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Their voices are 'world'-class
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New York Daily News, Their voices are 'world'-class >>
Three of the bigger names in Latin music are in town this week, yet fans of Mariana Montalvo, Belô Velloso and Totó La Momposina still have a problem finding the South American singers' latest CDs in stores.
"The reason is that you're dealing with music that's folkloric, so Latin American artists like these are almost always relegated to the world-music section," says Fabian Alsultany, event manager for the Women of Latin America tour featuring the trio.
Not that there's anything wrong with being known as a world-music artist, adds Alsultany. The tour is, after all, being presented by Putumayo World Music, a record label specializing in song compilations by musicians from around the globe.
"It's just that most Americans think of Latin music as pop-oriented stuff like Ricky Martin, or as standard salsa," he says.
"What we want to do is expose people to a different side of what is Latin music. A lot of people aren't familiar with music from countries like Chile, Colombia or Brazil, and one of the biggest things Putumayo does is to expose these musical cultures to audiences in North America."
The "Women of Latin America" concerts showcase Montalvo, a native of Chile who escaped Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1974 coup and now lives in exile in Paris; Brazilian singer Velloso, the niece of Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethania, two of the country's most revered musicians; and Colombian crooner La Momposina, who blends Caribbean, African and Spanish sounds.
After kicking off a 28-city tour this week at Symphony Space in Manhattan, the women perform tomorrow night at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus in Greenvale, and on Sunday afternoon at Queensborough Community College in Bayside.
Though they share the stage only during the finale, the artists are united in one important way, says Montalvo.
"The popularity of world music is definitely growing, even if it is known more in Europe than in the U.S.," she says. "So we are hoping that the exposure from this tour opens up more opportunities for us to come back." 10/14/04 >> go there
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