Latin Grammy Winners 2010: Choc Quib Town Saves the Day, Other Winners Include Ely Guerra, Cerati & Julieta Venegas

The amount of good performances at the Latin Grammys’ gala shrinks every year, but we’re not too cool to watch, it’s a great night to zoom out of our Latin hipster world and see the industry as a whole. The award show (on Univision) keeps boosting its ratings, and those scores are ultimately the determining factors on who gets to perform at the show. Consider this, Univision is firing Despierta America’s hosts one at a time (like every week), they even said farewell to Cristina Saralegui. Why? Deep breath, because they want to appeal to a new generation of viewers (insert skeptic-offended emoticon), I’ll leave it at that. Every year there are a couple of performances to feel proud of, this year, it was all about Choc Quib Town.

The Colombian powerhouse trio might have lost to freaking Alexander Acha last year (for Best New Artist), but they came back for an award, and they got to perform their anthem “De Donde Vengo Yo” on the telecast. To us, they stole the show. They owned the stage like no one else, worshiped the moment with skillful and nonstop energy. Plus, no one looked hotter on that red carpet, ok, perhaps Latin Grammy winner Ely Guerra. All the cool, interesting categories are awarded at the preshow (broadcasted at the Latin Grammys website), the trio received the award for Best Alternative Song (“De Donde Vengo Yo”), flooded in tears, it was simply overwhelming. They emphasized the importance of the award to all the Afro-Latinos in the world; Los Rakas said it a few months ago, “the day you see the Latin Grammys with a lot of black people, ‘cause you know we’ve made it… Latin America is still trying to hide us.”

Other cool winners include Ely Guerra (Alternative Album), Alex Cuba (New Artist), Cerati (Best Rock Album & Song), Mala Rodriguez (Urban Song) and Julieta Venegas (Music Video). Taking a trophy from LARAS shouldn’t be the most significant accomplishment for any artist, but it does great things for emerging talents. As I’m writing this, I’m reading twits from people like Jorge Ramos and Tommy Torres trying to figure about this amazing performers. It’s this kind of moment that makes the Latin Grammys more tolerable, although they will always have a special campy-pleasure space in our hearts, heck, on the red carpet special they even confused ChocQuibTown’s Goyo with Concha Buika!

A couple of notes from the show (we’re not going to lie, we missed much of the show ‘cause it’s NBC’s Comedy Thursday, Community & The Office are just too good to not watch:

• No one mentioned Cerati on the show, epic fail.
• Lucero and Eugenio Derbez are still annoying; Angelica Vale’s segment was way more entertaining.
• Placido Domingo, you classy.
• Winners, I understand the excitement, but realize there’s a microphone, you don’t need to scream.
• You particularly don’t need to scream “Hola Latinos!”
• Did Aida Cuevas really win Best Tango Album? Did she really deserve to have the first Tango spot on the show’s history?
• Skip the Ranchero category, Chente won’t show up, again.
• La Mala Rodriguez, you forgot your lines, but you still rock.
• When are the Latin Grammys going to take place in Latin America?
• The JLO-Marc Anthony royalty vibe a la JayZ-Beyonce actually works.
• Kany Garcia, if you’re gonna be a sore looser and diss on Nelly Furtado, do it right.
• Too much Mexican.
• Remember, if you want to win a Grammy, you must register your album.
• If you’re in the recording business and want better albums to win, become part of LARAS and vote.
• Find the full list of winners at the Latin Grammy’s official website.

SXSW Entry #2: Live Nation Latino Showcase

Last night saw your faithful correspondent catching the Live Nation Latino showcase at Antone's. Walking to the venerable venue, located on the western edge of Austin's mega-downtown, was perhaps the night's hardest endeavor. Besides the previously mentioned parking troubles, and the borderline-extortionist tactics taken by virtually every vendor in the city, there were still St. Patrick's Day party-goers more than eager to solicit random high-fives, inadvertent pushing, and enthusiastic cheering for a cover band who I can only describe as "the Killers meet Journey." It was a nightmare far worse than anything I ever read in Scary Short Stories.

Thankfully, what I ended up seeing at the venue was absolutely radiant. At first, it was great to see that this Latin showcase (which also included Bomba Estereo, who I caught a bit of, but will see again at today's FADER Fort, and Maltida Vecindad, who I was sadly unable to see again) was well-attended to say the least, as the line to get in stretched around the corner and down another block. As soon as I walked in, I was then treated to a rousing 40-minute set from Monterrey's funk-alicious 60 Tigres. Coming across as a palatable cross of Los Amigos Invisibles and Austin TV, they worked the ever-growing crowd with a mix of loud, delectable party music with a bourgeois touch (designer jeans!). I was very surprised by this band's technical proficiency, since most bands whose purpose is to give their audience a "good time" mask their lack of prowess with enough shuffle that you don't notice a few missed chords. They also weren't afraid to be irreverent at times, leading the audience into a chant of "Yeah! Guey!" on their closing number. Oh, and their keyboardist looks like Nick Cave...or rather, bearded Nick Cave. I dare you to find a cooler look.

Following that set was a towering prospect, but Columbia's ChocQuibTown totally knocked it out of the park. Their wondrous mixture of hip-hop, reggae, Carribean, cumbia, and baile funk sounds pretty good on record, but in person it was unlike anything that I had ever heard. While they aren't going to be mistaken for Residente or Arcangel in terms of lyrical quality, their flow and energy were beyond reproach. The show's climax was undoubtedly the "Latin empowerment anthem" of "Somos Pacificos," a tribute and call for celebrating Latino pride through artistic empowerment. It's also one hell of a jam, great for thinking and getting a party going. It wasn't all beats and rhymes though. At one point, the band's percussion began to thump with the ferocity of a jackhammer, and a manic saxophone soon engulfed the speakers as the group willed the crowd to chant along. It was a masterclass in audience management and almost-poetically reflected their passionate approach to music-making. By the end of the group's set, I was stuck in my place, and could only write one sentence into my BlackBerry MemoPad: "This band is Important." A day later, I have no reason to dispute that initial assessment.

Somos Pacífico, Choc Quib Town

SOMOS PACÍFICO, Choc Quib Town, Colombia
Polen - Zafra

Are we witnessing the birth of another great hip hop Latin band?

During the last decade the scene of hip hop in Spanish has undergone a major revolution, which includes for example, the development and evolution of reggaeton as a dominant genre in the Latin American music industry. In the same way many bands have appeared in different geographic locations that have defined the latin sound of hip hop as Orishas, Los Violadores del Verso, El Sindicato Argentino del Hip Hop, and recently Calle 13.

Now the revolution continues in the black Colombia, the forgotten Colombia with Choc-Quib-Town, a group that mixes the taste of their rhythms with the social complaint, in a rap cadence with Pacific folklore.

When people think about Colombian folklore, they immediately think of Cumbia and Vallenato, but that is just a fraction of the full cake. For example, the Caribbean has La Cumbia, La Tambora, El Fandango, El Bullerengue, El Porro, la Gaita, El Vallenato, La Champeta, and El Mapalé, among others. The Tropical Andes have El Bambuco, La Guabina, El Pasillo, La Guasca, etc. The eastern plains have to El Joropo. While the Pacific Litoral, the blacks area, has El Currulao, El Chandé, La Salsa, and La Chirimía, and from there comes Choc-quib-town.

This indie band, which first appeared in 2006 in the Latin Alternative Music Conference compiled album, is produced by Ivan Benavidez (Carlos Vives) and Richard Blair (Peter Gabriel, Sidestepper, Jorge Villamizar), and already won two Nuestra Tierra Colombian Music Awards on the urban field. Now they are introducing the reissue of their debut album “Somos Pacífico” originally launched in late 2006, but this time with some new songs and sound mastered in London. Undoubtedly, this is the best album from a Colombian artist released the last year (only compared with “Son… para el mundo”, by Jorge Celedón), that contrasts with the weakness of their videos, very low budget and quality of implementation.

It is not the same rap that is done in New York or Paris but made in the black pacific. Thus we come to hear a song as “Pescao Envenenao”, where they launch a warning about politicians and other people in society that are responsible for sowing fear and mislead the people, saying something such as - I do not like what you say, I do not believe it - Through an analogy with fish when they reach a not coastal city, like Bogota, where they are no longer so fresh, so they are not edible. A song with a strong theme with a happy chorus that turned into a veritable feast, played featuring the revelation of Salsa music: Orquesta La 33.

One of the most seductive pieces is "San Antonio," an old traditional song in a Currulao rhythm, this time converted into hip hop. In "Si ", they make an apology to Latin American rap, which called ghetto, and confirm their eclectic sound with phrases like: "Me gusta el Ragga, Reggae and R&B, y eso lo mezclo con la música de aquí”. While, "Alguien como tú", we find a song full of romantic lyrics, with a slow beat and surround.

But we can’t ignore the song that gave the album title "Somos Pacífico", which uses fragments of an old theme of Grupo Niche. A song that calls for greater attention to a region and one race, and carries a cry that is heard from the bottom of Darien’s jungle: “Colombia es más que coca, marihuana y café” (Colombia is more than coca, marijuana and coffee). Choc Quib Town is our artist of the week.

Numeric Rating: 92/100

Key Tracks: Somos Pacífico , Pescao Envenenao - live, San Antonio