On her sophomore project, "Vagarosa," Brazilian singer-songwriter Céu continues to embrace music from far and wide, reports Reed Johnson:
If you've set foot in a Starbucks lately, chances are you've caught a few bars ofCéu's music. The Brazilian singer-songwriter's self-titled debut album was picked by the coffee chain to be the first release from an international artist featured in its Hear Music Debut CD series.
Critics showered praise, the disc rose to the top of Billboard's world music chart and Céu (pronounced say-u) scored a Latin Grammy nomination for best new artist of 2006 and a Grammy nomination for best contemporary world music album of 2007.
Céu's creamy vocals and camera-friendly looks helped make her the rare foreign chanteuse who can break through the English-language barrier that often blocks world music artists from the U.S. market (she sings almost exclusively in Portuguese). With her much-anticipated follow-up, "Vagarosa," to promote, she's back on tour and has a return engagement Friday at the Roxy.
Mexico City blogger Chilangabacha writes this morning about a Sonoran Norteño group, Los Picadientes del Caborca, coming up with a purely Mexican version of Michael Jackson's classic, “Billy Jean.”
The cover was, of course, crafted as a homage to Jackson, whose memorial service took place in Los Angeles yesterday.
"Since I couldn’t be in Los Angeles to pay my respects, this is how I will thank the man who inspired my first awkward gabacha dance moves," writes the former Los Angeles resident in a blog post entitled "Guillermo Jean."
Cuba's underground reggaeton artists are causing a stir on the Caribbean island, according to this report from Reuters.
Rising star Michael "El Micha" Sierra, 27, records his songs into his neighbour's old computer, and then burns them onto CDs or USB Flash drives and spreads them around town. "With little official support or air time on state-controlled radio, the songs Cuban reggaeton artists record in makeshift studios lined with egg cartons for sound insulation are mostly transmitted though homemade CDs and on computer flash memory sticks.
"That is how the tropical fever of reggaeton is sweeping communist-ruled Cuba, captivating its youth and enraging a cultural establishment alarmed by the vulgarity of some of its lyrics, which include phrases like 'Coge mi tubo' ('Grab my pipe') and 'Metela' ('Stick it in')."
You can watch El Micha letting loose with another reggaeton artist, Pipey, in a video here on YouTube.
Dudamel will take up his new role in Los Angeles in October.
The Venezuelan conductor is the most illustrious graduate of El Sistema, or the System, Venezuela's 34-year-old music tuition program that many regard as a model not only for music instruction but for helping children develop into productive, responsible citizens.
You can watch below a video shot by Reed Johnson last year of El Sistema in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Ever since the Fab Four started playing the Cavern Club in Liverpool, certain rock acts have been linked inextricably with certain cities. It practically defies imagination to picture Lou Reed honing his downtown Manhattan hipster-poet's chops in, say, Yazoo City, Miss., or Kurt Cobain and Nirvana slouching toward grunge-dom while drenched in the sunshine of South Florida, rather than soaking in Seattle's melancholy drizzle, writes Reed Johnson.
For the last 20 years, the definitive Mexico City band Café Tacuba has set a series of high-water marks for progressive Spanish-language rock, collecting critical hosannas along with Grammy awards and other trophies by the truckload.
Constantly innovating while relentlessly assimilating new influences from hip-hop to traditional Mexican regional folk and indigenous music, the quartet — vocalist-guitarist Rubén Albarrán Ortega, keyboardist and guitar player Emmanuel "Meme" del Real Díaz, guitarist José Alfredo "Joselo" Rangel Arroyo and bass player Enrique "Quique" Rangel Arroyo — has shed its musical skin and sprouted new ones as routinely as an iguana.
Last weekend, Cafe Tacuba — the definitive Mexico City band — rocked its hometown in a sell-out gig to more than 55,000 people in the Foro Sol venue.
Rubén Albarrán Ortega, guitarist and vocalist, was a bundle of nervous energy, spinning and jumping around the stage, his long curly hair fanning out around him like a skirt.
And the crowd loved it.
Watch the video for an interview with some of the band members and footage of the concert, and stay tuned to La Plaza for more this Sunday on the Mexican rock oufit that is known around the world.
Cafe Tacuba hits Los Angeles on June 24, where they're scheduled to play the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City.
Colombian singer-songwriter Juan Fernando Fonsecaalready gets the crowds in his native country out of their seats and dancing with his Latin pop songs that blend vallenato and cumbia styles. Now he’s hoping to bring the Fonseca Phenomenon to the States. He sold-out nine of the 12 dates for his U.S. tour, which wrapped Friday.
Earlier this week, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter, known by his surname Fonseca, performed seven songs, including "Te Mando Flores," "Gratitud" and "Arroyito," in front of roughly 200 people at the Grammy Museum in downtown L.A., where he took the honor of being the first Latin artist to perform at the venue.
A judge in Chile has charged a former soldier in connection with the killing, more than 35 years ago, of the popular folk singer Victor Jara, reports the BBC.
The accused man, Jose Adolfo Paredes Marquez, now 54, was an army conscript at the time, the BBC says.
Jara was among thousands of people rounded up in the early days of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's right-wing military coup. He was taken to Santiago's national stadium, tortured and shot.
"These are a few things that you won't hear on 'Travel Tips for Aztlan,' the Saturday-night show of cutting-edge Latin American and Latino music hosted by Mark Torres and Mariluz Gonzalez on KPFK-FM (90.7): Goofy shtick. Canned repartee. Generic Spanish-language pop of the sort that clogs the commercial airwaves and, after the umpteenth rotation, can make enlightened rock en español fans reach for the mescal bottle," writes Reed Johnson in Calender, reporting from Los Angeles.
" 'Unfortunately, Latin radio is 10 years behind. Stop playing Juanes already,' said Torres, who started 'Travel Tips' 14 years ago and has made it the L.A. region's longest-running Latin alternative-rock program."
--Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: “Travel Tips for Aztlan” hosts Mariluz Gonzalez and Mark Torres. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
Mexico City and Puebla were given a shaking this afternoon by a brief but strong earthquake, sending many people (including us here in The Times' Mexico City Bureau) running into the streets.
Details on the consequences of the quake are still emerging. Meanwhile, a Mexican friend sent me the following link to a song by the legendary Chico Che called "Where Did the Earthquake Grab You?"
Here in a city that in the last few months has been plagued by a deadly flu outbreak, recession and an equally strong earthquake just three weeks ago, maybe there's nothing left to do but dance.
Chris Kraul
Mexico City:
Deborah Bonello
Ken Ellingwood
San Diego:
Richard Marosi
Washington:
Nicole Gaouette