In a twist, the album also includes orchestral versions of hits by Alejandro Sanz, Juan Luis Guerra, Marco Antonio Solís and Maná’s lead singer Fher Olvera, but instead of featuring them on vocals, they play instruments: Sanz the flamenco guitar, Guerra the acoustic guitar, Olvera his harmonica and Solís the percussion.
As for Vallín, he used 16 guitars for his opus, including that 1965 Fender Stratocaster pre-robbery, along with electric Gibson and Les Paul guitars, acoustic guitars by Conde and Ramirez and even a medieval lute.
“Whatever worked best for the moment,” says Vallín, who has long had a partnership with Gibson and this year will release his own Sergio Vallín Les Paul. “More than an homage to the guitar, it’s an homage to musicians and music itself,” says Vallín, who also invited violinist Ara Malikian, guitarist Berta Rojas, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and his own musician children to perform in the album.
A long-overdue collaboration within the Dominican music scene, Natti Natasha kicks off 2021 teaming up with Prince Royce on “Antes Que Salga El Sol.” As opposed to what fans thought a collab would sound like between the two a romantic bachata Natti and Royce take a different route with a feel-good reggae-infused urban bop. The track, produced by DJ Luian, Mambo Kingz and Rafael Salcedo Neneto,” is about two people who are looking for a good time after reconnecting. An enchanting music video, filmed in Miami by Carlos Perez of Elastic People, shows the beauty of opposites attracting.
Junior H, “La Bestia” (Warner Music Latina/Rancho Humilde)
Rise Of Regional Latin Music: Mexican Music Genres
Here, we break down how global streaming operations like Deezer, YouTube, Pandora, and others are helping to push Mexican genres of music such as Mariachie, Banda, and Corrido into the global mainstream!
by
[PART 1] in a post-Despacito world, many may think reggaetón is the only genre achieving international success. In reality, a diverse musical world has been thriving for decades. In our July 2019 deep dive on Latin American “trigger cities,” we examined the most recent “Latin explosion” in the English-speaking world. Now, at the start of 2021, Latin artists continue to rake in big numbers, even in non-Spanish speaking markets like the US, Italy, and France.
December 22, 2020 7:00 AM
(Photo illustration by Chava Sanchez LAist)
In a fit of nostalgia, I found myself scrolling through social media recently, trying to find covers of Navidad Sin Ti
, a classic Spanish Christmas-themed ode to lost love.
As a kid, the original song performed by iconic Mexican grupo Los Bukis, was such a part of Christmas that I sometimes felt like I could see frontman Marco Antonio Solís himself floating through the halls of my Tia Ramona s in a crisp white suit, casually devastating us with his perfect pitch and melancholy lyrics about being lonely on Christmas and remembering the day that I lost you.