A Soundtrack for the New Year

Latin Tracks for January 2015

Song (iTunes)

Artist

Category

Origin

Bagatelle No. 25 In a Minor, WoO 59 “Für Elise” – Salsa It, Vol. 11 (Compilation) Marco Puma Salsa Italy
Rumba Caliente – Salsa It, Vol. 11 (Compilation) Latin Sound Machine Salsa Italy
Bebo (El Timba Remix) – Salsa It, Vol. 11 (Compilation) Fabio Gianni Timba Italy
Siento Que Me Muero (feat. Gamilon) – Salsa It, Vol. 11 (Compilation) José Lopez Bachata Dominican Rep.
Kizomba of the Future – Salsa It, Vol. 11 (Compilation) Kiki Aguero Kizomba Cuba
Fuimos Amigos – Y la Salsa Mayor La Salsa Mayor Salsa Venezuela
Hipo De Conejo – QueMas 8 y Más Salsa USA
Todo Te Lo Doy – Klimaxeando – EP Klimax y Giraldo Piloto Timba Cuba
Hoy Renuncio a Tu Amor – Hoy Renuncio a Tu Amor – Single Kla-v2 Bachata  USA
Nao Me Tarraxa (Pinamusic Kizomba Remix) – Zouk summer 2013 (Sushiraw) Vanda May Kizomba São Tomé and Príncipe

 

Salsa IT Volume 11 – A New Beginning

Salsa It, Vol. 11

Spanish based Latin music is very popular in Europe, a fact which is especially true in Italy of all places.  This would explain why the Italian record label Alosibla Music has been so successful with its series of Latin music complications called Salsa IT.  The series got started back in 2004 with the released of Salsa IT Volume 1, a compilation that for the first time gave international exposure to the Latin dance music being made by a number of musicians based in Italy.

A decade has passed since the release of that first compilation and for the 11th edition the Alosibla team has put together a new album that at once breaths new energy into the series with a new cover design, new artists and the addition of kizomba music while at the same time staying true to the idea behind Salsa IT: to bring great Latin dance music to fans both in Italy and around the world.  Salsa IT Vol 11 ‘A New Beginning’ is an album that was made for Latin dancers and has something for almost everyone.  The album is definitely biased towards salsa, which shouldn’t come as a big surprise begin that salsa is one of the most popular social dances the world over.  Almost half the album’s tracks are dedicated to this genera but thankfully each of these are as unique from each other as you could hope for while still being very dancable.  Two great examples of this are the ‘salsafied’ version of Beethoven’s Für Elise by Marco Puma and the organ heavy and super funky track Rumba Caliente by Latin Sound Machine.  For the casino dancer there are a few timba tracks including Ireme by Timba Calle, a Cuban group from Palermo, Italy.  Bachateros also have something to look forward to (actually a few things to look foward to).  There are 5 bachata tracks in total with Siento Que Me Muero being one of my favourites.  The addition of the accordion on this track definitely gives it a bit of an Argentinean feel.  The album liner notes describe Siento Que Me Muero as a ‘bachatango’ though I would say it is more suited for the bachata dancer than the tango dancer.

A genre very popular in Europe these days and one that is building in popularity here in North America is kizomba and Salsa IT Vol. 11 has a few tracks for the kizomba dancer as well.  They may not be as strong as the music coming out of Portugal, Cape Verde or Angola.  None the less,  the 3 Kizomba tracks on the album are still very dancable.  I can definitely see the electronic mash-up Kizomba of the Future being a great track to warm up the dance floor at any kizomba party.  And if all that is not enough, the album finishes off with a couple merengue electronicos for all the people who love to dance to Latin music but aren’t into the more common partner dances.

After all that what you have is an album packed with 19 songs each one selected with the Latin dancer in mind – a perfect soundtrack for anyone who plans to fill 2015 with lots of great dancing.  Available on iTunesCDBaby and other online retailers.

Questions, comments, requests? Send me an email

– clavecito

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Senegal to Santiago de Cuba

October Playlist Highlights

Song (iTunes)

Artist

Category

Origin

Babalu Aye  Brisas del Palmar Traditional Cuba
Siboney Brisas del Palmar Traditional Cuba
La Cita Brisas del Palmar Traditional Cuba
Xam Sa Bop Africando Salsa Senegal
Bouré Yayé Diama  Africando Salsa Fusion Sengal
Xalass Xalass

Africando

Cha Cha Cha

Sengal

Qué Grande Es el Amor

Ramón Cordero, Edilio Paredes

Bachata

Dominican Rep.

No Puedo Seguir Así 

Kla-v2

Bachata

USA

Abusadora 

Wilfrido Vargas

Merengue

Dominican Rep.

Continua Assim 

Don Kikas

Kizomba

Angola

 

Africando – Viva Africando

Get out your dancing shoes, Africando has just released a brand new album and it’s awesome!  Up until September of this year the band from Senegal known as Africando had released 7 full length albums with the most recent being Ketukuba, released in 2006.   The 7 year drought without new Africando material came to an end a couple of weeks ago with the release of the band’s 8th album Viva Africando.  It’s got all new material including some amazing salsas,  cha-cha-chas and afro-salsa fusions along with guest performances by the likes of Santana and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.  And talk about being a truly international recording.  All told,  songs on the album are sung in 10 different languages.  There are plenty of tracks on this disk to put you in the dancing mood and to give you a sample of what I am talking about I have included some of my favourites in this weeks play list.

Brisas del Palmar -Santiago en Suños

An amazing Cuban band called Brisas del Palmar has visited Edmonton on a number of occasions this past summer.  They opened for Havana d’Primera at Encore, performed at Heritage Days and the Edmonton Latin Festival, and had several other concerts around town.  If you had the opportunity to see them live you will appreciate just how amazing this band is.   Originally from Santiago de Cuba, Brisas Del Palmar was formed back in 1999 and is well known in Cuba as one of the leading interpreters of traditional music such as boleros, sons and guarchas.  The band’s talents have definitely not gone unnoticed.  Only 2 years after their inception they won second place at the Festival of Singers of the Americas held in Guantanamo and 2005 these extraordinary musicians were chosen top quintet in Cuba. They are featured daily on Cuban national radio and recently performed for the Pope.  And this success at home has allowed them to travel the world.  This summer was the 8th time Brisas has been to Canada with their first visit being back in 2004.

The band has released 4 albums to date and in their most recent Canadian tour they brought with them their latest material.  This new music was released on an album entitled Enamorado de ti recorded in April at the EGAM studios in Santiago de Cuba.  It’s a great disk featuring original material from the band including the title track Enamorade de ti and Quiéreme along with covers of some salsa classics such as La Rebelion and Oiga, Mire, Vea.  Unfortunately, the album is only available at their live performances.  So if you didn’t pick up a copy while Brisas was in town you still have a chance to get your hands on this album if you happen to be visiting Vancouver in the next few weeks.  The band will be performing there until the end of October when they will be returning to Cuba.  There is one Brisas album that is available for purchase online called Santiago en Sueños. This album was recorded in Vancouver in 2012 and contains a great collection of traditional Cuban music.  You can find a few tracks from that album in this month’s playlist.

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

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