This is how you make Bachata

Jody Rosen lays down the facts of Aventura, and it's lead singer Anthony 'Romeo' Santos in Sunday's New York Times. This pic is by Tony Cenicola for The Times. This piece spills the facts on the phenomenon that is Aventura - a band that crosses genres, markets and segmentation in it's appeal. Click HERE for the Haps on these Dominican-American legends in the making, a true tale of Spanglish, The Bronx, El Bronx and crossover dreams.

The Hialeah Social Club - Coke, Antiques, Pearly Queen

Manuel Mato did a very cool thing he put out a CD in '07 cataloging the cool 70s sound of the Cuban-American Bands that were setting it off in Miami then - At M & M Records in Hialeah, THIS story by Amy Dirscoll tells the tale. She writes about capturing the raw beauty of the emerging sound on his Sound Triangle label. “It’s the story of Miami, the story of Hialeah and the music of the exiles,” Mato proclaims. “A beautiful story.”

Below is an excerpt

“It’s an unadulterated, first generation of bicultural mixing,” he said. “You can hear a mishmash of things within the same album, this huge dichotomy of styles that seems very rough around the edges,” said Raul Murciano Jr., who teaches “Introduction to Cuban Music” at the University of Miami.