Latin Tracks for May

Song (iTunes)	Artist	Category	Origin
A Bellavista – Origins	Marco Claveria	Salsa Fusion	Canada
Lo Que Sucede Conviene – Origins	Marco Claveria	Salsa Fusion	Canada
No Se Como Ni Se Cuando – Origins	Marco Claveria	Son Montuno	Canada
Si Vas para Chile – Origins	Marco Claveria	Latin	Canada
La Salsa La Traigo Yo – Salsa World Series Volume 6	Clandeskina Orquesta	Salsa	Colombia
Vamos Pa’ la Calle – Tempo Forte	Tempo Forte	Timba	Cuba
Te Comparo Con La Luna – I Love Bachata 2011 – New Deluxe Edition	Grupo Evidence	Bachata	D. Republic
Can’t Find Love – Can’t Find Love – Single	Jean	Bachata	USA
La Quema – El Desertor	Raphy y Su Dominican Power	Merengue	D. Republic
Dança Kizomba – Single – Stony	Stony	Kizomba

 

Orígenes – New Album from Marco Claveria

It’s not often that we get new Latin music from Edmonton, which is all the more reason why the release of Marco Claveria’s newest album Orígenes is so exciting.  As it’s name suggests Orígenes is, at least in part, a reflection of  Claveria’s own roots both musically and geographically.  His Chilean background and his love for Cuban rhythms are obvious from the opening song, A Bellavista, and continue to surface throughout the album.   A Bellavista, named after an artistic neighbourhood in Santiago, is a modern take on the song A Buena Vista by Cuban musician Luis Frank Arias.  Inspired by a short stay in that neighbourhood Claveria updated the song’s original lyrics to reflect this vibrant community and has reworked the music  to  make it more accessible to modern audiences.   Another song with a Chilean connection is Si Vas Para Chile, a bit of an unofficial national anthem in Chile, which has been refreshed and enhanced by Claveria’s musical ingenuity.  If you were to listen to the first few bars you may be lulled into enjoying it as a piece of music solely to be listening to.  However, there is a bit of a surprise about halfway through when the song develops into a very dancable track with a strong Cuban feel.  Then there is the original composition Patria Mia Patria Vieja (My Country Old Country), which could as easily be a reference to Claveria’s homeland as it could be to the homeland of anyone with a passionate connection to their place of origin.  This track is definitely one of the album’s highlights and is the successful result of Marco’s long held desire to blend Latin and celtic rhythms.  Add to this poetic lyrics and Andean pan pipes, played by Claveria, and you have one amazing song.

When speaking with Marco about the musical direction for Orígenes he indicated that it was not his intent to make an album full of Latin dance music but for each song to be connected by a theme and also be unique enough to stand on their own.  That said, as a dancer my ear naturally listens for the rhythms that can be danced to and I found plenty of those.  I already mentioned A Bellavista.   There is also the very dancable Lo Que Sucede Conviene in which you can hear the influences of Los Van Van as well as No Se Como Ni Se Cuando, which is an upbeat son montuno that you could easily dance a cha cha to.  The album also has a number of tracks that are just a pleasure to listen to such as Patria Mia Patria Vieja and the romantic Descubro.

In addition to the mix of musical styles that make up the album what also makes Orígenes great are the  talented musicians who helped out on the project such as trumpetist Juan Carlos González “Chocolate” (Pupy Y Los Que Son Son) and vocalist Israel Berriel (who has also worked with the Vancouver based Tanga).  The result is one  incredible, locally produced  and highly recommended Latin album.  Available on iTunes and CD Baby.

Questions, comments, requests? Send me an email

– clavecito