And now for the drinking song: Tequila, as performed by Ska Cubano!
19 diciembre 2009
13 diciembre 2009
La canción de la semana #195
Luna by Muchachito Bombo Infierno, from their debut album Vamos Que Nos Vamos.
06 diciembre 2009
La canción de la semana #194
From the sizzling Cuba — Fully Charged album, Llego el Dulcerito by the Cuban son revivalist band, Sierra Maestra.
29 noviembre 2009
22 noviembre 2009
La canción de la semana #192
Toro Mata is a famous Peruvian folk song. It was performed, among others, by Eva Ayllon, Susana Baca, Novalima, Perú Negro and (salsa-style!) Celia Cruz. My favourite version of this song is the one by Lucila Campos.
14 noviembre 2009
La canción de la semana #191
08 noviembre 2009
La canción de la semana #190
José Antonio by the Peruvian legend María Isabel Granda Larco (1920–1983), better known as Chabuca Granda, from her 1982 album Cada canción con su razón.
Por una vereda viene |
31 octubre 2009
La canción de la semana #189
...is brilliant Two to Tango, performed by Al Di Meola and Chick Corea. This song appears on Al Di Meola's 1980 album, Splendido Hotel.
18 octubre 2009
La canción de la semana #188
...is Hanuman by the incomparable Rodrigo y Gabriela. This song opens the Mexican duo's brand new album, 11:11.
11 octubre 2009
La canción de la semana #187
Jimmy Bosch is described by the Songlines magazine as "Hendrix of the trombone" and "Nuyorican salsa dura ambassador". This weeks's song is Descargarana from the album Soneando Trombon.
04 octubre 2009
La canción de la semana #186
I was more than impressed by Quatrotango performing with Tango Fire. The band features Gabriel Clenar on piano, Hugo Satorre on bandoneon, Marcelo Rebuffi on violin and Gerardo Scaglione on double bass. This week's song is Gallo ciego.
27 septiembre 2009
La canción de la semana #185
...is La Vida Callada, duet of Natacha Atlas and Clara Sanabras, from the album Ana Hina. Natacha Atlas and The Mazeeka Ensemble play at Cambridge Junction on 3 October.
21 septiembre 2009
Paz sin Fronteras
El histórico concierto “Paz sin Fronteras”, organizado por el cantante colombiano Juanes, se desarrolla en estos momentos en la Plaza de la Revolución de La Habana, Cuba. (Leer más)
20 septiembre 2009
La canción de la semana #184
El Ombligo Del Mundo (yes, the Spanish version of Jovanotti's hit L'Ombelico del Mondo), as performed by Jovanotti.
13 septiembre 2009
10 septiembre 2009
Los abrazos rotos
In this country, they do not screen films like Los abrazos rotos for very long. It looks like the last screening in Cambridge is today. Luckily, there will be a chance to see it again in Saffron Screen on 18 and 19 October.
06 septiembre 2009
La canción de la semana #182
...is Camina y Prende el Fogón, by the Danish salsa band Grupo Danson. ("Danson" stands for "Danmark" + "son".) This song appears on the album Mi Música.
16 agosto 2009
La canción de la semana #181
...is Saboreando sung by "Chiki Chaka Girl" Annalays Serrano Lazo. This song opens Mulatas Magicas, the 2003 album by Rubén González, Jr. (yes, the son of that Rubén González).
09 agosto 2009
La canción de la semana #180
02 agosto 2009
La canción de la semana #179
...is Mi Playa by Ely Guerra.
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Te regalo mi sol, mi luz, mi playa |
19 julio 2009
La canción de la semana #178
...is Quitapesares by Colombian joropo band Cimarrón.
Hailing from the vast Orinoco plains which stretch from Colombia into Venezuela, joropo is a fast traditional rhythm played on harp, bandola and cuatro accompanied by bass, cajon and maracas. Cimarrón fire up flawless virtuosity with a heart-stopping sense of drama.
Mondomix
Cimarrón plays at WOMAD Charlton Park on 24 July. For more unusual and beautiful music, check out Catrin Finch & Cimarrón.
12 julio 2009
La canción de la semana #177
Acaramelao by Yumurí y sus Hermanos. This song opens The Rough Guide to Cuban Street Party album.
05 julio 2009
La canción de la semana #176
Enjoy Que Lindo Suena from Nuevos Sonidos Afro Peruanos, a debut album of Radiokijada. The band was co-founded by Rodolfo Muñoz and Christoph H Müller of Gotan Project. According to Charlie Gillett's review,
A kijada (also spelled quijada) is made from a donkey's jaw, used as a percussion instrument in Peru for centuries by former African slaves and wielded here by Rodolfo Muñoz, reportedly trained at the Conservatory of Havannah in Lima. Having seen Rodolfo in action, I can vouch that he is unlike your stereotypical conservatory graduate, making formidable sounds with both his voice and his instrument's rattling teeth while prowling the stage with menacing intent.
Radiokijada will play at WOMAD Charlton Park on 25 July.
27 junio 2009
La canción de la semana #175
In his feature on Cuba, Jan Fairley writes (Songlines #60, 2009, p. 27):
The misleading mythology of Ry Cooder as the prince who kissed back to life the princess (music), who had pricked her finger on the revolutionary spinning wheel, has blinded people to the fact that, not only was there always new music in Cuba, but the old music never stopped to be played to the older generation in clubs and classic hotels. While no one doubts the beauty of the music itself, the negative effect of the popular revival of Buena Vista sounds for audiences outside Cuba is that tourists arrive on the island expectig all Cuban musicians to be 'old' and hear Chan Chan everywhere. Cuban musicians puzzle as to why retro-romantic, pre-revolutionary music sung by a bunch of veterans appeals to a worldwide audience, while Cubans participate in more vital styles created by NG La Banda, Cándido Fabré, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, Haila and a host of others.
It's a shame none of these musicians were featured in this blog — until now, that is. This week's song is El Trágico by the creators of timba: NG La Banda.
21 junio 2009
La canción de la semana #174
...is Mírame sung by Eleftheria Arvanitaki (Ελευθερία Αρβανιτάκη) and Buika. This song appears on Arvanitaki's new album of the same name.
14 junio 2009
La canción de la semana #173
...is El Cuarto de Tula as performed by the legendary Buena Vista Social Club.
En el barrio La Cachimba se ha formado la corredera, |
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07 junio 2009
La canción de la semana #172
Incredible as it is, but so far this blog did not feature a single song by the great Peruvian singer Susana Baca. I am going to correct this oversight of mine right now and here with Chabuca Granda's classic, María Landó, from Susana Baca's 2001 album Lamento Negro.
31 mayo 2009
La canción de la semana #171
...is Tú Te Vas performed by Zulú 9.30 and guest vocalist Amparo Sánchez of Amparanoia. This song appears on the band's new record, Huellas.
23 mayo 2009
La canción de la semana #170
...is Yo No Quiero Trabajar by the London-based band Peyoti For President. On 31 May 2009, they will support the stars of my previous post, Ojos de Brujo, at Roundhouse, Camden.
16 mayo 2009
La canción de la semana #169
Continuing with flamenco: Todos Mortales from Aocaná, the new album from my old favourites, Ojos de Brujo.
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10 mayo 2009
La canción de la semana #168
This week, I chose a flamenco song, even though sung mostly in Arabic: Ech Edani by Algerian singer, songwriter and guitarist Souad Massi, from her second album Deb ("Heartbroken").
03 mayo 2009
La canción de la semana #167
When I was looking at the harbour of Corralejo, I did notice a boat named Celia Cruz. It was one of the boats going to Isla de Lobos daily. This made me to realise that I never posted on this blog a single song by the artist who was known as "Queen of Salsa". I can't think of any song that is associated with Celia as much as La vida es un carnaval.
27 abril 2009
Naming names
According to Lonely Planet's Canary Islands Travel Guide, 4th edition, p. 31:
Although the term Canario has come to designate all of the islanders, it once referred more strictly to the people of Gran Canaria alone (now more often as not referred to as Grancanarios or Canariones). The people of Tenerife are Tinerfeños; those of Lanzarote are not Lanzaroteños but Conejeros; Fuerteventura, Majoreros (from the Guanche name for much of the island, Maxorata); La Gomera, Gomeros; and El Hierro, Herreños.
Unfortunately, this text misses Isla de La Palma, whose inhabitants, I believe, should be named Palmeras (f) and Palmeros (m).
26 abril 2009
17 abril 2009
La canción de la semana #165
...is Cumbamba played by the legendary Ray Barretto (1929—2006) and his band.
04 abril 2009
La canción de la semana #164
Orlando "Cachaíto" López, who died on 9 February 2009 in Havana, was a Cuban double bass player who appeared on each of Buena Vista Social Club records and took part in every BVSC tour since 1997 till 2008. His motto was "siempre con swing". This week's theme, Tumbanga, co-written by and featuring Miguel "Angá" Díaz and Hugh Masekela, is taken from his only solo album, Cachaíto, which won the Best Artist in the Americas category of the BBC Radio 3 Award for Word Music in 2002.
27 marzo 2009
La canción de la semana #163
It is great to see my (and this blog's) favourite artists in Songlines Music Awards 2009 list of nominees: Lila Downs (in Best Artist category), Ska Cubano (in Cross-Cultural Collaboration) and Buika (in Newcomer category). However, until now, I never heard (of) Los Desterrados, the London-based "Sephardic flamenco fusion" collective who were nominated as the Best Band. This week's song, Mi Suegra, La Negra, opens the band's new album, Miradores.
17 marzo 2009
La canción de la semana #162
According to the Wikipedia,
Africando is a musical project formed in 1992 to unite New York-based salsa musicians with Senegalese vocalists... the goal of Africando was to merge salsa rhythms from both sides of the Atlantic, mainly based on the African salsa tradition.
This week's song is Ntoman featuring the legendary Malian singer Salif Keita.
Kirill
07 marzo 2009
La canción de la semana #161
The music of Señor Coconut (Uwe Schmidt, resident of Santiago de Chile) is so ridiculous that it is simply great. He takes the international rock and pop hits and makes a Latin party out of them. Here, listen to Humo en el Agua played as Cha-Cha-Cha and you will forget the original. More Coconut, please.
01 marzo 2009
28 febrero 2009
La canción de la semana #160
No, I did not run out of Spanish-language music, it is just I have an urge to share with you some, I'd say, mesmerising jazz experience. Last week I was in Barcelona and my friends took me to Jamboree to see Clara Sallago Quartet (actually, a quintet: Marcel·lí Bayer was playing sax). One of the songs they were performing was Love me or Leave Me.
Kirill
22 febrero 2009
Flamenco Festival London 09
This year, the Flamenco Festival in Saddler's Wells features Antonio Gades' Carmen, Ballet Nacional de España, Rocío Molina, Estrella Morente and Eva Yerbabuena. Fantastic.
Kirill
La canción de la semana #159
Cuba Te Llama, from the album Night of the Living Mambo by Mamborama. (According to founder Bill Wolfer, he came across the name "Mamborama" in Vienna but since has discovered that Tito Puente had an album by the name of Mamborama! back in '50s.)
Kirill
15 febrero 2009
La canción de la semana #158
This week, it's Chick Corea's Spain. There are zillion interpretations of this composition, starting from the original (and still awesome) 1972 version from Light as a Feather and right through this 2006 duo of Chick and Hiromi Uehara. Now, can anyone point me to free sheet music of Spain on the web?
Kirill
08 febrero 2009
La canción de la semana #157
Descarga total (listen and watch the video!) from the album of the same name by the Cuban flautist and bandleader Orlando "Maraca" Valle. Maraca appears on VI Tampere International Salsa Festival — thanks to him, now I know that such thing exists.
Kirill
01 febrero 2009
La canción de la semana #156
...is Teach The Children performed by Katiuska, El Medico and Kuva Man To Man. This song appears on Reggaeton: the Cuban Revolucion and, as you may hear for yourself, features an interpolation of Pink Floyd's "We don't need no education". The message, however, is very different.
Kirill
25 enero 2009
La canción de la semana #155
If there is one place in the world that can be credited for giving birth to the musical phenomenon of salsa, it is Spanish Harlem.
So opens the review of Spanish Harlem Orchestra published by the Australian webzine Diaspora World Beat. This week's song is En El Tiempo del Palladium — a tribute to the famous Manhattan’s Palladium Ballroom, "the home of the mambo" — from SHO's 2007 album United We Swing.
Kirill
17 enero 2009
La canción de la semana #154
...is Magia Rumbera, from the album of the same title, by the Mexican singer and actress Dulce María.
Kirill
11 enero 2009
La canción de la semana #153
I can't think of any better performer to start this year with than my absolute favourite singer Lila Downs. This week's song is Ojo de Culebra from her recent album, Shake Away/Ojo de Culebra, where she is joined by La Mari of Chambao. (To explain the double name: the album also features the English version of the same song, Shake Away.)
Kirill
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