Here’s some hot underground from London Town that’s been hiding in my bag and it’s just what you need to raise Latin spirits in the bleak mid-winter.
Posts tagged La Linea
Admirers of Daniel Haaksman will know that anything on his Funk Mundial imprint is baile funk quality and this album is a compilation of 16 of the best of them.
Continue reading V/A – Daniel Haaksman Presents Funk Mundial
Abraham the Gypsy had two sons, to Flamenco he said, ‘guard the purity of your sound, it will see you through some bad shit’ and to his other son Rumba Catalana he said ‘mix it up, add a little from here, leave a bit of your sound over there, let’s see how it works out.’ His descendant Peret is the undisputed king of the Rumba shakedown.
Continue reading Peret (La Linea) – Barbican, 2009 (Live Review)
The final event of the La Linea Festival 2007 was destined to be memorable, not merely as a finale to the two-week long showcase of Latin music in London but the also for the pairing of two very different Spanish acts
Continue reading Patriarcas de la Rumba + LaXuLa – Sadler’s Wells (Live Review)
Daughter of bossa nova architect João Gilberto and niece of Chico Buarque (pop legend), Bebel Gilberto’s place in the royal family of Brazilian music should now be secure in its own right with the release of Momento
Amparo Mercedes Sanchez, the creative core of Spain’s Amparanoia, is smiling. I get the impression she smiles a lot, and she has every reason to. Her latest Latin-infused album is flying off the shelves helped by a recent BBC World Music Award and her band pack concert venues as reports of their thrilling live performances spread across Europe. It also means Amparo is very busy.
Susana Baca came to international prominence doing her own thing and in so doing became synonymous with the Afro-Peruvian sound that is now recognised the world over. Travesias sees her gently exploring other directions in music and indulging herself with some inspired collaborations
Amparanoia release their fifth album to an international audience switched on to all things Spanish and a growing fan base off the back of their last album and tour. Their sound is more rocking guitars with Iberian flavours than the more mashed up Ojos de Brujo sound and features a knack for creating hooks.
Natty Bo, frontman of Ska Cubano, is pure old-school showman. He breezes into the interview in his trademark, distinctly ska-like yellow suit, complete with retro white shirt underneath. A matching hat, white shoes and fingers adorned with countless rings as he grins to reveal a metal-capped front tooth…
Continue reading Ska Cubano – Reimagination, Reinvention and Reincarnation
He’s a hell of a favela fella, this Seu Jorge. As founder of Farofa Carioca, he has been active musically for over a decade but it’s acting that has made him a household name through his classic role as Knockout Ned in Cidade de Deus (City of God) and now as the guy who does Bowie covers in Portuguese throughout The Life Aquatic
A diabolical concoction of foot-popping ska, invocations to the ancient Yoruba gods, swinging Latin brass and the results of a fiendish extraction process performed on the kings of mambo make Ska Cubano’s eponymous album an instant party classic.
