8 posts tagged “salsa”
maestro Johnny Pacheco
from Celia Cruz's last album, released a few months before she died in 2003 at age 78. the song is a remake; it was originally released in the 1960's and it was one of Celia's signature tunes
the video (remix version) shows the influence of hip-hop in traditional latinoamerican music.
another by Ruben Blades and his band, Seis del Solar
Mack the Knife, aka The Ballad of Mack the Knife, originally Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, is a song composed by Kurt Weil with lyrics by Bertold Brecht for The Three Penny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper). the song has enjoyed popularity for almost 80 years, being covered by many, many performers.
Ruben Blades, the Panamenian singer and composer (sorry, Drude for making you homesick for Panama), recreated "Mack the Knife" as "Pedro Navaja" in 1970s Bronx. it is a great song.
the lovely Ella and the Duke
*sorry for the lack of cover art. I've had this for ages and can't locate the album it originally came from
salsa music originated in the Puerto Rican enclaves of New York.
on this my third year playing along with National Blog Posting Month - yes, hotrod, the name sucks. whaddaya gonna do - thought I'd try something a bit different, blogging on a theme. quite different from my previous nablopomo attempts, and hell, my blog overall, which is all over the fucking place.
so for this theme approach, I'll be digging into the side of my music collection that is not seen much in VOX: music from several Latin American countries, from different periods and musical styles.
again, I don't much trust to be successful at doing this, but the rough outline is four weeks with a different focus each:
week 1 - traditional Cuban son, boleros, Puerto Rico big bands (mostly 1940s-1960s)
week 2 - salsa, Nueyorican sound (1970s-1980s, some later and current)
week 3 - protest songs, the Nueva Trova de Cuba (1970-1990s, some later)
week 4 - Brazil - Tropicalia, samba, bossa nova (1950s-current)
things that don't fit anywhere else - tango, for example
we'll see what happens
this should have been a better movie. it could have been about New York's "Nuyoricans", their cultural and musical impact. it could have been about Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon and how they revolutionized the Caribbean traditional "son".
instead, El Cantante has no theme, no plot. in the surface is a recollection of the great salsa singer Hector Lavoe, by his widow, Puchi (played by Jennifer Lopez) and told in flashbacks. what results is a whole lot of Lopez as Puchi screaming and emoting while managing dozens of wardrobe changes and as many hairstyles. in between we get to see Lavoe (played by Marc Anthony) perform several of his hits, solo and as part of Fania All-Stars. Anthony is a highly accomplished salsa singer, but he puts aside his personal style to channel Lavoe and succeeds.
the movie does have some (unintended) hilarious moments: Puchi, even though born in NY, speaks with a thick Spanish accent at the (chronological) beginning of the film; this accent disappears during the mid-part, only to return with a vengeance as the old Puchi reminisces. in one of many scenes showing Lavoe's increasing drug use, we are told that Lavoe's bandleader, Willy Colon, can "shoot heroin, but you know, manage it". as if.
the movie is worth watching it for Anthony's musical performance.
a couple of songs from the movie:
and some tunes by Hector Lavoe:
