Music

Spanish singer Bebe is perhaps best known for her award winning song Malo (below), although I enjoy nearly every song on her sole album Pafuera Telarañas. Her songs are full of emotion but fun to listen to without being overly poppy. Her voice evokes the feeling of Southern Spanish flamenco while staying modern and unique. She isn't promising a new album anytime soon, although I look forward to what's next.

Although they met in Mexico City, this guitar playing duo emigrated to Dublin because of its openness for international musicians. The high energy double tours extensively and is truly appealing to an international audience. A great group to see live, Rodrigo y Gabriela are masters of their instruments. Their only downside? Their entirely instrumental sound doesn't allow Spanish-learners the chance to practice.

Although his music in undeniably influenced by his home, Buenos Aires, Federico Aubele describes his own sounds as a hybrid of music throughout the Americas, inspiring the title of his 2007 album Panamericana. His music is nostalgic and tranquilo, often featuring the haunting voice of Natalie Clavier against flamenco guitar, tango bandoneón, and electronic beats. His music offers wide appeal, and if his YouTube comments are any indication, his listeners are not defined by a single language. I truly don't know how you couldn't like his music.

Jorge Drexler's name became just a little more familiar when his ballad Otro Lado del Rio, written for the film Motorcycle Diaries, received an Academy Award for best original song in 2004. The Uruguayan guitar player and singer created a little stir when he accepted his award by singing a few lines from the song as a small protest to the fact that Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas had performed his song earlier in the night, rather than him. The episode provides an interesting view into what it takes to cross-over into the US music industry, and how Americans tend to have a narrow perception of Latin music with only the big stars like Santana and Shakira.

Jorge Drexler is one of my new favorites, with his thoughtful lyrics, skillful guitar playing and memorable melodies. His song Todo se transforma has a great what goes around comes around message:

cada uno da lo que recibe
luego recibe lo que da,
nada es mas simple

Much like Ojos de Brujo, Chambao provides an interesting twist to traditional Flamenco music from the south of Spain. Their music brings to mind the hot dry days in Andalucia, with a clear influence from the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The group originally formed in Málaga including three members, now includes two: María del Mar Rodríguez "La Mari" and Eduardo Casañ, "El Edi". Their name itself is indicative of southern Spain, a chambao is an improvised tent used on the beach to shelter users from the wind and sun, both strong in the area.

The group has created the genre Flamenco Chill, although their music is pretty high energy and more dissonant that one might imagine the new musical style. La Mari's, with her beautiful and unique voice, often performs with other musicians, including Jarabe de Palo (like the song below, Dejame vivir), Bebe, and even Ricky Martin.

escrito por Eliana Arévalo

En las costas del río de la Plata, se respira tango todas las noches. Al tango tradicional se suma un estilo que se ha vuelto muy popular: El tango electrónico o neo tango. Esta música que se hizo conocida gracias a Carlos Gardel a principios del 1900, hoy se escucha y baila de manera más informal, relajada y acondicionada a los nuevos tiempos.

Los grupos importantes

El tango electrónico, surgió de la fusión entre instrumentos tradicionales como el bandoneón y sonidos sintetizados por samplers y computadores. Gotan Project le dio pie a esta música con “La Revancha del tango”, CD que se posicionó en los famosos after hour de las discotecas.

Much like crossover Colombian pop singer Shakira, Juanes is a Colombian pop and rock singer whose Spanish-language music is enjoyed around the world. His four albums include hits such as La camisa negra, Gotas de agua dulce, A Dios le pido and Fotografía. He has received multiple Latin Grammy Awards and performs his music with other great musicians like Nelly Furtado, Andrés Calamaro and the Black Eyed Peas.

He is also a huge philanthropist and started a foundation to help remove land mines.

Some of his music is heavily influenced by hard rock, but my favorites are his pop songs, like this from most recent album La Vida es un Ratico.

Julieta has been a hit for the past decade throughout Latin American, and rightly so. Her songs are so light and catchy it's easy to overlisten to her albums. Her most recent release, Limón y Sal, is full of great songs with plenty of variety: from nearly hip hop, to ballads accompanied by romantic guitar, and rounded out by upbeat poppy songs. Though born in Long Beach, California, Julieta grew up in Tijuana and her Spanish-language pop/rock has truly crossed borders within Latin America and more recently, in the US.

Her lyrics are easy to understand and listening to them is great Spanish practice!

If you haven't heard his name, you've certainly heard his music. Dominican Republic-born Juan Luis Guerra has been singing and songwriting for over 25 years, one of his all-time songs being Ojalá que llueva café (which you may have heard in Spanish class to practice the subjunctive). His merengue/bolero style of music has become famous both inside Latin America and abroad, and the musician has won many music awards including 5 Latin Grammy's in 2007. His classic upbeat sound inspires dancing merengue and sipping mamajuana on the Caribbean island.

Maná remains one of the Spanish-language rock bands with the largest international fan base. When they started making music in Guadalajara, Mexico in the 80s, the group wasn't sure if a rock band singing in Spanish would appeal to the public. Their sound didn't only take off in the Spanish-speaking world, but internationally as well. Maná remains one of the most prolific, longest-running bands in Latin American history. Their most recent album is Amar es Combatir.