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
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
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
...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
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
...is Magia Rumbera, from the album of the same title, by the Mexican singer and actress Dulce María.
Kirill
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
For me, discovery of this year was Algerian-French singer-songwriter Soha. Her debut album D'ici et d'ailleurs (actually recorded in 2007) is sung mostly in French. However, the opening song, Tourbillon (Serre-moi fort si tu m'aimes) (audio | video | lyrics), is a beautiful mix of French and Spanish.
Dime el amor, dime el cielo |   |
¡Feliz año nuevo, amig@s!
Kirill
This week's song is Hay un son by Orishas, the hip-hop band originally formed by four musicians from Havana. This song appears on their triple (2 CD/ 1 DVD) album Antidiotico.
¡Feliz Navidad!
Kirill
I heard the song Homenaje a Justino on the Top of the World CD of the latest (January/February 2009) issue of Songlines magazine. Web search brought no free music of Grupo Socavón except for this rather poor quality video. This song appears on this wonderful compilation of music from Pacific coast of Colombia, called (unsurprisingly) Pacifico Colombiano.
Kirill
