Month: August 2020

There isn’t a hint of politics or social commentary on The Mavericks’ enchanting new album of intensely romantic songs, “En Español.” Or is there?Released Friday by Mono Mundo Recordings, it’s the Grammy Award-winning country, rock and Americana-music band’s first release to feature lyrics performed entirely in Spanish. It’s also their first to focus entirely on such Latin music styles as mambo, son jarocho, cumbia, Tejano, bolero and cha-cha, with an enticing mix of original songs and classics popularized by such legends as Mexico’s Juan Gabriel, New York’s Los Panchos, and Cuba’s Celia Cruz and Omara Portuondo. Yet, because of our nation’s increasing polarization — and because The Mavericks’ lead singer, Raul Malo, is the American-born son of Cuban immigrant parents — the heartfelt...

There isn’t a hint of politics or social commentary on The Mavericks’ enchanting new album of intensely romantic songs, “En Español.” Or is there?Released Friday by Mono Mundo Recordings, it’s the Grammy Award-winning country, rock and Americana-music band’s first release to feature lyrics performed entirely in Spanish. It’s also their first to focus entirely on such Latin music styles as mambo, son jarocho, cumbia, Tejano, bolero and cha-cha, with an enticing mix of original songs and classics popularized by such legends as Mexico’s Juan Gabriel, New York’s Los Panchos, and Cuba’s Celia Cruz and Omara Portuondo. Yet, because of our nation’s increasing polarization — and because The Mavericks’ lead singer, Raul Malo, is the American-born son of Cuban immigrant parents — the heartfelt...

Bandleader Raul Malo and guitarist Eddie Perez both claim Latin American heritage, but their roots music-driven band had never ventured into creating an entirely Spanish album until now. Alejandro Menéndez Vega/Courtesy of the artist hide caption toggle caption Alejandro Menéndez Vega/Courtesy of the artist Bandleader Raul Malo and guitarist Eddie Perez both claim Latin American heritage,...

Bandleader Raul Malo and guitarist Eddie Perez both claim Latin American heritage, but their roots music-driven band had never ventured into creating an entirely Spanish album until now. Alejandro Menéndez Vega/Courtesy of the artist hide caption toggle caption Alejandro Menéndez Vega/Courtesy of the artist Bandleader Raul Malo and guitarist Eddie Perez both claim Latin A...

Haz cliq aquí para leer la versión en español. To speak of memory is imperative in a pandemic. It is in memories that we recover our humanity and remember our vulnerability, as the actions of some states recall the darkest moments of our recent social conflicts. The roll-out of authoritarianism and militarism in Latin America bring back historical memories we do not wish to repeat, but that we cannot forget. We build the society we wish to live in on the grounds of collective memory. La Red de Sitios de Memoria Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (The Network of Latin American and Caribbean Memory Sites, RESLAC) warned at the start of the pandemic in a press release that the current moment, “is being used as a platform for the advance of authoritarian and denialist tendencies that have been ...