Song: Zafar
Artist: La Vela Puerca
Album:  A Contraluz (second album)

Lyrics:

Soy de la cuidad con todo lo que ves
Con su ruido, con su gente, consume vejez
Y no puedo evitar, el humo que entra hoy
Pero igual sigo creciendo, soy otro carbón
No voy a imaginar, la pena en los demás
Compro aire y si es puro, pago mucho más
No voy a tolerar, que ya no tengan fe
Que se bajen los brazos, que no haya lucidez.

Me voy, volando por ahí
Y estoy, convencido de ir
Me voy, silbando y sin rencor
Y estoy, zafando del olor.

Me encontré con la gente, que sabe valorar
Que de turista en la capital, han sabido vagar/Y no ha encarado al fin la cruda realidad
De respirar hollín, de llorar alquitrán
Y empiezo a envejecer, sudando mi verdad
Criado pa’ toser, con mucha variedad
Y adonde ir a para, cargando con mi olor
Deberíamos andar desnudos pa’ sentirnos mejor.

Me voy, volando por ahí
Y estoy, convencido de ir
Me voy, silbando y sin rencor
Y estoy, zafando del olor.

English Translation of Lyrics (not a literal translation, interpreted by Rich Goodman):

I’m from the city with everything you see
With its noise, with its people, it consumes age.
And I can not avoid the smoke entering today
But all the same,  I continue to grow, I am another coal
I will not  imagine the pain in others
I buy air, and if it’s pure I pay much more
I will not tolerate that they no longer have faith
That they lower their arms  , that there is no clarity.

I’m leaving, flying off to somewhere
And I am,  convinced of going
I’m  leaving, whistling and without rancor
And I am, removing myself from the smell.

I have met with people, who know the meaning of value
That as tourist in the capital, have known how to get around
And that at the end has not faced up to the harsh reality
of breathing  soot, of crying tar

And I begin to age, sweating my truth
My purpose is to cough, with much variety
And where will I end up, carrying my scent
We should go around  naked to feel better.

I’m leaving, flying off to somewhere
And I am,  convinced of going
I’m  leaving, whistling and without rancor
And I am, removing myself from the smell.

————–

Anyways, this is a pretty interesting song and beautifully executed. This album of La Vela Puerca is the best one they have done thus far in my opinion.

A little about the band:

The band is from Uruguay and interestingly enough were originally promoted by Gustavo Santaolalla who helped them get their deal with Universal.

They have done 5 albums to date:

• Deskarado (1997)
• La Vela Puerca (1999) (“Deskarado” re-release)
• De Bichos y Flores (2001)
• A Contraluz (2004)
• El Impulso (2007)

Band members:

• Sebastián Teysera: Vocals and acoustic guitar
• Sebastián Cebreiro: Backup vocals
• Santiago Butler: Guitar
• Rafael Di Bello: Guitar
• Alejandro Picone: Trumpet
• Carlos Quijano: Alto sax
• José Canedo: Drums
• Nicolás Lieutier: Bass guitar

You can watch more of them on their youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/velapuercavideos

His name is Huecco

I discovered him as I was listening to a radio station on Last.fm of Jarabe de Palo. I listened to “La Reina de Los Angelotes” and I was blown away by the sound of the song, and the quality of his voice. I mean, the whole song is a power punch of creativity and beautiful crisp sound.

Lo and behold, it happens that this song was produced by none other than the guru Thom Russo,whom a few months ago we were so lucky to interview (refer to Thom Russo Interview). It turns out that Thom Russo produced the whole album of Huecco, titled Assalto. And man, is it ever an assault on music (in the sense that he seamlessly combines styles that are not generally supposed to be combined, and makes them sound great).

I only have good things to say about this guy. First of all, every single song has a fresh new sound. He follows well in the footsteps of Cafe Tacuba in his ability to change seamlessly from different genres and in the steps of Manu Chao in his ability to mix sounds that are very unique and because he sings in different languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese). A big stark difference in contrast to Manu Chao, however, is that Huecco’s lyrics are fast paced and more sophisticated. Assalto is his second album as a solo artist. Previously he was involved with the band Sugarless from Spain as their lead man, and I am quite amazed at his ability to reinvent himself.

In an interview he gave, he says that with Sugarless, he felt he was only giving 30% of what he had, and so he needed a vehicle that would allow him to grow and not be constrained. Well LMG amigo, you found it.

Great qualities that make him an LMG Favorite:

1. Musically Diverse
   1. His voice has a great gypsy quality, his guitar has great rumba beat, and he mixes beats from reggaeton, cumbia, salsa, banda, etc.
2. Expanding into different Languages
   1. He is expanding into different markets not only in his styles of music but with his ability to sing in different languages. He sings a great song in French (I show it below) and another one in Portuguese (I don’t link to it but please link to if if you find it).
3. He’s got Brains
   • He has very articulate in interviews and
   • choose the right, Producer Thom Russo with experience in many versatile genres such as hard rock and Latin sounds to produce a very ambitious record of different sounds.
4. He is socially conscious and appeals as a good role model
   • In his interviews he dicusses that it’s a beautiful thing to break stereotypes, that becaues he has Rasta Dreadlocks, people assume he is into drugs but he is against them and has never tried them.
   • He  has socially conscious messages with his songs. Look at song Se Acabaron Las Lagrimas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x466jxJSMK0)
5. He is a great interviewer
   • If you don’t believe me take a look at his interviews ( I will include them at the end)
6. Perfect at Networking and working with his industry
   • In one of the videos “Se Acabaron Las Lagrimas” he collaborates with a myriad of media personalities, sports personalities, and politicians from Spain to promote the message against women violence.
   • Is already collaborating with other artists and I’m sure in his next Album he will collaborate with many more.
7. A great Marketer
   • Like a great marketer, he defines the context of his music and defines his music with his own definitions (example: he created the concept of Rumbaton (rumba and reggaeton )and Rumbia (rumba and cumbia)

In my opinion, he is a person to watch out for, and an examplary figure because he is very well rounded and versatile.

I recommend the following Hueccoing:

• La Reina de Los Angelotes (rumba + cumbia + rock = rumbia)

• Huecco – Mirando el Cielo
• Huecco – Creo
• Huecco – Idiota
• Huecco – Tacones Baratos
• Huecco – Je pense a tes Yeux (ode to french classics, amazing)
• Huecco – Mi Guerrera (reggaeton with rumba = rumbaton)

Lastly, here is a great interview he did with Qui es Qui:

Keep an eye out for Huecco, and let me know what you think. Also, remember to

• check out his Facebook group. Throw him some love from LA.
• Visit his website : http://www.huecco.es/blog/
• Check out his MTV blog where he talks about deep stuff: http://blogs.mtv.es/huecco/

Which is your favorite Huecco song?

PS – If you are reading this Huecco, please email me at richard@latinmediagurus.com to Interview you for Latin Media Gurus

It turned out lasting 1 hour!!

We went over his life and his career in very good depth, his philosophy of writing and he even gave us advice for young people like ourselves starting out in the industry. 

He went over the artists he has worked with, like José José, and Placido Domingo and much more. 

We should have the interview posted pretty recently. 

If you have never heard of it, ask your mom or your dad, (assuming they speak Spanish), and they will definately know who he is.

In the meantime, I will leave you with two versions of the song “Celos”. One is by José himself, and the other is by Placido Domingo.

José (the original):

Placido Domingo:

For those that don’t know La Flaca, it is a song written about a mulata skinny girl that Dones falls in love with while in Cuba, and he wrote it the day he was leaving Cuba, the morning after they had spent the night together for the first time. 

This is a great song, and he has three different versions for the song, the latest of course being “La Flaca Reciclado”  with collaborations from a lot more people. I personally like the original more. The nice thing about the new one is the afro-Cuban drums. The guitar is not as exciting here, which for me takes away a lot. 

The riff at the beggining is swapped in the newer version which I love. The inclusion of the female singer is a nice touch and so is the background sounds of a ” gringo”  speaking in English. That is definately pretty funny stuff. Anyways, enjoy.

Tell me what you think about the lyrics and the description. I’m planning on adding the 3 versions of La Flaca to the lyrics, and maybe an English translation to the things there. I understand right now this site is geared more for the Spanish speaker, but one who also happens to know English.  

So we want to open this up to everyone.  Another thing we would like to start adding is tutorials for the songs that we post on how to play them. Hopefully David can volunteer to post them. Hehe.

The Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) is preparing to celebrate off its 10th anniversary this summer in New York City. The 10th Annual LAMC returns to New York City July 2009. As in past years, LAMC features panels and exhibitions, concerts, parties and art highlighting the best of Latin Alternative. LAMC is the only major conference geared towards the marketing of Spanish-language alternative music – the voice of today’s Latinos.   This four-day event providing networking opportunities with the genre’s leading artists, label executives, journalists, managers, retailers and programmers, is the most extensive gathering of Latinos in entertainment to be offered by a music conference to date.

The ninth annual LAMC in 2008 saw 1,250 industry leaders converge on the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City to participate in industry panels, exhibitions, press conferences, and networking.

Over 30,000 music lovers and industry insiders attended LAMC concerts, parties and art exhibits, at great venues in New York and Los Angeles.    www.latinalternative.com

INTERVIEW WITH TOMAS COOKMAN…Presidenente de NACIONAL RECORDS y Cookman International

Here is a little video of Juanes.