CALLE13 New Album November 23 th

Visitante
Residente

Calle 13
Entren Los Que Quieran
Release Date 11.23.10

Since they revolutionized Urban Latino music five years ago with their breakthrough debut album, Calle 13 has always spoken to their fans loudly and clearly.

Whether it was a dare to become a street-fighter, a shocking spin through a tango of sin, or call to the downtrodden to stand up for their rights, the game was the same. Liberate your hips and your mind will follow.

And although that message was sometimes misunderstood, the new Calle 13 album, “Entren Los Que Quieren,” (Everyone Is Welcome) makes clear that ringleaders René Pérez Joglar (Residente), and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez (Visitante) believe in a big-tent party.

“Calle 13 has always included people, it hasn’t excluded,” insists Residente. “That’s why we always mentioned everything, Catholic or non-Catholic, homosexual, heterosexuals, everyone is included in Calle 13. This album follows the same logic as ‘Los Detrás Vienen Conmigo. It’s free for anyone to listen to it.”

The winners of 10 Latin Grammy awards, two conventional Grammys, two Billboard Latin awards and one from MTV LatinAmerica, the Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 has had enormous success for a band that has sometimes been unafraid to offend the powers that be. Their popularity lies in the fact that even though their messages can be controversial, their fans believe in them.

To be sure, there are strong messages on “Entren Los Que Quieren.” The first single, “Calma Pueblo,” which features the raging guitar of Mars Volta’s Omar Rodríguez, is a torrent of passionate rants about anger, disillusionment, and the craving for personal freedom. Already creating headlines, the video, featuring a cavalcade of nude actors romping around the skyscrapers of San Juan’s business district, could be Calle 13’s most defiant statement yet.

“It was a call to wake up,” asserts Residente. “It’s like, drop everything. I know there are times when one can’t drop everything, but at least to have that spirit to be able to drop everything suddenly and give a chance to other things that are important.”

“Latino America,” which features guest vocal appearances by Latin's Divas , Susana Baca (Peru), Maria Rita (Brazil) and Totó La Momposina (Colombia), makes Calle 13’s most lyrical case to date for cultural unity. The newest single, “Vamos a Portarnos Mál”
(Let’s Behave Badly) is a metaphorical call for Latino youth to act up in the hopes that bad behavior can turn a disappointing world upside down.

The wildly eclectic mixture of Latin American genres and rhythms that Vistante has pioneered throughout the band’s five-year career is also strongly represented on “Entren Los Que Quieren.”

“Latino America” features a syncopated Andean rhythm similar to the one they used on “Llega a mi Guarida,” from “Residente o Visitante,” but sounding a little more like “Argentine mountain folklore,” as Residente says. Legendary Latin alternative producer Gustavo Santaolalla also makes an appearance on the track, playing folkloric instruments. “Vamos a Portarnos Mál” is a merengue with a bit of that old-time ska that used to make everyone pogo from Jamaica to London to Mexico City. Also the featuring of “Seun Anikulapo Kuti”,( son of the legendary Fela, king of afrobeat and icon of the militancy by the human rights in the African continent) this Latino-afrobeat fusion "TODO SE MUEVE" “...Everything what has rhythm it breathes … Shakes your ideas"

In a way, Residente is most excited about “Entren Los Que Quieren” because of what he feels is the album’s “maturity.” “You can feel that there’s a band here, behind Calle 13,” says Residente. “You can feel the musical influences more, you can feel the journey more.” Constant touring with the 11-piece band that backs Residente and Visitante (as well as their sister, PG-13) has created a level of familiarity that translates into a strong creative base.

“We’re not afraid to put live instrumentation on the album,” Residente says. “Once you work a lot with live musicians, it makes it hard to work with canned electronic stuff—it feels empty.”

Visitante, Residente’s brother who shared the semi-urban, semi-suburban existence that shapes Calle 13’s world-view, has quietly grown into one of the most vital composers and beatmasters in Latin music today. He studied at the Conservatorio de Música and at Escuela Manolo Acosta, where he learned to play the saxophone and the flute. He is a self-taught classic guitarist, but has used new music technology to wield a creative palette that allows him to fuse rock and hiphop with the wide array of traditional genres the band has absorbed from their journeys around Latin America.

Thankfully, according to Residente, the band no longer has to deal with one of the controversies that marked their early career—were they a reggaetón band or not?


While there have always been tracks that reflected the group’s passion for the sexy dancefloor rhythm that was blowing up when they first hit the scene in 2005, it was never just about that.

The lyrical and musical growth of Residente and Visitante have been a testament to their transcendence of the reggaetón world. And besides, they’ve come to peace with the genre’s major figures.

“I’m urban, more than anything else,” says Residente. I wanted to be respected within urban music a little, but now it’s not necessary. They follow me on Twitter and they talk to me, and I’m cool. There are much bigger problems than to be arguing about that stuff.”

article posted by:Silvia Guevara, Conga Booking SL

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