A couple of months ago, I posted about some of the music on my playlist. Spotify has led me to encounter so many new artists I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise, and I’ve been listening to a lot of Spanish and Latin American music. Here are a few of my favourite tracks. Even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can still enjoy the music!
La Santa Cecilia
La Santa Cecilia are a Mexican-American band based in Los Angeles. They’ve won a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album, and their music incorporates many different traditional Mexican and Latin American styles. I’d love to see them play live — it would be so much fun.
I like so much of their music that it was difficult to choose just two of my favourite tracks. Mar y Cielo (Sea and Sky) is from their upcoming audiovisual album, which was recorded in just five days, using various locations in Mexico City. The video below was filmed in Plaza Santo Domingo in Mexico City.
Vámonos (which translates as ‘let’s go / let’s move on’)
Alex Cuba
Four-time Latin Grammy winner, Cuban-born singer-songwriter Alex Cuba, has released a new song with a catchy, upbeat melody. NPR’s great music podcast, Alt. Latino, has a page (it’s in English, so no need to speak Spanish) about the background behind the song and its lyrics.
Amaral
This group is from Zaragoza, a city in north-eastern Spain. They’ve sold more than four million albums around the world, and their music is a fusion of pop, rock, traditional Spanish folk and Latin beats.
The song I first heard was Hacia Lo Salvaje, the title track from their 2011 album. The song translates as “Towards the wild”, and it’s about making a choice to walk towards the beauty and majesty of nature.
I’ve also been listening to tracks from Nocturnal, their latest album, which has a great acoustic version too.
Do you like any of the songs on my playlist? What have you been listening to recently?
Cultural Life 