The Toba are an indigenous group from Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. The Argentian band Tonolec plays tribute to them by mixing some of their traditional songs with Electronic music, producing one of the most inspiring fusions I've heard recently.
Charo Bogarín, the singer, has Guaraní origins. She formed with Diego Perez the band Tonolec in 2002. In 2005 they released their first album, named after the band.
Antonio Zepeda was one of the first Mexican musicians who studied pre-Hispanic music and instruments. Living for long periods with Mexican indigenous people, Zepeda learned about their culture, philosophy and, of course, their music.
He describes pre-Hispanic music with this words:
In the pre-Hispanic cultures, music had a sacred dimension, the instruments themselves were thought to communicate the mortal with the eternal: the caracol, the flute, the huehuetl and the teponaztli, were voices whose origin was attributed to the Gods. The instruments had arrived from the world of deities to cheer up the perishable world.
The vibrant sound of the Colombian bagpipes (or gaita, if you prefer that name) and the voice of Malpelo, a traditional singer from Cartagena and the lead voice of this band, are the elements that I first loved from Curupira. Their wild sound with a touch of rock guitars has made them one of the pioneers of the contemporary folk movement in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.
Created by Juan Sebastián Monsalve, this group has incorporated rhythms from almost all the Colombian regions: the coasts, the Amazon and Orinoco. Its name means ‘jungle spirit’ in Ticuna language. Curupira made its debut with the following song, El Borojó, a fabulous piece about a fruit famous for its use to increase the sexual appetite.
After an intense search through the music from Guyana for several days, Adrian Dutchin came to me as a surprise with a beautiful Christmas song featured in Guyana Music Arts blog. Upon a little internet investigation, I knew this was the Guyanese artists I was looking for. A clever mix of soca rhythms, a very popular style in this country, with influences from R&B and chutney.
At the age of 22, he released his first album titled No limits, after his participation in several bands, including one called Seven which was dissolved. Recently, in 2009, he released an album called Finally. Dutchin was also nominated to the 2009 Accolade awards, nomination which, according to Guayana Music Arts, excited this talented artist. With Adrian Dutchin, Sound Energy Flux now has music from all the South American countries! Yaaayy! :D
Ukamau y ke has been one of my favorite bands lately. Their lyrics denounce social injustice and economic inequality in Bolivia. Their fusion of hip hop with Andean folk music has, likewise, a social reason behind it, namely, the highlighting of the Bolivian culture and heritage, which is slowly getting lost due to the dominance of foreign interests in the media.
In an unfortunate event, Abraham Bojorquez, Ukamau y ke's founder, recently passed away being only 26 years old in a vehicular accident. Abraham headed the Wayna rap movement, which is, in my opinion, one of the most original things that has happened to Latin American hip hop, featuring rapping in Aymara, a native Bolivian language, dressing with traditional Bolivian clothes (as opposed to the American hip hop clothing) and, of course, mixing traditional folk melodies with rap.
It all starts when four friends from Lima who travelled to different parts of the world, Peru, Spain, UK and China, and lived there for many years, returned to Peru to make a musical experiment previously unheard of in their country: Afro-Peruvian rhythms are mixed with dub and other electronic music genres.
Cumbancha rightly describe their music as a search for the common ground between past and future, between tradition and innovation:
Their efforts have also helped bridge the divide between the Peruvian mainstream and the Afro-Peruvian community, a minority population that has struggled against discrimination and the threat of cultural dissolution for generations.
While their sound is futuristic and cutting-edge, the roots of Novalima's music stretch back hundreds of years to the times of slavery and Spanish colonial rule.
This Mexican guitar duo is mainly acclaimed outside of their country, from where they parted while searching for new sonorities and a wider public. Success was waiting for them in Ireland, where their fast and rhythmic playing style felt like home.
The previous song, Ixtapa, is named after a beautiful Mexican town. Being Led Zeppelin fans, they describe this song as “our very own Stairway to Heaven!”. The wild Hungarian violin that joins the guitars in the middle of the piece, is the perfect complement.
Rodrigo y Gabriela were picked by MTV as their Artist of the Week. For this special occasion, they recorded a couple of videos, the following is one of them. Tamacun is the name of an eccentric Mexican who lives in Ixtapa. He is known for handling crocodiles to show them off to tourists, while teaching kids to respect nature.
Today we are celebrating our 100th post in Sound Energy Flux. For this special occasion we want to talk about one of our most loved singers, a figure that has greatly influenced the Colombian rock scene.
Andrea Echeverry used to be an artist who worked in ceramics. She studied arts and made post-graduate studies at the School of Art and Design in Plymouth, UK. But in 1990, when she joined a band called Delia y Los aminoácidos, she started an unexpectedly prolific career as a singer. In 1992, this band turned into Aterciopelados, the most innovative rock band of Colombia and Latin America.
Andrea hasn’t been the typical hot female pop singer. The way she dresses has always been recognized for its extravagance. The strength of her voice, her sincere lyrics and her natural attitude, oppossed to the pop star stereotype, have captivated people and critics around the world.
Her solo album, a tribute to motherhood, was recorded in 2006 after the birth of her first daughter, Milagros. This album, whose lyrics are primarily about maternal feelings, contains the song Lactochampeta, an ode to lactation and a lullaby to her baby.
The following song is an adaptation of Canción Protesta, composed by Andrea. It was performed by various artists who come from many countries around the world, and was part of a campaign of Amnesty International against the impunity in human rights violations.
The following song comes from their sixth studio album, Roots. This album masterfully continued what Sepultura had started in Chaos A.D 3 years earlier, namely, an experimentation with the Brazilian music rhythms that were as far as inviting Carlinhos Brown, a popular Brazilian musician previously featured in this blog, to participate in the co-authoring and vocals of the following song, titled Ratamahatta.
Dancehall Crew is a good example of the Surinamese authenticity. I don’t recommend you to watch the following video if you are easily impressed, since it contains some violent images. The structure of the song is, however, interesting. It starts with one rhythm and, all of a sudden, it turns into another one, in a different tempo. The same thing happens several times during the song. This is something you don’t see often in Reggae music!
Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández, Bola de Nieve, was maybe one of the most charismatic singers of Cuba, an island that has a lot of talented musicians. He didn't have a really good voice, in fact, I think he wasn't a good singer at all. But the strength of his performances, and his expressive facial gestures, were a personal seal that I really liked when I saw an old recording in which he sang and played Ay mama Inés, a traditional Cuban song. His piano melodies were really good and very appreciated by artists like Rita Montaner, who gave him the nickname, or the legendary pianist Ernesto Lecuona, who admired him.
Songs like Drume negrita are a proof of another remarkable feature of his style: a peculiar Afrocuban accent, particular of popular classes in La Habana. Edith Piaf, one of his admirers, said that Bola de Nieve's version of La vie en Rose was the best version ever.
The strength of some tango lyrics has been an enigma for me. I have never understood the Lunfardo, but I have a feeling that the lyrics say something about the people you can find on the streets and their lives. The following song of Daniel Melingo is more understandable to me. That strange slang is used less but preserves that melancholic and vigorous energy that made me feel attracted to the urban nature of tango:
The bizarre lyrics of Melingo tell stories about the underworld of the city of Buenos Aires: the city of the drug addicts, the prostitutes or the criminals, with a touch of black humor and updated to our times.
Daniel Melingo, who was a member of the band ‘Los abuelos de la nada’, is nowadays a poet of tango who sings about the lives of marginal people. The following song, included in his last album ‘Maldito tango’ is an example of his particular style and a tribute to the old poets of Lunfardo slang.
If your answer was Juan Luis Guerra, you are right! Born in Dominican Republic, his career spans more than 20 years, during which he has sold over 20 million records worldwide. His first singles were in the musical style of merengue, a popular dance genre in Latin America.
Bachata, another Dominican music genre, was popularized worldwide by Juan Luis Guerra. Many of his best compositions are a mix of this soft and romantic style with elements of pop, jazz and classical music. The following song is just an example of what happens to an already beautiful genre when it is put in the hands of a genius like him.
The afroperuvian music had been for many years an unknown heritage that was hidden behind the traditional andean music. But in 1995, when David Byrne discovered Susana Baca’s talent, the sounds of instruments like the peruvian cajón were shown to the world, in the disc ‘El alma del Perú Negro’, edited by Luaka Bop, the record label of Byrne.
Born in Chorrillos, the black neighborhood of Lima, Susana Baca grew up in an atmosphere with a high musical richness. Her father was a guitarist, and her aunts sang with the style of Aretha Franklin. Now Susana, a descendant of black and indigenous people, is considered the most important singer of Peru, and the heiress of Chabuca Granda, a legend of the afroperuvian song.
Married with the sociologist Ricardo Pereira, Susana Baca has dedicated her life to the research of the afroperuvian music with him. They published the book ‘El fuego y el agua’, where they included testimonies and documents of this ethnic group and its musical legacy.
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The recordings of these voices were initially in daily places, like kitchens, living rooms or in the streets, but, as the project matured, Duran set up a studio, where he started recording what later became the album titled Umalali: The Garifuna women’s project, available on Amazon.
Many of the songs were composed by the women who sang them, which is something common among the Garifuna people. As Duran explains,
With women, music is more part of their daily lives. They are the bearers of most of the traditions, they are the ones who teach the Garifuna language to the children.
However, Duran made many arrangements, mixing the traditional singing with elements of blues, rock, Latin music and African music, thus creating a warm atmosphere that is able to appeal to a wide audience.
Visit their myspace page to listen to this song in a complete version as well as more awesome songs.
The following song, titled “Nuestro juramento” (Our promise) talks about a promise of love that lasts beyond death. The video is from a biographical movie about Jaramillo, where his role is played by his son Julio Jaramillo Sanchez.
His broad knowledge of music, allowed him to make compositions that ranged from baroque to folk music arrangements. The following work, interpreted by the Colombian guitarist Fernando Ramirez, is one of the finest arpeggio studies for guitar.
Many world-class guitarists were fans of Barrios, with Andrés Segovia, David Russell and John Williams among them. John Williams, who plays the piece Choro da saudade in the following video, said of Barrios:
As a guitarist/composer, Barrios is the best of the lot, regardless of era. His music is better formed, it's more poetic, it's more everything! And it's more of all those things in a timeless way.
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