dominican Republic. The Caribbean islands are also heavily represented (and, I must admit, underrepresented on this blog). Small Axe from St. Kitts & Nevis, the excellent Carimi from Haïti and 3 Canal from Trinidad are three bands to watch. Their music (respectively soca, compas and rapso) brings the carnival atmosphere right down to Belgium! Last but not least, reggaeton superstars Wisin y Yandel will perform for the first time in Belgium - I can already imagine the exhilirating crowd and the explosive show.

Afro-Caribbean Festival (August 16th, Bredene, Belgium)
A small but promising festival on the coast, with an eclectic selection of international acts from Congolese soukous to Brazilian samba. We're hopeful for the La Kinky Beat show, mestizo from Barcelona, and for the creators of the timba sound NG La Banda.

Check out the websites for ticketing information and full programmes. Also, we wouldn't be doing concert reviews if it wasn't for the promotors (applause!) and the help from our amigos of Tropicalidad (more applause!).

Of course we'll keep you informed about the best latin releases out there in the meantime. Some of the artists coming up soon: Sergio Mendes, Los Piojos, Arcangel and Willie Chirino. If that won't keep you sweet until the next post... ;)

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Contest! Win Concert Tickets!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The concert was CANCELLED because Eddie Palmieri needed to return early to the USA. Of course I'll have to cancel the contest as well, sorry for that, and thanks for your participation everyone!

You've probably noticed that we branched out our latin music activities recently. This spring and summer quite a few important latin artists pass though our tiny home country Belgium, so we decided to try the difficult but rewarding task of writing concert reviews. Mayra Andrade and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra were two big successes, and we hope to see even more latino performers do such a good job on unfamiliar soil.


The next concert sheduled for review is a real legend of latin music. Already over 50 years in the business with 38 full album releases and 9 Grammy awards, Eddie Palmieri is the unquestioned king of latin jazz. His latest tour (with the band La Perfecta II) brings him to the Ancienne Belgique concert hall in Brussels, more info on the show here. And we have some great news for all you Belgian/Dutch/French/German readers who can make it to la Bruxelles.

We're giving away 2 x 2 tickets for the Eddie Palmieri show on May 18th in Brussels! All you have to do to participate is answer this easy question: Which of the following albums did not win a Grammy award?

1. La Perfecta II
2. The Sun of Latin Music
3. Listen Here!
4. Solito

Mail your answer to laondatropical at gee-mail dot com before May 10th, 2PM central European time. Be sure to include your mailing address or we won't be able to send you the tickets!

This contest and the reviews wouldn't be possible without the help of the concert promotors and programmers, so here's a big up to Greenhouse Talent and De Roma, and a hat tip to Tropicalidad.be for being always there to assist us!

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Concert: Spanish Harlem Orchestra

Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Handelsbeurs, Ghent (April 20th 2008)
Click pictures for originals. © Handelsbeurs/Wannabes 2008

Last sunday, the temperature rose above 20°C in Ghent for the first time this year, and I bet the Spanish Harlem Orchestra had something to do with that. The 14-member salsa outfit set the beautifully restored Handelsbeurs on fire with an afternoon of infectious rumba and salsa del Barrio. Maybe you remember SHO from their 2007 album United We Swing, a timewarp into salsa discotheques from the 50s to the 70s (read our review here!)

Lead by pianist/director Oscar Hernandez, the orchestra performed like a well-oiled machine - even a little too routinely at the beginning, when the songs lacked soul. Hernandez himself didn't really have his mind set on the concert, sitting passively behind the piano as if he was more concerned about his wife and kids back home. But all that was more than compensated by the fire and enthusiasm of the three vocalists, Rey de la Paz (in the picture above), Willie Torres and Marco Bermudez, who took turns in impressing us with vocal improvisations, cheesy dance steps and charismatic audience encouragements.


The concert started off politely with a formal introduction of all 14 band members, exactly how United We Swing starts too (here's the line-up: 4 horns, sax, flute, congas, timbales, bongos, bass, piano and 3 vocals). But from "El Tiempo Del Palladium" - about a well-known venue in Harlem - the tone was set: nostalgic but steamy salsa, rumba and guaguanco, uniting the best of decades of Nuyorican music.

"Se Formó la Rumba" was the kickoff for the numerous dancing schools and salsa couples to take over the dancefloor - a very suitable wooden floor by the way. And we were quite bummered that our dance partner couldn't make it :)
We caught a first glimpse of the impressive musical abilities of the band during "Pa' Gozar", when each member was allowed some solo time. Especially the percussionist trio was tight as hell during the whole concert, not missing one beat while chatting and laughing away.


After an hour of intense swinging, the vocalists took a break, and the fierce salsa dura was replaced by jazzy instrumentals. "Danzón For My Father" started with a stirring solo by Hernandez himself, and made us think of the legendary Rubén Gonzales (of Buena Vista Social Club fame). The weak bolero "Espérame En El Cielo" was the only flaw in the two-hour set, but was soon forgiven: the careful tempo building in "Salsa Pa'l Bailador" and the rhytmical rapture of "Ariñañara" brought the concert to an explosive height. Only one bis song ("Sacala Bailar"), but when that bis lasts more than ten minutes and makes everyone go out of their minds, nobody minds!

Thanks to Greenhouse Talent!

Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Se Formó La Rumba mp3 buy@iTunes buy@Amazon
Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Danzón For My Father mp3 buy@iTunes buy@Amazon

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Concierto Paz Sin Fronteras

The recent tensions between Colombia and Venezuela (and Ecuador) gave birth to a remarkable intiative: a concert for peace that will take place right on the border between the rivaling countries. Juanes - always concerned about human rights and peace in Colombia - is the big man behind the project. In only a few days he convinced some important friends in the music business to participate: Shakira (she cancelled), Juan Luis Guerra, Miguel Bose, Ricky Martin, Carlos Vives, Ricardo Montaner, Juan Fernando Velasco and Alejandro Sanz. Especially the last name is quite sensational, as you remember Sanz has some serious beef with Venezuelan president Chavez. Let's see what that gives! The free concert starts at 19:00 CET (2 PM EDT) tonight, and 400,000 people are expected to show up on the banks of Tachira river, all dressed in white. The Latin Americanist lists the possibilites for watching the concerts live on the web, or if you click "Show Videos..." below, you can watch the entire event right here!

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En La Misma Onda

A short news update!

Last wednesday, the nominees for the 2007 Latin Grammy awards were announced. Juan Luis Guerra came off best, with 5 nominations; Calle 13 and Ricky Martin each got four. I was especially surprised to see Gustavo Cerati's "La Excepción" nominated for Best Song. Heavy competition in the Best Urban category too, with Calle 13, Orishas, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar & Wisin y Yandel all going for the gold. And murdered ranchero Valentin Elizalde scooped a posthumous nomination. Here's the complete list, and here are some interesting comments by Latina Viva, bashing every artist I like in the list ;)

Two big shots in latino music recently released a new single: Gloria Estefan released "No Llores", a collaboration with Carlos Santana that sounds very much like all other Santana songs. And yesterday, Juanes premiered "Me Enamora", which sounds very much like all other Juanes songs. Of course you can listen for yourself, here and here!

A remarkable coincidence brings two albums to two Belgians at the same time. Except that Wouter over at Tropicalidad is a tad faster than me ;) Manu Chao's La Radiolina is found 'filled with energy and idealism', though Wouter feels like Manu pushed the recycle button a bit often. Piñata by the Mexican Institute of Sound is described as 'a catchy mix of old-fashioned cumbia, chachacha and danzón, woven with deep electro beats, lounge and hiphop'. Coming soon to La Onda ;)

And we conclude with two Brazilian bands in concert: Bonde do Role invites half the crowd on stage for a favela funk party, and Bebel Gilberto signs for an intimate and beautiful performance. Thanks to FabChannel, you can watch both concerts from A to Z below!

Bonde do Role:

Bebel Gilberto

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Holiday Report: Jarabe de Palo, Daddy Yankee

We're back! And yes, even on holiday we're soaking ourselves in latin music. Spending that holiday in Spain or Mexico helps a lot of course ;) Here's what we've been up to.

Járabe De Palo plays a home match in Castejón de Sos

Chapín saw Járabe de Palo perform in their home area in Spain, a unique concert for both the band and the locals. You might know Járabe de Palo of (international) hits like "Bonito" and "La Flaca", and they've just released their 6th album Adelantando, with "Olé" as first single.

Castejón de Sos is a tiny mountain village in Alta Ribagorza, the region where lead singer Pau Donés lived for most of his life. And with tiny, I mean tiny: the 1000 attendees momentarily tripled the usual population of Castejón. As it was raining most of the day, many feared the (open air) concert would be canceled; in addition, Castejón is reached only by treacherous mountain passes not suited for tour buses and trucks loaded with speakers and instruments. So the greater was the relief when eventually the group entered the stage (which was moved indoors) to kick off this special concert.

I always thought JdP songs suffered from being too radio-friendly and too much the same (compare "Bonito" and "Olé" above). But the mere enthousiasm of Donés and his band, together with funkier arrangements, lifted this concert way above the quality of the CDs. The band seemed to know exactly where the songs needed to be spiced up (or mellowed down) to work on stage, even the songs I hadn't heard before sounded like latin pop classics. Guitarist Jordi Mena deserves a special mention, his impressive solos rocked the show. Also, the chemistry between Pau and his audience was extraordinary. He made fun of his friends, talked about his growing up in the region - all in the local Aragonese dialect - and got the audience on his hand from the first minute. The big hits were sung along word for word, and a bis round with "La Flaca" made the place go completely wild. A unique concert indeed! I still blame myself for not having a digital camera around...

(More dates for the Adelantando tour at the official JdP site.)

El Guïri meets Daddy Yankee

El Guïri had the luck to interview film writer Guillermo Arriaga (of Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel) at a Mexican TV show. And backstage he bumped into none other than Daddy Yankee! Yankee said he's a long time fan of La Onda and checks back here every week, but he's a little shy to comment online. He didn't have time for an interview, but of course we could call him 'anytime' for VIP concert tickets and stuff like that.

(Or maybe that's not true, and all we got was the lousy quality picture above! ;) The white guy on the right is El Guïri himself, if you hadn't guessed.)

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