Juanes, Tañón, and others Confirm Concert in Cuba
Posted on 13. Sep, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
The controversial concert to be held in Cuba later this month, which renown singer Juanes is organizing, is is still on despite the intense controversy and the death threats received by the Colombian singer. The controversy is driven by a group within the Cuban community in Miami, which strongly opposes the concert as they see it [...]
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Latin Music use of Social Networking: Series Intro
Posted on 10. Sep, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
In this series of blogs I want to provide you a view of how Social Networking is being used in the Latin music industry as well as in other industries, and explain how I believe fans and music industry professionals can get the most out of social networking sites.
A theme that is constantly debated these [...]
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Latin Music reads for the weekend
Posted on 05. Sep, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
I want to share with you some links to the most interesting Latin music reads I’ve found within the last couple of weeks. There are some interesting articles as well as some good CD recommendations for your Latin music library. Some of these are in English and some in Spanish.
Since the great Cuban singer Benny [...]
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Salsa Music Ups and Downs; Part 3, Salsa Romantica and the Merengue threat
Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
Salsa survived the threat of Rock and Disco in the 1980’s thanks to a mainstream trend in Salsa and to the birth of “Salsa Romántica”. But would this be enough to hold-off the “Merengue” threat of the early 90’s? Merengue took a page from Salsa’s book, and changed its message and its appearance. With these [...]
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Luis Perico Ortiz shines in Peru
Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
The legendary Puerto Rican trumpet player, Luis “Perico” Ortiz was one of the highlights of the “Festival de la Salsa Chim Pum Callao” (Chim Pum Callo Salsa Festival) in Peru. The Puerto Rican maestro and bandleader received excellent reviews for his performance by the Peruvian press and fans. Luis “Perico” Ortiz was accompanied by singers [...]
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Benny Moré: Cuba’s King of Rhythm and Improvisation
Posted on 25. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
Benny Moré revolutionized the Latin music scene with his singing and suberb sense of music. His improvisations while singing, prolific song writting, and his “Giant Band”, made him one of the greats of Latin music. Bartolome Maximiliano Moré Gutierrez, was born a day like today, August 24th, 90 years ago in the neighborhood of “Pueblo [...]
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Salsa Music Ups and Downs: Part 2b – the threat of Rock & Disco
Posted on 18. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
In this blog, I cover the boom of Rock and Disco experienced starting in the mid-1970s and through the 80s, and how this represented a threat for Salsa. Luckily, Salsa was developing a more “mainstream” branch that allowed it to ride the wave through the 80’s.
As I mentioned in my previous Part 2a blog, Salsa started its [...]
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Salsa Music Ups and Downs: Fania All Stars sidebar
Posted on 14. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
I finished the last post with an explanation on the impact the Fania All Stars had in making Salsa popular around the world. As I reflected further on that, I decided this would be a good point to make a parenthesis and focus on the work the Fania All Stars did. I’ll share with you [...]
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Salsa Music Ups and Downs, Part 2-a: The threat of Rock & Disco
Posted on 09. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
Salsa had a popularity boom in the late 1960’s into the early 1970’s only to later have to compete for audience with the booming popularity of rock and disco in the mid to late 1970’s into the early 1980’s. The “Travolta” era, along with some more “mainstream” rock and soul music by bands like Chicago, [...]
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Latin Jazz Corner discussion: Print media ignores Latin Jazz
Posted on 06. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles.
I was reading (and commenting, as I am one that likes to participate in the blog discussions) on a very interesting article written in The Latin Jazz Corner. Chip Boaz (LJC writer/editor) makes the point that Latin Jazz has been ignored by the Jazz magazines, and would like to see that coverage increase for the [...]
