November Playlist Highlights

 

Who Is?

• Many genres of modern Latin music have roots in or are heavily influenced by African rhythms.  This is especially true for Cuban music on account of the large African population.  Close to one million Africans were brought the island as slaves and they brought their traditional music with them.  Considering this, it’s no surprise that Latin music has become very popular in many parts of Africa and it makes perfect sense that African and Latin musicians would team up to produce some fantastic Afro-Latin music. In the early 90’s this happened and the result was Africando (‘Africa United’ in Senegalese).  The brainchild of Ibrahim Sylla, Africando brought together African vocalists and New York based salsa musicians.  The membership of the band has changed over the years but their music has continued to be innovative and very danceable.  They have a long list of danceable tracks including Aicha, Betece, and Mopao.

 

What Is?

• Born in the early 60’s, Latin Boogaloo (Bugalú) was the fusion of Cuban rhythms such as son and mambo with American R&B and soul.  In many ways in was a “pop” genre with its playful lyrics, handclaps, and teen audiences.  It was also very successful in crossing over into the non-Latin crowd as many of the songs were sung in English.  The genre became popular enough that most Latin artists of the time had made a contribution.  However, like most pop genres, its’ popularity was short lived and by the end of the 60’s it had all but died out.  That being said, you may have heard a Boogaloo cover recently without even knowing it.  Tito Nieves’ “I Like it Like That” and Las Sonoras Carruseles’ “Micaela” were originally Boogaloos (both by Pete Rodriguez).  The genre also lives on in Colombia, which is where one of the songs for Novembers’ playlist comes from.  How do you dance a Boogaloo?  In Cali, you might do it like this.  In Saskatoon, like this.  Depending on the speed of the song, Cha Cha steps also work quite well.

 

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