May Playlist Highlights

Who is Joaquin Arteaga

I have recently been listening to music from a couple of amazing salsa bands based in Barcelona, Spain. I picked up an album a few weeks ago by the band Tromboranga called Al Mal tiempo Buena Salsa (I included a song off that album in last months blog post). This is their second album and it really highlights their laid back but very dancable sound that more often than not includes a good dose of trombone. Doing a little research into Tromboranga I found out that the band’s organizer is a Venezuelan percussionist by the name of Joaquin Arteaga. Now that probably doesn’t mean much to many people except that Joaquin is also the organizer of another amazing salsa band called Bloque 53. I have only recently heard of Tromboranga but have been aware of Bloque 53 for a couple of years now. An excellent salsa band that is known for incorporating a lot of Vibraphone into their music, which gives them a pretty unique sound especially among modern salsa bands.  When listening to the music these two bands have put out, the overlap between the two becomes obvious especially with Bloque 53’s most recent album (Tumba Puchunga), which was a collaboration effort with Tromboranga. What’s so awesome about songs off that album is the coming together of the trombone from Tromboranga and the Vibraphone from Bloque 53. I have included tracks from both bands in this months play list. Have a listen and do check out the album Tumba Puchunga if you get a chance.  It’s one of the rare cases where I would recommend buying the whole album.

That’s it for this month. Questions, comments, requests?Send me an email

Hasta la próxima