Cover Image: Decoding "Despacito"

Decoding "Despacito"

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Member Reviews

I listen to all types of music and over forty years ago when I married into a Hispanic family I added another. Here the author takes songs and also the people who sang them and does an interview of the artist and sometimes a little story of how they began their carrier. Gloria Estefan was originally The Miami Sound Machine I think I still have one of the discs still around. Anyway, she talks about how she and her husband got into the music business and the formation of the group. Los Tigres Del Norte which I also listen to as well as many others. The one interview that really stood out was the one with Julio Iglesias and when he did the song with Willie Nelson that whole description of the meeting and what happened after they met and then how the song took was really good and a show of how two people from two totally different backgrounds can come together and make everything work. Really a good book and I am glad I read it.

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A great book for anyone who enjoys music or fellow music journalists. I’m not familiar with this genre but this book is written by one of my favorite journalists so this was an automatic request for me!

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I can see a US audience appreciating the oral history of songs that crossed over, from José Feliciano, to Shakira to Fonsi's "Despacito," but the one that really spoke to me, brought back my teenage years in Latin America and had me mesmerize was the history of Willie Colón's "El Gran Varón." As soon as the I read the title, it started playing in my head, that's how ingrained it is in my mind and my Latin experience. I remember feeling how groundbreaking it was when it cam out, listening to the words and thinking about them and hoping that other people would take heed and reflect on the words behind the salsa rhythm. It's to representative of my experience with our music, a catchy rhythm that you can't help but move you hips to, but with an actual message, this one ending in a tragedy so opposite the beat that carries it. I remember thinking about Simón and feeling the injustice of his father's rejection. Now I got to read the story behind how this song came to be and about the real life Simón. So, yes, it will be a great book for anyone interested in Latin music, but for some of us it's extra special.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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