stoutfellow | Latina Singers

Some months back, at the urging of

hornedhopper, I picked up a CD by Shakira. It was an English-language CD, and I was not particularly impressed, but I decided to try to find a Spanish-language version. This I did, and I was quite pleased by it. My Spanish (straight A's in high school, but neglected since) has deteriorated to the point that I can't really follow what she's saying (although the liner notes do include the Spanish lyrics, which I can read), but the sheer energy of her performance is a delight.

Anyway. As I was creating my computerized playlists, I ran across a couple of CDs that I'd bought but never gotten around to playing, one by Serena, the other by Ana Gabriel. I figured there was no harm in putting them on, and both wound up on the playlist I'm listening to now. I have to say I like them both. Serena sings ([sigh] sang) slowly enough that I can usually follow her; a lot of her work seems rather melancholy. Ana Gabriel has a throaty, passionate voice; she sings rather faster than Serena, but not as fast as Shakira, and I can follow her some of the time. Even when I can't, I can catch the emotional content fairly well (I think...).

Anyone have any other Spanish-language singers to recommend? (

hornedhopper?) I think I'd like to do a little more exploring...

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hmm. i do feel compelled to point out that it was the *spanish* version of shakira's music i directed you to, yes? just so i don't come across as more of a dork than i am (g)!

i'll have to review some cds i have at home. the problem for me with recommending is that i may like *one* by a singer and not all or none of the others that person sings. other groups i have liked a song by were los fabulosos cadillacs (matador), an argentinian group; jennifer delgado (que tu tienes); and dlg (magdelena - i think). after i look, i'll add more.

what is funny is that the very latino teflon spouse refuses to listen to any of this music, preferring his classical and classic american rock music, including motown. i can clear the room immediately with one rendition of maaataaadorrr! lol

i do feel compelled to point out that it was the *spanish* version of shakira's music i directed you to, yes?

I'll take your word for it. I can't find the original exchange in my archives, for some reason. (I do recall some discussion of the difference between English and Spanish versions for singers whose first language is Spanish.)

re your spanish, all you to do to revive it is find or *adopt* a mother-in-law who is under the impression that she speaks english, but in fact, does not (g). i owe all of my spanish (except the bad grammar) to the tenacity of mine. (her spanish is very poetic and correct) many times in our marriage, she has spent a few months with us at a time. she never quite got the concept that there were people who actually did *not* speak or understand spanish, so she never gave up on me. spanish is the one language i never studied formally, so i like to say, when complimented on the fact that i can speak it, that, yes, my spanish *is* good, with the exception of the missing grammar and limited vocabulary! (g) oddly enough, it is the one foreign language that i feel totally comfortable using, total present tense and all! german, i'm always double checking case, tense, gender - *before* i open my mouth.

so, dragging self unwillingly back on topic - i checked some of the cds i had at home. *i* liked the following with caveats in ():

elvis crespo (tu sonrisa)
grupo mania (como baila)
melina leon (mujeres liberadas)
celia cruz (bembelequa)
orquesta marecan(enya, actually)a (cali calor)
dlg (dark latin groove) (has some parts with a kind of rap - however, *i* like the songs, and rap is, generally speaking, not even on my radar as anything but noise) (la quiero a morir; magdalena, mi amor - quimbara; juliana)
mdo (used to be the puerto rican boys' band before ricky martin left) (dame un poco mas; baila la rumba; diana; toma mis manos)

completely unrelated to latin music, if you're in the mood to experiment: there's a wonderful group named zap mama. they sing acapella in their cd "adventures in afropea 1." it is a terrific and unusual mixture of zulu, pygmy, rwandan, french, english, and arabic. they have other cds out, but this is the one i know and highly recommend.

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll take a look around.

Not too many m-i-ls of the above description available in these parts, I'm afraid. (Actually, it wouldn't be too hard to get back on track; there's at least one Spanish-language channel in my dish subscription. But there are so many other things equally worth doing...)

One word about reviving the Spanish, using Spanish channels: closed-captioning is your friend. It's a relatively harmless way to get multiple learning modalities involved at the same time.

Also, do your channels include PBSYou? They show "Destinos", the show Lois watched before going to Spain for Hispacon. It's a soap opera, with lots of action, but it's fairly easy to follow & engaging. Run a google & track down the website to check out the schedule.

Hth,

Filkferengi

Latina Singers

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