Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on Puerto Rican radio, though most of them hail from New York City. If you get the oppor-
tunity, there's no finer salsa ensemble in the world than El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, a
large group of masters who pack festivals in US and on the island.
Ricky Martin has released bilingual records since 1999. The most recent of these,
Music+Soul+Sex,
was released in 2011, after
sold-out engagements at Madison Square Garden.
Reggaetón
The raucous bastard-child of reggae, salsa and hip-hop is reggaetón, a rough-and-tumble
urban sound that took over the unpaved streets of Loíza Aldea, proudly popping its blue
collar as the Caribbean's answer to the ethos of American thug life. Recently it's made a
wholesale takeover of most dance clubs in the Caribbean and rattles roofs in New York,
Chicago and Los Angeles. On a trip to a Puerto Rican nightclub, reggaetón dominates the
turntables, and you'll likely wake up the next morning with your ears ringing.
As the name suggests, it draws heavily on reggae, though the simplest reduction of its
sound is a Spanish-language hip-hop driven by the crushing bass of Jamaican raga, a bossy,
electro-infused spin on reggae. The earliest forms are traced to Panama, thanks to Jamaic-
an laborers who helped build the Panama Canal, but a more aggressive strain of reggaetón
developed in urban areas of Puerto Rico in the 1980s, circulated underground on self-re-
leased mix tapes. In the 1990s it incorporated thunderous elements of Jamaican raga and
came unto its own. Toss in the thud of a drum machine and some X-rated lyrics and you
have yourself a bona fide musical revolution.
Unlike most traditionally postured Puerto Rican music/dance combos, reggaetón dance-
floors feature a deliriously oversexed free-for-all, with its most popular move known as
perreo,
or dog dance - which leaves little to the imagination. Reggaetón stars such as Tego
Calderon, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar and Ivy Queen have played to crowds of thousands in
the US and are gradually sneaking on to mainstream urban radio.
PUERTO RICAN MUSIC: ALIVE & KICKING
Through slush and snow, you've been daydreaming all winter about that idyllic
Puerto Rican night on the town, when rum flows like water, the band is hot as a tin
roof and the likelihood of dislocating something on the dancefloor is high. Catching
live traditional music isn't as easy as you might hope, but the following nightspots
are the cream of the crop.
