For some screwed-up reason, National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15. (It started under Lyndon Johnson as “National Hispanic Heritage Week.” The week of September 15 was chosen because September 15 is independence day for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. For reals.)
So... the perfect excuse for me to stream some of my favorite tracks en español. These are some of the tunes I would’ve used if my TV show “Kingpin” had lasted longer.
Click the song titles below to let the music play on my Vox site.
1. “Pinche Stereo Band” – Plastilina MoshPinche is such a bad word that iTunes spells it P****e. A little linguistic tidbit for y’alls. Anyhoo, Plastilina Mosh (pictured above) is a funky alt-rock group out of Monterrey, Mexico.
This track is also downloadable from Amazon.com. I think it’s neat that Amazon is in the MP3 business now... selling high-quality MP3s for 99 cents (or 89 cents) that would cost you $1.29 through iTunes Plus.
2. “Más Bonita” – Ely Guerra
Ely Guerra is also part of Mexico’s sexy new-school rock scene. This track is downloadable from Amazon as well as iTunes.
3. “La Vida No Es Igual” – Jaguares
Mexico City’s Jaguares are one of the top bands in Latin America. And lead singer Saúl Hernández has been kicking out the jams for 20 years.
Downloadable from iTunes.
4. “Marea” – Los Pinguos
Los Pinguos, an Argentinian group based in L.A., is on the poppier side of things. But I like how this song moves.
Downloadable from Amazon (for 89 cents) and iTunes.
5. “Burbuja” – Si*Sé
The New York electronica band Si*Sé, fronted by Dominican Carol C (pictured), was signed to David Byrne’s boutique label, Luaka Bop, before being picked up by Sony.Downloadable from Amazon, iTunes and eMusic.
UPDATE (09/27/07): Ooops. The Google-logo piñata might have nothing to do with National Hispanic Heritage Month. Could merely be in celebration of Google's ninth anniversary. My bad.
Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteCurious how Google has these special logos for so many different days and holidays but nothing for Veteran's day.
What, no Los Lobos? I used to love those dudes when I was in my 8th-grade 'Viva los suburbios!' phase.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I remember seeing a list once of all of the 'National ______ month' periods in the year. Every day, week and month is at least 25 things. I remember my birthday was National Velcro Day, right in the middle of National Potato Week. There was a National Syphilis Awareness Month, but I forget when it was. Ain't special-interest lobbying grand?
When is National Brotherhood Week.
ReplyDeleteThought I commented here the other day, but maybe it went astray. It must have been very hard to pick only five canciones. Thanks for the heads up and remember that you can hear thousands of Latin hits on various radio stations streamed on the net, everything from Vallanata {Colombia} to Reggaeton {PR} to Bachata {DR} to neo-Gitana {Espana} and on and on. Disfrutela!
ReplyDeleteThey don't make 'em like Tom Lehrer any more [sigh].
ReplyDeleteSince many Mexicans don't consider themselves "Hispanic," does this mean we get our own National Cholo Month or something?
You left off Café Tacuba, Manu Chao, Juanes, Aterciopelados, Zurdok, Molotov, heck, even Mana. I think you need to do another post about this :-) Just looking out for you, mi amigo!