Look at that: D.C. has at least one reggaeton star. His name is Fuego (Miguel Duran), and he released an album, La Musica del Futuro, earlier this month. The video above is from the album's first single, "Que Buena Tu Ta," which came out in late 2009 and appears on the album. Even if you [...]

The birthday weekend of this immigrant-built country includes a number of gigs featuring immigrants and other international visitors. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival continues through Monday and spotlights a number of traditional Mexican groups as well as area-based Asian-Americans. The Mexican groups that may prove most  interesting are Chinelos de Atlatlahucan, a costumed Mardi Gras/Indian-type ensemble [...]

For fans of  Latin and Brazilian sounds, Friday and Saturday nights offer a number of appealing choices.  Earlier in the week I highlighted the Monday appearance of Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Alexis y Fido, and now Friday brings another Puerto Rican reggaeton duo, Rakim y Ken-y (also known as  R.K.M. y Keny), who will be at El Boqueron [...]

Complaining in 2010 that all reggaeton sounds the same is like complaining that all techno or zydeco or salsa sounds the same. It’s kind of missing the point, because all of these genres are designed for dancing. The artists maintain those frameworks for the folks shaking what their mamas gave them out on the floor. [...]

 
The Myspace site for the Surf Club (aka the Surf Club Live and previously Chick Hall’s Surf Club) now plays Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a Changin,” but perhaps it would make more sense to play something in Spanish.  Concerned about small turnouts for the blues-rock, country, and other roots styles he has [...]

      
It is a busy month for live reggaeton, Latin pop, and tropical sounds. On Thursday May 14, veteran Puerto Rican rapper Voltio will prove at Terra Mare that there’s more to reggaeton than just Daddy Yankee.  Voltio’s been rapping for years.  On his 2007 En Lo Claro cd he flows in Spanish over salsa and other [...]