At the heart of Negroni’s trio are father José Negroni and son Nomar, both hailing from Puerto Rico, plus a rotating pool of guest bassists. They’ve been making strides in the international jazz community since the release of their first CD, Naturaleza/Nature, in 2003. A music professor and classically trained…
One could say Jamaican singer Papa Winnie had a serendipitous hand in the creation of O Rappa, the Rio de Janeiro-based fusion reggae/funk-rock band that performs this weekend in Pompano Beach. In 1993, Winnie arrived in Brazil for an extended tour with no backing musicians. A pick-up band was quickly…
Brazilian singer-songwriter Djavan got his start in the late Seventies while playing modern sambas with a clear bossa nova vibe. Over the years, he has expanded his musical palette by incorporating sounds from jazz, blues, and the Brazilian northeast. His resulting unique style boasts a sophisticated sheen but also remains…
In the Sixties, while British Invasion bands dominated the Anglophone music scene, a group of young Brazilian performers took their own unique look at the possibilities of rock music. They soon began spreading the seeds of what would become known as the Jovem Guarda (the Young Guard), a movement that…
Few singers make their career after returning to their native land from the United States. But Noa is no ordinary singer. After growing up in New York City, the Israeli native headed back to the homeland on her own at age 17 in order to serve her mandatory two years…
Alhough this 30-year-old flamenco singer had been performing in Europe for more than a decade, it was only after his debut solo recording, Amar Duele (Love Hurts), was released when he became a star in his own right. Born Rafael Ojeda in Seville, Spain, Falete boasts a larger-than-life stage presence,…
The fact that this Colombian-born rockero opts not to sing any of his songs in English doesn’t seem to hurt his appeal in the United States. Wherever he goes, his many fans buy out arenas and sing along to every tune, including even the more recent singles from La Vida…
Argentina’s Flavio Mandinga, one of the founding members of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, has crafted a solo project that explores various sonic textures and defies genre classification. Simply listen to “Ministra,” a rocksteady-tempo track seemingly inspired by early UB40 with a touch of psychedelics. Later comes “Polaroid 66,” which draws from…
Hailing from Detroit, this singer and keyboard player is more like a man with a mission. Amp Fiddler travels in a multitude of directions, challenging the listener as he switches among soul, funk, and dance, keeping a keen eye on the present and future of music while still paying homage…
On this document of its 2007 world tour, the Barcelona-based, self-styled “hip-hop flamenco” band plays music from its latest studio recording of the same name while also going through some material from its back catalogue, delivering a high-energy performance that can be felt from the first moment. “Sultanas de Merkaillo”…
Though this Somalian-born singer-songwriter shares a few vocal similarities with Shakira, she has a distinctive style. Not unlike the Colombian pop star, Saba mixes traditional elements from her native country with contemporary European-influenced instrumentation. Throughout the disc, she celebrates her heritage, singing mostly in the Xamar Weyne dialect that mixes…
Today’s pop scene would be a much poorer place without the Nineties rock en español explosion that brought bands like Aterciopelados, Maldita Vencidad, Café Tacuba, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and Todos Tus Muertos to American audiences. It was a movement that has helped spawn a whole new musical culture that goes…
Bernadette Peters has appeared in classic movies such as The Jerk, Annie, Pink Cadillac, and Pennies from Heaven, as well as innumerable TV shows including Ally McBeal, for which she received an Emmy nod. But musical theater obviously still runs in the veins of this 60-year-old, Queens-born actress and singer…
Not unlike many musicians in Cuba or Brazil, the members of Peru Negro demonstrate strong African influences in their sound. Of course, it’s mostly thanks to the Africans who were tragically taken from their continent to be enslaved in the Latin American country during the 16th and 17th centuries. Forbidden…
A brilliant South African warrior and king in the 18th Century, the legendary Shaka Zulu was one of the great unifiers of his nation. On the other hand, he was a strong-willed, vengeful man who was murdered by his half-brothers, one of whom succeeded him to the throne. Now Joseph…
“Bossa nova is the language of my life,” Brazilian bossa nova singer Luciana Souza says by phone from her home in Los Angeles. Her latest project, The New Bossa Nova (Verve), sees the 41-year-old reinterpreting contemporary songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Sting, and James Taylor in the genre…
It’s hard to find anyone with a subtler touch on the keys than Maryland-born Cyrus Chestnut, who draws from both modern and traditional jazz, while also flirting with R&B and gospel. Such eclecticism has found him performing alongside the likes of Vanessa Williams, Wynton Marsalis, and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni…
“Vocalese” is a jazz technique in which lyrics are added to instrumental tunes to convey a certain idea or feeling. Its origins can be traced to the Twenties, but it really came into vogue later, in the Fifties and beyond. And it is Kurt Elling’s passion. The Chicago-based musician develops the…
Though over the years there had been much speculation about an Os Mutantes reunion concert, such an event would not happen until almost 30 years after the breakup of their final lineup in 1978. In the fall of 2006, three of the band’s original members (brothers Arnaldo and Sergio Dias…
Throughout his four-decade career, Caetano Veloso has had a taste for musical innovation, keeping a keen eye on new sounds and tendencies while creating something of his own around them. It was the case in the era of Tropicalia, his native Brazil’s psychedelic response to the Summer of Love. Veloso…
This weekend, jazz fans who head out to Sandoval’s will have a unique opportunity. Instead of listening to a sole bandleader doing his thing, they’ll be able to sample two veteran musicians in a coheadlined concert showcasing material from the repertoire of both artists’ long careers. The concept, says New…
On this mostly pan-Latin compilation, DJ Raul Campos, the host of Nocturna, a popular program on Santa Monica’s KCRW-FM radio station, brings together tunes from artists both new and well-known. He hooks the listener right from the opening track, “Shine,” a tune by DJ Bitman, which successfully blends into Nortec…
