Don’t say anything about the sophomore curse to Colombian singer-songwriter Juanes. Don’t even mention the followup jinx to Panamanian power trio Rabanes. Each act put out disc numero dos this month, and from the sound of the new material, neither one would have any idea what you were talking about…
Some say the battle has already been won. That the long reign of compas kings T-Vice has come to an end. No, the pretender to the throne is not KDans, Djakout Mizik, or Zin. The upstarts are the newest of the New Generation Compa: Carlo Vieux, Richard Cave, and Mickael…
It’s hard to go wrong with a story by Peruvian master Mario Vargas Llosa. The naughty premise of his novel Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, about an upright military man ordered to start a prostitution service for soldiers quartered in the Amazon, is enough to keep the film adaptation…
Not since Simon & Garfunkel repackaged “El Condor Pasa” with English lyrics has a Peruvian export scored as much play in el Norte as 31-year-old singer-songwriter Gian Marco. Sure Susana Baca’s treatment of Afro-Peruvian tradition makes her the darling of the world-music crowd and alt-rock act Libido has been making…
Sometime past midnight a heavily tinted black Mercedes pulls up to the gate of Circle House, the posh private North Miami recording facility owned by reggae veterans Inner Circle. The driver cracks the window and extends an arm to activate the intercom, his long dreads brushing across his dark skin…
Few have led the life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll bigger or brasher than singer-songwriter Charly Garcia. Yet 30 years after his first bid as founding father of Argentine rock, the 51-year-old rockero is still as out of control as ever — and still recording as prolifically as…
The signs have been there. Urban marketers talk about “skate kids” rather than black kids. The Olympic snowboarders, America’s sweetheart punks, plug into the gnarliest music ever aired at that august competition. And then a soundtrack for the “extreme” video game SSX Tricky shows up in the mail: Run-D.M.C. throwing…
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas are no strangers to Miami International Airport. These rumberos have been favorites on the touring circuit at U.S. college campuses and concert halls since 1992, and more often than not that means spending an hour or four at MIA, pushing carts packed with congas and costume…
Just after midnight on the bus that runs across the MacArthur Causeway from Miami to Miami Beach, aspiring Kentucky trance DJ Soren LaRue and unknown Indiana breakbeat jock APX are sprawled across the handicapped section, backpacks full of promo CDs balanced on their knees. They’ve come to the twelfth annual…
Dean Fields and Emily Easterly never knew each other back home in ole Virginny, though both songwriters sat with a guitar on many a stool around Richmond and sang. Their paths didn’t even cross on campus at the University of Miami’s music school, where both enrolled last fall. The two…
This very expansive Miami Latin Film Festival was once two: the French Hispanic and the Miami Hispanic film festivals, which this year morphed into one, headed by Jaime Angulo. Running from March 22 to 31 at the Regal South Beach cinema, the festival’s 38 films seem to cover the spectrum…
Reading the warning that precedes ¡Caliente!: A History of Latin Jazz, I get the feeling that Luc Delannoy is ready for rocks to fly. “An author who lives in the United States and publishes a history of Latin jazz ought to have politically correct ideas,” he begins. “His survival depends…
Miami may be a noisy place, but it’s not noisy enough for some. So our own beloved Rat Bastard is importing noise acts from abroad. The Flying Luttenbachers come in from Chicago on little cat feet, or more likely in a big dilapidated van, to dump a big heap of…
Guy Primus is what the Reverend Al would call one smart Negro. Elegant in his powder-gray suit and meticulous quarter-inch trim, the handsome young exec can whip through a PowerPoint presentation with the assurance of an Ivy League prof. He boasts two degrees from Georgia Tech. A Harvard MBA. Even…
Around three o’clock Sunday afternoon, March 11, 2001, Manny Rojas savors a glass of Scotch and a cigar. He has been at work since 10:00 the night before — setting up stages and police stands, checking sound systems and visiting vendors. He expects to remain on the job until the…
David Manson doesn’t look like the kind of guy who would mess up your ears. With his neatly trimmed blond hair, sensible shoes, sturdy belt, and pleated khaki pants he could be a model for clean-cut middle-class America; his trombone could be a holdover from any of a thousand Midwestern…
Like a good neighbor, the slogan goes, State Farm is there. And so is Isis, the manager of a team of claims reps here in the insurance company’s South Florida offices. But after hours, the Cuban-American chanteuse offers a different kind of consolation — the kind that fills a smoky…
Like the wide Sargasso Sea, Miami seduces. Here float the detritus of Caribbean disaster and dream: deep undercurrents of Africa, mournful melodies of exile, bright promise of prosperity, shark bite of poverty. Many a composer has floundered, fooled by the shimmering surface into believing it a simple thing to harvest…
When Juan Carlos Diaz left Gold’s Gym in a snit on January 11, hustled out by Emilio Estefan’s bodyguard Tony Almeida, the frustrated actor/singer/escort/masseur made the rounds of local media outlets. The February 2 issue of Spanish-language gossip weekly TVyNovelas reports that a “very agitated” Diaz showed up to vent…
It’s a little-discussed but obvious fact that the movie business is not interested in women over age 40. Not only do statistics show miserable labor stats for mature actresses, but there are precious few films that target older female movie fans. This may be, as many assert, a symptom of…
Not since Nuestra Cosa (Our Latin Thing) — the 1971 film by salsa impresario Jerry Masucci that turned the world on to the Fania All-Stars — has a movie captured the flavor of Nueva York so well as Manito. Director Erik Eason confesses he has never seen the barrio classic…
David Poland is huddled with his cell phone, cinching the deal on one more film. The new director of the FIU Miami Film Festival thought he’d lost Chicken Rice War, a version of Romeo and Juliet set among Singapore food stands. The quirky romantic comedy won the audience award at…
