Bachata

8:26 AM

First of all, I am not a musician, nor am I a singer. I just enjoy music that I like listening to, and the ones I usually like are the ones that invoke emotions within me, or has relation to what I am currently going through. This is a personal blog post, so any opinions on this blog are more likely to be on the subjective side as I'm not criticizing Spanish songs.

Oh, and although this is irrelevant, I have an Ask.fm account. Ask me stuff so I don't get bored!

my Ask.fm

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Hello everyone!

I come from Indonesia, but I barely listen to Indonesian songs. Don't get me wrong, it does not mean Indonesian songs are bad, it is just that I prefer to listen to Western songs. My mother, too, never felt the "click" with Indonesian songs, so it's probably hereditary... HAHA no it just happens to be so.

Anyways, today I'm going to blog about one of the genres in Latin American songs, as it has become one of my favorites to listen to. The main language of songs that I listen to is English, but I also listen to some Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Italian or French.

Usually, the songs I listen to have romantic themes. It is not necessarily the case when I listen to English songs, but for Spanish songs I tend to prefer the romantic themed tunes, because usually the tempo of the song will be slow, nice to listen to, and often times they sound like they are packed with emotions (well they're supposed to! :p). I remember my mother saying the reason why she preferred Julio Iglesias over Enrique Iglesias; she preferred Papa Iglesias' songs because the way he sang it, it sounded like it was full with emotions. While Enrique, his songs were mostly about women.

My first exposure to Spanish songs were when I was small, maybe about 7 or so. My father liked Carlos Santana's Smooth. I also liked that song, but it did not last long. Then, I listened to Shakira when I was around 12 years old. I first knew of her when she released "Laundry Service". I immediately fell in love with her songs, and until now I still listen to her. Recently, I found about about Prince Royce, a famous musician who sang mostly Bachata genre songs, and began listening to various Spanish songs ever since.

I'm not very specific as to what genre I listen to, as there are MANY genres that classify Latino songs. Salsa, tango, cumbia, bachata, reggaeton, Latin pop, bossa nova, samba, merengue, etc etc. I have genre preferences and preferred type of tunes, and it's quite hard to explain, but I'll try my best below. My current favorite genre is Bachata, and I'll try to explain what I know and what I have listened so far. I have just recently liked this genre, so I apologize if I don't have many to compare with.

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Bachata

Source: link


Bachata is one of my favorite genres when it comes to Spanish music. It shares the same name with a type of dance which originated from Dominican Republic. On the music genre, Wikipedia says, bachata is a Latino genre of music that originated in Dominican Republic in the early parts of 20th century with the African descendants in the country and spread to other parts of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe. It became widely popular in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic, especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. The original term used to name the genre was "amargue" ("bitterness", "bitter music". "blues music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular.

Famous musicians that mainly perform music in this genre are Aventura, Prince Royce, Romeo Santos, Don Omar, Pitbull, Leslie Grace, and many more. I don't have a personal favorite yet, but I like to listen to Romeo Santos' and Prince Royce's songs the most.

Romeo Santos
Source: link

Prince Royce
Source: link

My favorite song by Romeo Santos is Propuesta Indecente, from the album Formula, Vol.2 and as for my favorite Prince Royce song, it is Mi Habitación from the album Phase II and Darte un Beso from the album Soy el Mismo.



Propuesta Indecente by Romeo Santos.



Darte un Beso by Prince Royce.

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Anthony "Romeo" Santos was the lead singer of popular band Aventura, a New York-based bachata band. He is often referred as Romeo Santos, and there's another popular bachata singer with a very similar name: Antony Santos, so thankfully he chose another name, if not, people will mistake one of them for the other. He was born in Bronx, NY.

Now onto a short info on Prince Royce. His name is Geoffrey Royce Rojas, and took up a stage name, "Prince Royce". Prince Royce, like Romeo Santos, was also born in Bronx, NY. Whee, New York is home to two popular bachata musicians. Royce is newer to the bachata music scene compared to Santos, but he is also very popular.

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The first song that got me to Prince Royce was "Darte un Beso", a single from his most recent album Soy el Mismo (2013). I instantly fell in love with the song, and began listening to other songs by him. I went to 8tracks to listen to more songs of Prince Royce and any song related to it that sounds good-- I may just like it too. I found a lot of them, and I started to look randomly for Spanish songs, to find songs that I might like.

I tend to like songs that make you just want to move and dance. I don't dance, I do random hip and shoulder swirls and stuff LOL, but I do like songs that just makes your body want to move. The tunes in Propuesta Indecente makes you just want to dance or just move randomly to the music, even more when you watch the video-- with a pair of man and woman dancing to the music.


Another song by Romeo Santos, Eres Mia, has a similar sounding tune with Propuesta Indecente.


I can't quite coin the terms to describe this kind of music by Santos, but in these two songs there are some characteristics in the tunes of the song that make his songs unique. The tempo, how sometimes his voice is somewhat "different"... different volume I guess... sometimes he sings in a louder volume, and "Gusto".

Prince Royce also has unique characteristics in his songs, that makes you feel "oh I know this is Prince Royce's song" just by listening to it. Music is hard to describe +_+ oh, and he often says "Royce" in the middle of his songs. Like Pitbull with his catchphrases "Huuuuu oohh!" or "Dale"  just much less often.

Here's a video of Prince Royce's Corazón Sin Cara, one of the songs I feel has a very "Prince Royce" feel to it.



Both artists have similar guitar + bongo drums and other instruments in the instrumental part of the music, but I think that's what defines their music as bachata music.

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Here I'll list my favorite songs so far that is still in the Latin American music genre, that I'll recommend for you to listen! Many of them are of bachata genre, but there are others too. You may have similar tastes in music with me! :) I'll also list the songs I have already mentioned above, in case you wanted to copy paste these song titles along with the others.

Propuesta Indecente - Romeo Santos
Promise - Romeo Santos feat. Usher
Eres Mia - Romeo Santos
Odio - Romeo Santos feat. Drake
Cancioncitas de Amor - Romeo Santos
Darte un Beso - Prince Royce
Mi Habitación - Prince Royce
Te Me Vas - Prince Royce
Be My Baby - Leslie Grace
Loca - Shakira feat. El Cata
La Tortura - Shakira feat. Alejandro Sanz
Suerte (Whenever, Wherever) - Shakira
Que Me Quedes Tu - Shakira
La La La (Spanish Version) - Shakira (both English and Spanish versions sound good!)
Berimbau - Jazzamor
Perdóname - Pablo Alborán feat. Carminho
La Camisa Negra - Juanes
Real Love - Gotay

If you really liked them, you might want to buy some songs from them or even the album :D go find them in the iTunes Store! Most of the songs I list here should be available there. If you have suggestions, ask.fm me! Or comment below (if anyone even reads this blog haha!)


Bella

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