Snap and Crackle with Conscious Pop

So many of the pop songs on mainstream radio are about love, money, or — more often than not — absolutely nothing. But within the Latin Pop Album category at the Grammy Awards, Guatemalan-born singer/songwriter and two-time Grammy winner Ricardo Arjona has defied such stereotypes. In the late ’80s, Arjona’s first record label unsuccessfully tried to market him as another run-of-the-mill romantic Latin pop star. But then he left the music scene to become a rural schoolteacher. Five years later, he moved to Buenos Aires to write music more representative of his life. Arjona is well respected among Latin music fans for his socially conscious pop songs, which hark back to his experience as a protest singer.

This Thursday at 8 p.m., Arjona will showcase his 20-year musical career at the American Airlines Arena. Tickets cost $56 to $126.
Thu., July 30, 8 p.m., 2009