Some Latin American Music to Check Out

DHS Band Members, if you enjoyed your Latin American music unit in Concert Band, I've found some new favorites for you, all from Colombia and Argentina. I heard about most of them from various podcasts or stories on NPR, and now you can dig them along with me:

Monsieur Periné
As Billboard magazine describes them, "a Colombian group whose music is a quirky blend of swing, alt, pop and Colombian rhythms; something like a Colombian Postmodern Jukebox." This is totally fun and infectious music, sung in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and their videos are just as engaging. Their latest album is Caja de Música.

La Yegros
AllMusic.com calls her "The First Lady of Electro Cumbia" with music that "crisscrosses Latin American and North African folk traditions, tropical pop, reggae, hip-hop, dancehall, and chamamé to create its own frenetic dance genre." She's from Argentina, and her latest album is Magnetismo.

La Yegros on PRI's The World.

Bloque
This isn't a current group like the previous two, but it is a great example of rock en español. AllMusic.com describes them: "This eight-piece Colombian collective combines classic-rock guitar crunch and Afro-pop rhythms with hip-hop flavor and traditional Latin beats." My favorite song by them is "Daño en el Baño" from their self-titled 1999 release.

And one last one goes way back to the beginning of the Cumbia craze. If you like playing "Bailame" in marching band or pep band, here are the roots of that song:

Here's a Spotify playlist with more to explore (including a few class favorites):