Where can I find traditional latin american music online?
September 5, 2009 3:35 PM   Subscribe

Where can I find traditional latin american music online?

Yesterdays post on the blue about the British Library's world music archive got me to wondering where I can find a good online source for traditional Latin American music. I don't have any requests in terms of content, nor country of origin, as variety is the point of this exercise. So cumbias, boleros, tangos, sambas, son, huayños, norteños, and more are all in play. I would prefer field recordings to studio sessions, but am open to suggestions. Links to archives or university collections are preferrable, but if you know of a recording you would like to champion I'm all ears.
posted by lilnemo to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: The Rough Guide series of CDs is about the best was to get to know various kinds of music. They've put out about 240 CDs.

http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/labels/rough2_guide.shtml
posted by yesno at 4:17 PM on September 5, 2009


Sorry, they're not "online" unless you want to pay for them, but they really are good.
posted by yesno at 4:17 PM on September 5, 2009


Best answer: The Smithsonian Folkways Global Sound Archive, available through universities, is one of your best options, I think.
posted by umbú at 6:19 PM on September 5, 2009


Best answer: Also, here is an amazing Brazil-specific resource. It is an on-line archive of recordings from an influential 1938 Mission of Folkloric Research, sponsored by Mario de Andrade--basically the equivalent of the Lomax recordings in the U.S..
posted by umbú at 6:23 PM on September 5, 2009


Best answer: Here are a couple more links:

Esquina Rumbera looks like a good Cuban rumba blog with lots of videos.
This is John Murphy's blog, with good links and videos regarding Brazilian music. Murphy wrote the book Music in Brazil.
You mention traditional music, but most of your examples also fall into the category of commercial popular music, so it's worth mentioning the site Cliquemusic. This is a very comprehensive site with lots of information and samples of Brazilian popular music, and it has at least some of its content translated into English.
posted by umbú at 8:25 PM on September 5, 2009


You will find some of this on Emusic
posted by canoehead at 9:10 AM on September 6, 2009


Best answer: Todo Tango, available in English or Spanish after an annoying ad, is the best internet site for tango history, lyrics, scores, and yes, streaming audio. The streaming capability works fine for me in IE, but not in Firefox for some reason.
posted by dr. boludo at 9:55 AM on September 6, 2009


Response by poster: Awesome stuff. So far Brazil and Cuba are represented, anyone know of any sources of Argentinian, Chilean, or Peruvean music?
posted by lilnemo at 1:09 PM on September 6, 2009


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