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Posts Tagged ‘Latin music’

de otro mundo: Yasmín Levy, Mano Suave

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , on April 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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lost in the wide open: Nora Mirsy, Como Lluvia Fiel

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , on December 27, 2007| 15 Comments »

If politics were not what they are, Cuban artist Nora Mirsy would be well-known to North American audiences, her sound refined by some powerhouse recording empire or another, her pockets quite full of royalties in the manner of a medium-sized talent.

Instead, you need to meet and hear Mirsy at a Cuban hotel like the one whose lobby hosted her on a warm night in Santiago de Cuba in 2006 or the Valentine’s Day celebration in public square of that same city two years hence. She reminded me then of a Latin Tracy Chapman and she does still. The resemblance is not close in formal terms. For me, it exists more at the level of the longing and simplicity that find themselves melded in her voice, a quality I take to be practically a Chapman signature.

Mirsy’s music is scored for a simple conjunto of traditional Cuban instruments.

The final of thirteen tracks of Como Lluvia Fiel is an artistically stirring rendition of the revolutionary paean, Hasta siempre comandante, a staple tribute to Che Guevara.

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pura alegría: Juan Luís Guerra & 4.40: Ni es lo mismo ni es igual

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , on November 3, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Somewhere along the musical pathway that leads up to a splendid, blue-skied Autumn day in America’s midwest, I may have stumbled upon an album that contained more pure joy than Juan Luís Guerra’s Ni es lo mismo ni es igual.

But I can’t for the life of me think what that might have been. (more…)

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Gloria gets ‘tude: Gloria Estefan, Into the Light (import, 1991)

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , on October 6, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Full product information for this item, together with my review, my rating of the product, and any reader comments, can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

She lives parallel lives. And even when she misses, she hits.

These are the thoughts that occur to this long-time Gloria fan upon close and repeated listenings to Into the Light. This 1991 release shows Gloria losing the girl-next-door sweetness and putting on some ‘tude. Some of it doesn’t work. Some of it does. (more…)

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guajiro y carretero: Buena Vista Social Club

Posted in reseña, tagged , , on September 29, 2007| Leave a Comment »

The best thing about Buena Vista Social Club and its musicians is that they are representative. A large, active Cuban musical tradition, of which BVSC is one example, thrives in the hotels and halls of Havana, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba, and the like.

What has happened here is a marketing coup that ought to be celebrated rather than derided, for it has brought the richness of Cuban son to our ears. If it had not come in the picturesque and personality-rich form of Ibrahim, Compay, and their pals, it would have happened via some other coterie of sonistas who looked and sounded much like them. They are everywhere. (more…)

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and she’s beautiful to boot!

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »

This album is for Jaci Velasquez an extraordinary achievement. In it she emerges from the status of a managed star-in-the-making to that of a young woman who really sings. Mi Corazón uses the hit ‘Como se cura una herida’ as its title track, giving Jaci an opportunity to hint at things to come. (more…)

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entre sombra y luz: Luz Casal, Como la flor prometida

Posted in reseña, tagged , , on September 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »

It would be possible for music lovers who do not know this Spanish diva-of-sorts to mistake Como la flor prometida as just another B-class Iberian cd whose best moments ought probably not fly too far from the Iberian peninsula. That would be dead wrong.

Luz Casal virtually stuns with an eclectic zig-zag from track that could almost be considered bizarre but which succeeds at every moment in revealing yet another facet of the lady’s artistry. Luz is a force to reckoned with. (more…)

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mais que palavras bonitas: Ricardo Arjona, 12 Grandes Éxitos

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , on September 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »

This superb collection of the Guatemalan singer’s hits does justice to a musician whose fiercely loyal fan base considers that he sings more than just pretty words. Arjona’s presentation is often spare, which makes it all the more powerful when his orchestration pulls in the big guns (‘Si el norte fuera el sur’). (more…)

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