The next video in the salsa fusion series comes from Descarga Caribe of Chicago. This performance was also from the Flava Invasion weekend, and is a combination of salsa and it’s closely related cousin: Afro-Cuban dance. I’ve seen many Afro-Cuban performances, including ones combined with salsa, but this was by far the best one I have ever seen. Enjoy!
Now, this might not really be considered a salsa song, but I was impressed to find a Victor Manuelle as the Free Single of the Week on the (US) iTunes Music store. You can download it for free - Lechón, Lechón, Lechón - Single of the wee
For those looking for the more salsa version of Christmas (Navidad) songs, I would highly recommend you check out some of the most classic salsa songs during the holidays by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe. Here are a few albums to check out:
Here are Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the famous ‘Asalto Navideño’ by Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon.
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And my personal favorite by Daneil Santos, Hector Lavoe and Yomo Toro: “Feliz Navidad”
Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Now, while the movie ‘El Cantante‘ will not win any awards for Best Motion picture by husband and wife duo, there is much to be said for the soundtrack. You can’t go wrong having Marc Anthony, with his terrific vocals, sing some of Hector’s best songs. They have been remastered and cleared up and are always a perfect gift if you haven’t figured out what to give to that special salsa dancer of yours.
I would like to send a thanks to Jan for sending me this link to this article. It talks specifically on the comparison of the salsa scenes portrayed in ‘El Cantante‘ the movie compared to the salsa scenes of today. You can find the article here: Salsa Spins Beyond its Roots.
One of my favorite quotes from the article is when Ms. Torres states: that salsa “...remained a dance of the street, not taught but absorbed“. This reminds me of how must of us learn salsa. While we take lots of salsa lessons here and there, we usually just learn by either asking or watching other dancers at the club. I would have to agree that most of the patterns I end up learning are from observation than anything else. I can look at someone doing a pattern, and decompose it into its ‘fundamental’ elements - and then add my own style to make it my own. It is not a special inherent ability, every dancer develops it in the long run.
Another anecdote that is mentioned in an interview with Mr. Eddie Torres, is why he decided to start teaching dancers to break ‘on 2′.
“There’s something in the rhythm section in a Latin dance called the tumbao,” he said. “It’s a time pattern that the conga player plays, and you’ll hear an accent, and it’s always on the second beat. This is why Tito Puente said breaking on two is natural, there’s a feeling in that beat that you gravitate to.”
and specifically on how today’s dancers are very different than the days before:
“Young salsa dancers are becoming Olympians, athletes in the dance, so they’re not thinking of drinking and doing drugs, like we did years ago.”
..which statement resonates with some of the things we say about how salsa was back in the old days. If you listen to the podcast, you hear us joke around about salsa artists/dancers being alcoholics, doing drugs and going to jail. Well, while it might seem harsh, it was just a known fact - that is the way things were in New York City in that era. Think of it as the current social relation that people have with ‘Hip-Hop’ and ‘Gangsters’, except that back then it was ‘Salsa’.
While I will not continue to paraphrase the article, I do suggest that you read it because it is very well written with some very good points and interviews. I am just happy that salsa is getting more exposure, now with the new Hector Lavoe Movie (and here and here) and this article being in the New York Times - we are starting to take salsa one step further. (pun intended)
Well, just finished watching the interview by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show to Jennifer Lopez about the movie ‘El Cantante‘. She ends up speaking more about the movie. I guess the entire movie is told through Puchi’s eyes, Hector Lavoe’s wife. Now, I am impressed that she is on Leno doing a plug for the movie - which means it will be shown in most theaters. However, with that said, they showed a new clip of the movie, and well, to be truthful, the prospects are not looking good as far as storyline and character development.
For those who don’t know anything about the film, here is the synopsis from Hollywood.com:
“The dramatic-biography of Puerto Rican salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe, one of the biggest Spanish-language singers in the 1970s. The tale follows Lavoe’’s passionate relationship with his love Puchi, and his skyrocket to international fame. But even when he has it all, Lavoe is unable to escape the allure of drugs and his personal pain.“
My only wish for this movie is for people to get to know salsa, it’s history and to know why Hector Lavoe is famous. (I’m now starting to doubt it will do the latter).
Regardless, I’ve started seeing reviews from the movie from the premier:
Can anyone find other good (hopefully positive) reviews?
On a couple of funny sidenotes, the movie was supposed to come out in 2006, but the movie was improved to contain more music (and less acting I guess). Also, Lopez says on the Tonight Show that Marc Anthony forgot to give her a birthday gift.
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