Castillian Music similar to Juanes?

September 19, 2009 1:00 AM

LivingAbroadFilter: Help me mimic the Castillian accent through music!

I love the music of Juanes, but I am trying to learn the Castillian accent. Most of the sources for Spanish music that I like, and have found, do not have it.

Can anyone help me out? Much appreciated!

posted by PaulingL to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

It's true that most Spanish-language music you'll find will be from Latin America (unsurprisingly, given that most of the Spanish-speaking population is there) and thus lack distinción and the other phonetic features associated with Peninsular Spanish, so this kind of thing can be a little tough to find in the US, but I enjoy the music of La Oreja de Van Gogh a lot. They changed lead singers recently, but both Amaia Montero (the old one) and Leire Martínez (the new one) are pretty strong examples of the features associated with Peninsular Spanish: distincíon, la jota española, etc. Their music is pop/pop-rock roughly comparable to Juanes. They have several albums that are available on US iTunes, and if you find you like Amaia she has a solo album out there as well (I haven't listened to it yet, myself.)
posted by Kosh at 7:38 AM on September 19

Also, just noticed the LivingAbroad filter and looked at your post history, so I assume you're actually in Spain now and thus the "in the US" stuff doesn't apply. Oops. :) That may make it easier, though, since you can just go out to the store and buy stuff...
posted by Kosh at 7:49 AM on September 19

That song rocks, Kosh! Definitely has a "Spain" accent... and a great beat! The only thing lacking (for me) is the hard "j" and "ge/gi" sound, which I am finding difficult to apply.
posted by PaulingL at 1:04 PM on September 19

Juaquin Sabina is a singer / songwriter/ poet. . I would go so far as to call him the Spanish Leonard Cohen. Here is his web site.
posted by adamvasco at 1:14 PM on September 19

Do you specifically want Castillian, as in Castilla-La Mancha, or do you mean Spain in general? I came in here to recommend La Oreja de Van Gogh (whose vocalists Montero and Martínez are Catalan and Basque, respectively), but if you mean just general Spain, besides them, a few I enjoy, (all well-known enough to not give you any trouble):

Bebe
Amaral
El sueño de Morfeo

I didn't give specific titles, just poke around a bit as each have songs in different styles and tempos.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:46 PM on September 19

There's also Macaco and Bebé, both on YouTube and iTunes.
posted by PatoPata at 10:55 AM on September 20