'Spanish Music Good, Bad or Indifferent'. There's more to it than'Viva España'

A huge part of my interest in Spain is music, some outstanding and some terrible and much in between  I thought it would be interesting to see what we thought of Spanish and latin music and what great music we are missing out on or not as the case may be. 

Besides Shakira and Maná are there any other great latin musicians??

Not to be totally confused please read post Shakira in concert in Torrevieja .

Hello Chipmonk

Dont know if you realise Viva Espana isn't Spanish. I think it was by a singer called Sylvia who may have been Swedish, I dont know much about Spanish music only from holidays. I do know one song though by Nelly Furtado called Photograph which is good which I heard last year in every bar I went in. Most British people still like Tina Charles and music like that.

hi Chipmonk,

I see your avatar is Alejandro Sanz. Do you like that era of Spanish music or all types of Spanish music.  I was really keen on Sergio Dalma and Luis Miguel at that time- though maybe a bit too girly for some. How about Marco Masini, an Italian but also records in Spanish - much more rock.?

Would really like some modern flamenco, what do you suggest?

Many thanks.

Hi Linda

I find Luis Miguel a bit too stiff for my liking especially those suits he wears but I know he has a huge following in the Latin world and I know very little of Sergio Dalma but will check him out. I tend to be very open-minded when listening to Spanish or Latin music and have across the board taste I suppose and will listen to really heavy Spanish rock to Spanish pop. Again I don’t know too much about Marco Massini but what I have heard I really like.  From the pop side of Spanish music I think Alex Ubago is ok and he writes his own music. Maná I really like and it is a shame they can’t break into Britain because people don’t know what they have missed for all these years.

Modern flamenco, I think the Spanish have put the banner of ‘Nuevo Flamenco’ on it which covers a wide range but I think it gives a new generation an outlet for their voices to be heard, in-fact there is CD called ‘Nuevo Flamenco’ which is a great introduction to modern flamenco which Amazon through resellers have for only 35p which is unreal, it covers a lot of the different styles of new flamenco. Bands like Ketama have paved the way for many new artists to come to the front. My personal favourites are Jose el Frances he has a CD called Alma which is great and a Spanish singer called Niña Pastori, try a CD called ‘No Hay Quinto Malo’, which you can get with a DVD included, also a singer guitarist called Javier Ruibal he has a CD called Sahara and has combined Flamenco with North African sounds. For something different have you heard of Radio Tarifa? They play a strange blend of Spanish music with Arabic overtones, some very old medieval music with traditional instruments and also use distorted guitar at times I was lucky enough to see them on tour in England and shall never forget it.

Regards

Thanks for the reply.

I lived in Spain for 10 years during the 90's and heard all kinds of music, so like you I like a wide spectrum. I am a bit out of touch now but once we go back on a more permanent basis I guess I will get into it all again. I think listeniing to the local radio stations is a really good way  to learn .

Will give some of those mentioned a try.

Thanks again.

I love Cosmopolitan Life by Al di Meola and Leonid Agutin the Russian singer a really good album.

Here is a bit of the "most" Argentine type of music, the Tango..... This one specially speaks about  lost hopes and making peace with one self at the end and in perspective.... Susana Rinaldi ( a Tango myth) sings and the music I think is from Astor Piazzola.

She looks upon her lifetime close to its end and compares herself with a kite..... that wanted to fly high after her dreams and at the end.... she asks herself what the problem was, was it lack of faith? or will power? or perhaps it just was that the cord of the kite was too short from the very begining.....

Good question... some cords are longer than others....... ceteris paribus everybody has the same chance? or our cords are measured from the begining?

Alex Ubago is pretty good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JURHpM2nd6Q

but the señoritas love David Demaria

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnG5eGRRm7c

Shakira breathing talent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeuSWTgtQo

Also loved the videos.

Don't know about the senoritas but this senora thinks he's pretty hot!!..

Jan,

You are tempting me into initiate you in the sadness of Tango.... I think I am going to translate it for you.... It is worth the hassle as it is perhaps the best song I´ve ever heard...

Here we go....

"Desde chico ya tenía en el mirar                  "Since I was a toddler I had that thing on my eyes

Esa loca fantasía de volar,                                That crazy fantasy about flying

Fue mi sueño de purrete                                 It was my dream as a kid

Ser igual que un barrilete que                            to be just like a kite

elevandose entre nubes                                  climbing up among the clouds

Que en un viento de esperanzas                    that in a wind of hope

sube y sube.......                                               climbs up and up.....

Y creci en ese mundo de ilusión                     And I grew up in that world of ilussion...

 escuche solo a mi pobre corazon                 And I´ve only listened to my poor hearth   

Más la vida no es juguete,                               But, life it´s not a toy

Y el lirismo es un billete                                  and poetry is a note

sin valor....                                                           with no value.....

Yo quise ser un barrilete,                                    I wanted to be a kite,

buscando altura en mi ideal                                gaining altitude in my convictions

tratando de explicarme que la vida                  trying to explain to myself that life

es algo mas..... que un simple plato               is something more than a simple

de comida....                                                         plate of food......

Y quise ser un barrilete,                                     and I wanted to be a kite

al que un mal viento puso fin...                           one that ended bad due to a bad wind..

No se si me falló la fé, la voluntad....              I do not know if what failed was my faith, my will power...

O acaso fue? que me faltó?                            Or maybe it was? than I run short....?

Piolin.......                                                             Of cord......

En amores solo tuve decepcion                      in love, I only found disapointment

regale por no vender mi corazón                   I gave away my hearth not to sold it.

Híze versos olvidando,                                    I made poetry forgetting

que la vida es solo prosa dolorida que          that life is just harmful prose that

vá ahogando lo mejor y abriendo                         goes ahead and drowns what is best

heridas.... ayyy la vida.....                                       and open wounds....ay life......

Hoy me aterra este cansancio fin final,             I am terrified now of this tiredness without and end

se hizo trizas mi sonrisa, mi ideal...                   my smile, my ideals are shattered now

cuando miro un barrilete,                                    whenever I see a kite

me pregunto ese purrete.....                               I ask my self where that kid

donde estaaaa?                                                    Is nooooooow........

Yo quise ser un barrilete,                            I wanted to be a kite,

buscando altura en mi ideal                       gaining altitude in my convictions

tratando de explicarme que la vida          trying to explain to myself that life

es algo mas..... que un simple plato          is something more than a simple

de comida....                                                     plate of food......

 Y he sido igual que un barrilete,                    And I´ve been just like a Kite                      

al que un mal viento puso fin...                        one that ended bad due to a bad wind..

No se si me falló la fé, la voluntad....               I do not know if what failed was my faith, my will power...

O acaso fue?..... que me faltó?                           Or maybe it was?.... than I was short....?

Piolin.......                                                                  Of cord......

Okey, I am completelly out of stress now, I can have my diner in peace ....

Enjoy the tango,

Juan

AH ! And let me know if you want some more MP3 Tangos, I´ve got them in MP3 and the authors are dead from more than 30 years ago, so this is fair game.

Juan.