The Bay Area's indigenous Latin musica scene is  blazing right now, with urban-identified groups like Bayonics, Bangdata, and Brwn Bflo, and solo artists like Rico Pabon, Femi, and Deuce Eclipse carrying a torch lit years ago by Santana, Malo, and Pete Escovedo. There's so much happening in that neck of the woods, it's easy to overlook someone like Erick Santero, an up-and-coming local producer/vocalist/DJ, whose second album, El Hijo de Obatala, drops May 19th on City Hall Records. As his name suggests, Santero is a practitioner of Santeria, the element-affirming religion which merges African orishas with Christian saints, which kinda explains the voodoo that he do on this record.

Just as yesteryear's Latin acts integrated cultural elements into the reigning pop culture of that time--rock and R&B--Santero performs audio alchemy on El Hijo de Obatala, freely fusing electronic music, reggaeton, salsa, and traditional folk elements into a surprisingly sublime mix of classic Latin grooves and fresh urban beats. Special guests Femi and Deuce Eclipse--both of whom appear at Santero's CD release party this Friday at Mighty --also appear on the album, whose title means "the son of Obatala."

The CD release party promises to be quite festive. Santero plays with a seven-piece band, and the bill also includes Dos Four & Los Mios, Carne Cruda, Los Rakas, DJs Mr. E, Leydis, Rascue and Marcella, and the aforementioned Deuce Eclipse and Femi



By Eric Arnold