Interesting article.How will Aventura’s crossover attempt do? Will mainstream America accept and embrace their music? Can mainstream America figure out how to perceive a group that is both Latin and Black?
Will African American audiences go for it? Hey, that W&Y song with 50 Cent is killin, finally a reggaeton song with a rapper that didnt have the dude hollerin and yowlin all off beat fuckin up the music. An AfricanAmerican friend of mine in FL asked me about De La Ghetto,so the word is getting out there, but does if white Americans don’t buy it but black English speakers do, does that count as mainstream or crossover success? I don’t know what the criteria are.
Well, lets see if Romeo strikes out on his own and if it works. I find him a little too cheesy and cocky, I think he may need the balance of his bandmates to keep from being a caricature. But I could be entirely completely wrong. He seems to have sense of humor and doesnt take himself toooo seriously, and he doesn’t mind sharing the stage and letting El Torito shine when they are on together, so who knows.
From the article
Mr. Santos, Aventura’s suave, sweet-voiced singer — best known by his nickname, Romeo — is a major star and heartthrob. But he and his band mates, Bronx-bred New Yorkers of Dominican descent who sing in both Spanish and English, are nearly invisible in the Anglo news media. Even in their hometown their renown varies from block to block.
“If I’m in a Latin neighborhood, and I walk into a restaurant, I might not be able to eat,” Mr. Santos said. “They’ll be there with the cameras, ‘Romeo, Romeo!’ Down here, though” — Mr. Santos gestured to the indifferent crowd milling on the sidewalk outside the movie theater — “it’s not like that.”
What is the definitive 21st-century New York musical act? A pop critic would probably point to one of the city’s arty indie-rock standard bearers, like TV On the Radio or Animal Collective, or to a rapper like Jay-Z. But pose the question to Latin music fans — or to hit radio listeners in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe — and the answer will likely be Aventura, whose blend of bachata with R&B, hip-hop and big-city attitude has created a swaggering, distinctly New York style.
Aventura is ubiquitous in the Latin media, but absent from Top 40 radio and major network talk shows. Those outlets that do address Latin music tend to prefer the quirky and obscure, ignoring mainstream sounds embraced by millions.
Aventura, dare I say it, are classic. Their first songs are as popular now as they were when they came out. I can listen to Mi Corazoncito every single day.And Por Un Segundo is killin.
Aventura and Hector Acosta “El Torito”
Wisin y Yandel with Romeo- Noche De Sexo
“Aventura are clearly speaking to bilingual, bicultural youth for whom the old, straight-Dominican ways of presenting themselves doesn’t reflect who they are,” said Deborah Pacini Hernandez,* an associate professor at Tufts University and the author of “Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music.”
“I think we put the cool in bachata,” Mr. Santos said. “In the old days maybe kids would hear bachata and say, ‘O.K., I love the song, but, you know, this guy dresses like my grandfather.’ ”
Mr. Santos certainly isn’t grandfatherly, but there is something old-fashioned in his appeal. He specializes in sensuous love songs — declarations of passion, brokenhearted plaints, pleas for forgiveness — singing with a courtliness reminiscent of balladeers like Julio Iglesias
If concert audiences are any indication, Aventura’s stories hold special meaning for Latinas. Even in the songs that are the roughest on women — like the new album’s “Peligro,” a bitter rant about a gold-digger — Mr. Santos’s lyrics, like his quavering voice, carry a vulnerability that sets Aventura apart from the coarser sexual politics of rap and reggaetón.
* I’m not sure why I never noticed the author’s name before today. Duh. Go buy the Reggaeton book as well as the bachata book.I’m even usin a link that wont make it pay me a nickel if you buy the book, just so you know Im not doin this for the kickbacks.
Musica Latina 