Last March 18, the L.A. multicultural funk band Ozomatli ended its show at Austin, Texas’s Exodus club during the annual South By Southwest (SXSW) festival by leading the audience in a traditional samba line around the club, a customary conclusion to its rousing and kinetic performances. But that night, as…
Those who know Colombian band Aterciopelados will understand that singer Andrea Echeverri’s solo project is also part of their evolution. The ten-year-old pop-rock band that emerged in the mid-Nineties as one of MTV Latin America’s favorite acts with pan-regional appeal is now on hiatus, and most of the members’ energy…
Less than 24 hours before he appeared at a July 14 press conference at the Mayan, a nightclub in downtown Los Angeles, to announce the nominees for the 2004 Latin Grammy Awards, Gabriel Abaroa, president of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, talked about his organization’s signature event…
It’s kind of hard to get through the shield Nuyorican pop superstar Robi Dräco Rosa uses to protect himself from questions about his shifting public persona over the past two decades. “Who knows? Who cares?” spits Rosa. Using “perception” as a key word, he methodically disses all kinds of speculations…
SUN 6/13 Everyone knows the tale of the goose that laid the golden egg. As a conduit to wealth, at least in that legend, geese seem to get plenty of respect. Running far behind are ducks. In real life, they’re the dopey birds that float on water but can barely…
What’s next for Bebel Gilberto? That was the question posed by many impressed by her acclaimed debut album Tanto Tempo (2000), a delicate bossa nova update dominated by the cut-and-paste mentality of producers such as Amon Tobin and Suba, and the reported 1.2 million copies it sold in the world…
With Infame (Infamous), Babasonicos — the proud holder of six 2004 Gardel Awards, the Argentine equivalent of the Grammy — establishes itself as one of the top performers in that country and takes the crown as Argentina’s most innovative export. It is funny, though, that the altrock sextet, obsessed with…
Aside from being a clever album title and a symbol for optimism in a country that continues to recover from its 2001 economic collapse, “Argentinidad al Palo” (“Hardcore Argentinism”) is a great song on which party rock octet Bersuit epitomizes the myth of Argie superiority over the rest of the…
SAT 4/24 Alejandro Sanz was selling out stadiums in Mexico when 10 terrorist bombs exploded this past March in Madrid. While watching the terrible images on television of hundreds killed and wounded, he recognized the backdrop: the houses of old friends, the station where he used to catch the fast…
Since first forming 22 years ago, Brazilian rock band Os Paralamas do Sucesso (the Fenders of Success) has had its share of success after emerging in the mid-Eighties as one of South America’s hottest exports. But on February 4, 2001, the trio nearly disintegrated, its heart broken. While flying his…
FRI 2/27 Now that Sex and the City is off the air, actor/dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov is screwed. He has to find something else to do besides playing a moody artist who beds Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw and whisks her away to Paris. Well, it seems the 55-year-old Russian…
Born in Sevilla, Spain, rapper María “La Mala” Rodríguez represents a new breed of European artist. She tells sordid stories about life in the hood, surrounded by dealers, drugs, and all kinds of toughs, while carrying over flamenco’s dramatic flourish. La Mala’s second studio album, Alevosía (Deliberate), offers her ragged…
In the streets of Barcelona, Spain, the word barí means “gem.” Barí was the name alternative combo Ojos de Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard) gave to its second album before critics all over Europe began using the same word to describe the songs on it. Shiny and pure like a…
Since it was established in 1998, the Grammy Awards category for Latin Rock Alternative Album of the Year has been a litmus test, deciding which of the genre’s hottest artists is ready to break into the bigger and juicier U.S. market. Mexican rockers Maná won the award twice for its…
Like many Mexicans who are thriving against the odds in the United States, Francisco Gomez cannot believe his good luck. Akwid, the rap duo featuring him and his older brother Sergio, has been in the top twenty of the Billboard Latin album chart for the past 30 weeks, and Proyecto…
After several years spent slogging away, Miami drum and bass and meta-hop band Council of the Sun will finally celebrate the release of its debut album, Six Degrees of Culture, with a brief gig to bolster the birth of the Colusana Foundation, a nonprofit group that will benefit South Americans…
FRI 1/23 Twenty years after breaking up eclectic rock trio The Police, Sting is hotter than ever. Credit his new album Sacred Love, where his delicate exchange with Mary J. Blige almost allows people to forget other unfortunate duets, e.g. backing up P. Diddy. Also credit Broken Music, his autobiography…
“We are proud to be a Miami band,” says drummer Toto González after taking part in a round of spoken dreams, wishes, and resolutions for the new season with his band, Sóniko. The Latin altrock quartet is about to celebrate its third anniversary in February; as a graduation party of…
The release of Kinky’s sophomore album, Atlas, perpetuates Mexico’s domination over the rest of the Latin American rock scene. It reflects the band’s determined search for an organic dance rock sound that feels way more vivid than the original set of loops, samples, and prerecorded songs it presented on its…
Argentine rock star Gustavo Cerati was supposed to perform solo in Miami for the first time last October, as part of an ambitious mix of DJs and Latin alternative acts at the American Airlines Arena, but the megafest was cancelled at the last minute without explanation. “Miami has always been…
THUR 11/13 Stupid New York. Stupid Macy’s parade. They get all the fun. Enormous puppets bouncing down the street, in between the Woody Woodpecker and Snoopy balloons. But perhaps Pia Fraus can help. The world-traveling Brazilian theater company returns to Miami to perform Animals of Brazil, featuring Macy’s-sized puppets –…
SUN 11/16 The first and probably last Argentine rock star, the man who reinvented the hotel-trashing role reserved for the very few, Charly García (below), will be in town for Rock En Miami II at noon at Bayfront Park (401 Biscayne Blvd.). He’ll bring his band, which will mean lots…
