In New York, as in life, things get interesting at the extremes. The lower tip of Manhattan has yielded American punk rock, while up past 110th Street, Harlem is renowned as the epicenter of African-American culture. Likewise, Spanish Harlem has been a haven for Puerto Ricans and other Latino cultures in New York. And it’s that neighborhood that is fêted on Un Gran Dia en el Barrio, an album unabashedly themed after the success of Buena Vista Social Club. However, unlike the Social Club’s highlighting of acknowledged (if underappreciated) masters of Cuban music, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra chooses instead to focus on the unsung (and somewhat unknown) heroes of Spanish Harlem’s long-flourishing salsa scene. Led by pianist/producer/arranger Oscar Hernandez, this taut group of players invigorates songs both well known (“Llego la Banda”) and less known (“Quaguanco”) with a modern energy. Though some purists may bemoan the dry production–there is little of the raw energy of a live salsa performance here–the end result is a lively peek into a neighborhood that’s often overlooked outside of its own boundaries.
First appeared in the March 2006 issue of Global Rhythm.
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Categories: CD reviews · Music
Tagged: cd review, global rhythm, international, international music, latin, new york, salsa, spanish harlem orchestra
Although this incredibly popular Algerian singer has quite a backlog of excellent material to his name, Departure isn’t the album likely to generate many converts to raï music. The production, by Lilo Fadiddas, is glisteningly sterile, perhaps influenced by Nasro’s current residence in Miami. The not-so-subtle blending of blanched pop and quasi-everything (from reggae to Latin—Fadiddas and Nasro take the most obvious aspects of previously exciting genres and make them lifeless) ends up making Departure both an unacceptable raï album (it’s not ecstatic enough) and an inconsequential pop album (it’s too clichéd). To be sure, the overwrought lyricism and emotional vocal delivery is nothing to scoff at, and some may certainly cotton to this contemporary sound, but in reality, Departure represents all that is wrong with labels trying to break international artists in America by utterly changing the music they make. Some things just don’t translate, and sometimes it’s not a good idea to force a square peg into a round hole. It might work for Enrique Iglesias, but it won’t work for everybody.
First appeared in the March 2006 issue of Global Rhythm.
Buy this CD at Amazon.com
Categories: CD reviews · Music
Tagged: cd review, cheb nasro, global rhythm, international, international music, middle east, rai
