1	BOOKS News anchor Teresa Rodriguez takes on the deaths of the women of Juárez, Mexico; young writer Daniel Alarcón rises to the occasion of his first novel; and José Cancela keeps Hispanic marketing simple. read more...
2	FILM & TV It’s hip, it’s cool, it’s very Mexican; it’s Nickelodeon’s El Tigre: the Adventures of Manny Rivera. read more...
3	MUSIC The work of independent artist Fulano, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Belize’s Andy Palacio and the return of Alejandro Sanz. read more...
4	CALENDAR Our monthly list of premier events throughout the U.S. read more...

THE LATIN FORUM

music

POP

alejandro sanz
el tren del momento
Warner Music
warnermusiclatina.com

From the first three piano chords you’ll know what you are in for with this CD: Those particularly Latin sort of pop ballads that dance a devils dance onto terrain that risks being termed sappy, but is somehow redeemed by the expressive power of an artist who chooses to be a troubador and gives everything he has of his instrument to that ancient cause. Alejandro Sanz’s instrument, of course, is his Spanish voice, which on El tren del momento is never more laced with ragged, tearing beauty, at once a speech and a song as it inhabits 15 tracks all about the perils and pleasures of intimacy.

Pop

fulano
individual
Self-released

He doesn’t have a major label shouting out the charms of his songwriting skills. Fulano’s got something else: enough respect in the industry to have had this disc nominated for a Latin Grammy for best Latin pop album, the only independent CD to earn the honor in 2006. As you enjoy these 12 heartfelt compositions, five of them in English, and all rooted in the careful craftsmanship and inventive lyricism of nueva trova, you’ll note the wealth of well-wrought melodies, choruses, bridges and refrains as Fulano rocks the pop, then goes bilingual on you, revealing how far his imagination can roam while riding the back of a solid melody.

regional mexican

los tucanes de tijuana
amante de lo bueno
Univision Records
univisionmusic.com

Who can resist this Tijuana band with their high-spirited anthems praising the good life? There are six 10-gallon-hatted, and moustachioed toucans, on this CD and a generous 16 tracks. The toucans cover most of the essential Tijuana ground here. Standouts include Dracula, a tune for dancing and laughing to and the altogether darker nostalgic waltz Abono de jardinero. And there are the rest, well-crafted 3-1/2 minute gems drifting between humor and heartbreak, but always featuring the high-flying sonic flag of the accordion. This is an outfit squarely in the service of romance and the joyous display of the dance.

caribbean

andy palacio & the garfuna collective
watina
Cumbancha
cumbancha.com

Sometimes a roots journey is a necessary thing. Andy Palacio’s Watina is a case in point. Along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador lie the scattered villages of the Garfuna, one of the most unique and threatened cultures in the Americas. Of West African ancestry, they are the descendants of a slave vessel that shipwrecked near St. Vincent in 1638. Musician Andy Palacio, raised in Barranco, Belize, speaks and performs in their rapidly vanishing language. Watina features the best living Garfuna musicians, updating their traditional sound, while offering 12 compositions sounding a familiar chord with lovers of Afro-Cuban music and its deeply rhythmic core.