Spanish music filter: recommend me music (especially salsa/reggaeton/cumbia)
April 17, 2010 1:45 AM Subscribe
Recommend me groups, cd's, songs, whatever of popular spanish music acts, especially anything or anyone you'd expect to hear in a club. Maybe you can give an inkling as to the relative quality (that is to say, if someone were you post this thread about english music, you might say "lady gaga is better than keisha, but you're gonna hear both in a club)
Assume I've heard of no one (except Shakira, Julieta Venegas, Calle 13, Daddy Yankee)
So I would ask you, where are you?
Because what you might listen in a club in LA, will be completely different
from what you might hear in Miami or in NY.
And also very different if you are actually in a latin country.
Now, there is "latin" music that has made the jump into "international". Shakira (being
from Colombia) is a perfect example. So if you are in the US, what you will most likely
hear is prediminantly the pop stuff that has made it there. I suggest looking at MTV Latino or maybe the latin billboard, and you will most likely find out what pre-wrapped pop music is hitting the airwaves.
With regards to genres, again I dont know how things are in the US, here in
Latin American countries, a club might have a mix of pop, dance and some reggeaton.
But if you want to hear salsa you need to go to a salsa club, not your regular type club.
Same applies to cumbia. Salsa, cumbia, merengue, ballenato, banda, they are all
region specific. So Puerto Rican Salsa is different from nuyorican, or colombian or cuban or Venezuelan Salsa. Again, this ties into your question because in different regions, clubs will be playing predominantly their regional stuff. And with Salsa, there's your classic all time bands (Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johny Pacheco, Sonora Matancera, Sonora Dinamita, Orquesta Guayacan, Grupo Niche, Willie Colon, Oscar D'Leon. Ray Barretto) , and the newish type of stuff (N'Klabe FT Voltio, Nicky Jam, La Constelacion, Luis Enrique, etc) , so theres also a lot of subjectivity there.
My suggestion? Hit your local clubs, and just start asking about songs you like. I do that all the time. That's the best way to learn.
posted by theKik at 6:47 AM on April 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Because what you might listen in a club in LA, will be completely different
from what you might hear in Miami or in NY.
And also very different if you are actually in a latin country.
Now, there is "latin" music that has made the jump into "international". Shakira (being
from Colombia) is a perfect example. So if you are in the US, what you will most likely
hear is prediminantly the pop stuff that has made it there. I suggest looking at MTV Latino or maybe the latin billboard, and you will most likely find out what pre-wrapped pop music is hitting the airwaves.
With regards to genres, again I dont know how things are in the US, here in
Latin American countries, a club might have a mix of pop, dance and some reggeaton.
But if you want to hear salsa you need to go to a salsa club, not your regular type club.
Same applies to cumbia. Salsa, cumbia, merengue, ballenato, banda, they are all
region specific. So Puerto Rican Salsa is different from nuyorican, or colombian or cuban or Venezuelan Salsa. Again, this ties into your question because in different regions, clubs will be playing predominantly their regional stuff. And with Salsa, there's your classic all time bands (Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johny Pacheco, Sonora Matancera, Sonora Dinamita, Orquesta Guayacan, Grupo Niche, Willie Colon, Oscar D'Leon. Ray Barretto) , and the newish type of stuff (N'Klabe FT Voltio, Nicky Jam, La Constelacion, Luis Enrique, etc) , so theres also a lot of subjectivity there.
My suggestion? Hit your local clubs, and just start asking about songs you like. I do that all the time. That's the best way to learn.
posted by theKik at 6:47 AM on April 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm old, functionally monolingual, and my musical tastes are very ecto, so this isn't a list of what the kids are listening to today. But it's Spanish-language pop I like.
A friend turned me on to Rosana a while back after hearing her in Spain. She's folksy and has a great voice, definitely not club music - but then a different friend said that a couple of her songs are icons at clubs and karaoke bars in Chile, especially this one.
I never liked Gloria Estefan until I heard her singing in Spanish - then I became a fan. She does some great, relatively traditional Cuban stuff. Not "club music" in the sense most people mean when they say that, but definitely the sort of music played in certain clubs.
My wife is a bilingual teacher and a while back I took a chance and got her a Rosario Flores CD as a present. Meh. A lot of her stuff is folksy and her voice doesn't carry it; her up-tempo stuff like this link is better.
Same gift-buying occasion, picked up Niña Pastori, and I liked her a bit more. More pop, less folk.
Manà is often mentioned in this sort of conversation, but I've never gotten into them personally. Sort of alt-rock, male vocals.
I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for, but hopefully there's some stuff here that you'll like nonetheless. Thanks for asking - I'll be watching the other answers for new stuff to check out.
posted by richyoung at 7:46 AM on April 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
A friend turned me on to Rosana a while back after hearing her in Spain. She's folksy and has a great voice, definitely not club music - but then a different friend said that a couple of her songs are icons at clubs and karaoke bars in Chile, especially this one.
I never liked Gloria Estefan until I heard her singing in Spanish - then I became a fan. She does some great, relatively traditional Cuban stuff. Not "club music" in the sense most people mean when they say that, but definitely the sort of music played in certain clubs.
My wife is a bilingual teacher and a while back I took a chance and got her a Rosario Flores CD as a present. Meh. A lot of her stuff is folksy and her voice doesn't carry it; her up-tempo stuff like this link is better.
Same gift-buying occasion, picked up Niña Pastori, and I liked her a bit more. More pop, less folk.
Manà is often mentioned in this sort of conversation, but I've never gotten into them personally. Sort of alt-rock, male vocals.
I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for, but hopefully there's some stuff here that you'll like nonetheless. Thanks for asking - I'll be watching the other answers for new stuff to check out.
posted by richyoung at 7:46 AM on April 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not club music, but these are a couple of bands working with roots music (flamenco / tango) in a modern context:
Ojos de Brujo
Bajofondo
posted by omnidrew at 7:52 AM on April 17, 2010
Ojos de Brujo
Bajofondo
posted by omnidrew at 7:52 AM on April 17, 2010
Response by poster: I'm in Uruguay, which has a club music scene similar to the variety you'd find in Argentina, I suppose. I guess I framed the question as club music, but it can be spanish club music from anywhere. I just want to get more versed in these genres.
posted by wooh at 9:18 AM on April 17, 2010
posted by wooh at 9:18 AM on April 17, 2010
Response by poster: theKik: you make some great points. I'm looking for more stuff you'd hear in South America, but really, anywhere. Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina. The location is key, though, of course!
posted by wooh at 9:39 AM on April 17, 2010
posted by wooh at 9:39 AM on April 17, 2010
I'm afraid I don't have a clue regarding local stuff in Uruguay.
But a very good source for music is cable, as I mentioned earlier.
These channels (from Direct TV- I assume can be found in Uruguay)
have actually good content:
# 264 MTV Latino Central
# 268 VH1 Latino
# 269 Quiero Música en mi Idioma
# 270 MuchMusic Argentina
# 272 HTV
# 274 TeleHit
# 276 Ritmoson Latino
Telehit and Ritmoson are probably your best bets here.... You can ramp up
pretty fast in latin club music listening these.
posted by theKik at 11:50 AM on April 17, 2010
But a very good source for music is cable, as I mentioned earlier.
These channels (from Direct TV- I assume can be found in Uruguay)
have actually good content:
# 264 MTV Latino Central
# 268 VH1 Latino
# 269 Quiero Música en mi Idioma
# 270 MuchMusic Argentina
# 272 HTV
# 274 TeleHit
# 276 Ritmoson Latino
Telehit and Ritmoson are probably your best bets here.... You can ramp up
pretty fast in latin club music listening these.
posted by theKik at 11:50 AM on April 17, 2010
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posted by melissasaurus at 5:26 AM on April 17, 2010