Reggaeton Fever

Here's a Reuters article about Cuban reggaeton. Not too much new here if you've been following the story but a decent intro if you haven't.

I loved hearing how the artists give their music to the taxi drivers to promote.

There's a quality compilation that's just came out titled......Cuban Reggaeton, available at Itunes and Descarga.com. Planet Records have done a good job of licensing the major songs of the winter of 08-09 - with key titles such as 'Gerente' (El Micha), 'El Animal' (Gente de Zona), 'La Estafa del Babalao' (Kola Loca) 'Conmogio No' (Los Intocables Feat. Jacob Forever Y El Micha) Also includes a great track from Charanga Habanera that I thought was going to end up on their Caratula album, 'Partiendo en la Habana'.

Update: In the comments Gabriel corrects some shoddy Reuters reporting.

Update #2 Baby Lores defends the revolution with a Fidel tattoo

Comments

[Gabriel]

Oh this is hilarious:
Cuban reggaeton musicians say prejudices keep them off the recording labels and radio airwaves. Their music cannot be found in stores. Fans simply burn their own CDs.
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bad journalism not to report that although they say that, it's not actually true. There is plenty of reggaeton on Cuban radio - you can hear as much by listening to Exitazo at muchoswing.com - and I saw plenty of reggaeton CDs in the shops. Cubans don't buy the CDs from the shops it's true, but it's not because they don't stock them, it's because you're talking $15 versus $1 on the street (or free from a friend).
By the way Billy, the descarga link didn't work for me. But most of the songs on that comp are old aren't they? That's the real problem with the legal compilations: the reggaetoneros churn out the songs so fast that they turn over really fast. I don't think any of the reggaeton hits that were the soundtrack to my last trip had been officially released, though of course they were being played everywhere: radio, nightclubs, in people's houses...

[Jen Paz]

There are still many ways the state tamps down the spread of reggaeton. Most of the groups record with foreign labels and most of the artists are not official because they lack the training required to be card carrying musicians. That means they do not easily get permission to tour and appear in clubs in Havana. Reggaetoneros like Lores were in other genres previously so they are able to negotiate the system as musicians, but a tat doesn't hurt their cause.