...is Yo vengo regando flores by Agustín "Chupa Caña" Rivas as performed by L'Arpeggiata, an early music ensemble led by Christina Pluhar. This song appears on the group's new album La Torre del Oro (out 17 April 2026).
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Luciana Mancini: vocals Vincenzo Capezzuto: vocals Manuel A. Sánchez: cuatro Rafael Mejías: percussion Leonardo Teruggi: double bass Francesco Turrisi: accordion David Mayoral: perussions Sergey Saprychev: percussions Christina Pluhar: musical direction |
...is La Reina del Norte by OKAN, from their 2023 album Okantomi. This song concludes the Cuban-Canadian band's recent Tiny Desk Concert (24 September 2024).
Magdelys Savigne: lead vocals, percussion Camila Cortina: piano, vocals Yissy García: drums Gerson Lazo-Quiroga: bass, vocals |
Why, I was sure that I had already posted this clip by Laritza Bacallao some 10 years ago... But no. Her performance during yesterday's Gala Drag Queen in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria made me check it out. Anyway, it's never too late to share a good carnival song: Que Suenen Los Tambores!
...is the song I first heard on the Radio 3 programme Melodías pizarras (26 November 2022): La Rellena by Dioris Valladares con el Conjunto Típico Cibao.
This song, as heard today at Radio Corazón Tropical, truly made my day: Temperatura ambiente by Enrique Feliz featuring the great late Johnny Ventura (8 March 1940 — 28 July 2021).
| La cerveza se toma bien fria El té se toma caliente Los problemas se toman con calma Y el vino a temperatura ambiente. |
...is Me dejó by Los de Abajo. The band's new album Mariachi Beat is out now.
Watch the band's live performance at Sziget Festival 2012.
Our 400th (!) song of the week is Apriétame asi by Dominican accordionist, singer and composer Lidia María Hernández López, better known as La India Canela.
From the liner notes to her 2008 album, Merengue Típico from the Dominican Republic:
The song that made La India famous in the early 1990s, this merengue is in the mambo-based style that was then just beginning to bring típico back into the public eye. Tho first mambo section starts at about 2:00; a second mambo enters after the next verse, and is filled in with bass and conga solos.
And what solos: short, inventive, fun solos. Electric bass may have replaced marimba in merengue típico bands, but — pay attention! — between 2:52 and 3:04, the bassist Alfonso González Perdomo is doing his fantastic imitation of marimba sound.
Yet another song stuck in my head, yet again thanks to Luisa's zumba class: Suavemente by Elvis Crespo, from his 1998 debut album.
One more catchy merengue that I first heard at Luisa's Zumba class, and when I say "catchy", I mean that it will stay in your head for weeks: Culiquitaca. Or is it Kulikitaka? There are probably as many spelling variants as cover versions, but the definitive Culikitaca is this one by Toño Rosario.
...is Las Mujeres Lo Bailan Bien by Héctor "El Torito" Acosta, performed by Los Toros Band.
...is Magia Rumbera, from the album of the same title, by the Mexican singer and actress Dulce María.
Kirill
I am not trying to compete with Kirill in posting wonderful songs. He does it better than anyone. This song by Juan Luis Guerra is a good exercise to practice the subjunctive. Listen to the song, with lovely pictures and explanations to understand the lyrics, and do the exercises. Clic here.
Have fun.
Elena
