The One Album You Must Add To Your Collection

Every so often a record from an artist/band comes along which utterly blows you away, the one that you can listen to over and over and over, and every track is as good if not better than the previous one - one of those records is MTV UnPlugged: Los Tigres Del Norte And Friends.
 

If you like Regional Mexican music or even if you do not, we all know who Los Tigres Del Norte are, they are Regional Mexican music royalty. They have over four decades of discography under their belt and with that comes worldwide recognition, an infinite amount of awards, extremely loyal fans and of course, friendships with other well known artists.

For the UnPlugged album which was recorded at the Hollywood Palladium last February, Los Tigres Del Norte enlisted a pretty impressive group of collaborations. The song La Jaula De Oro is with Colombian singer Juanes, Somos Mas Americanos is with Zach De La Rocha (Rage Against The Machine) and of the collaborations which I thought was rare yet unique was for the song America with Rene from Calle13.

MTV UnPlugged: Los Tigres Del Norte And Friends received a Grammy nomination for Best Banda or Norteno Album (competing against: Intocable, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, El Guero Y Su Banda Centenario & Michael Salgado.) The award ceremony will take place this Sunday February 12th, the competition is tough but I think this album will be the winner.

Check out a snippet of what you can expect from the album, it is on sale on itunes, amazon and record stores everywhere.

Credits: Vesper PR

Don Tetto – From Colombia with Rock Love

When you think of artists from Colombia, who comes to mind? Juanes, Shakira, Aterciopelados perhaps? Colombia is a country known for its talented musicians who always break into the mainstream masses and transition into becoming superstars in the United States. 
 
Such is the case with rock band Don Tetto that has been captivating audiences with their tunes since 2003. Diego Pulecio, Carlos León Gomez, Jaime Valderrama & Jaime Medina have been busy promoting their latest CD Mienteme-Prometeme (Lie To Me-Promise Me) which earned them a nomination for the “Premios Texas 2011” for New Artist. The award show will take place on August 11th at the Long Center For The Performing Arts in Austin (Texas).
 
Mienteme-Prometeme (Lie To Me-Promise Me) can be found on itunes. Don Tetto is also one of the bands featured on the video game Rock Band and they are slowly but surely building a strong fan base in the United States.

If Juanes is tweeting about them - you know the band is here to stay

 
I had the pleasure of scoring an interview with Diego Pulecio (lead singer) where we talked about the band; how they come up with the name Don Tetto and how important it is for the guys to connect with their fans via twitter (they are the ones who respond to each tweet, not some assistant.) 
 
Check out my interview with Diego below (for my Spanish speaker followers) and don’t forget to buy their album on itunes and follow them on twitter.

  Entrevista con Diego de Don Tetto by thechroniclesofazu


Credits: Azul PR

Parceros Together Under One Roof

Photo courtesy of Mauricio Gonzalez-Valois

There is something so delightful about attending a concert and feeling the great vibes from those present and also be pleasantly surprised at the humbleness of the artist performing.

I attended Juanes’ concert this past weekend for the “Parce Tour." It was in San Francisco at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where Juanes’ fans from all different ethnicities gathered for this amazing show.

I patiently took my seat and became drawn to the stage; I could see a guy piling up small screens which showed faces from what I assumed were fans of Juanes. As I paid close attention (I am blind) I noticed that the guy was part of the screen and it was actually a video. 

The time came for the show to start and Spanish singer Antonio Orozco was in charge of opening the show. He played a short but harmonious acoustic set and which was well received by the audience.
 
When Juanes came on stage the crowd went wild! Colombian flags were waving all across the auditorium, fans screaming anxious to hear him sing. He opened the show with the song Yerbatero from his latest CD. He also sang classics from previous albums such as La Paga, Hoy Me Voy, La Vida Es Un Ratico, Para Tu Amor, La Camisa Negra, Mala Grente and so many other amazing songs from his repertoire. 

Photo Courtesy of Mauricio Gonzalez-Valois

Juanes took the time to address his fans and thank them for attending the show. He was humble and appreciative of all the people who love and relate to his music. He was especially excited to be in San Francisco since that amazing city gave birth to the song Fotografia (which features Nelly Furtado.) He also introduced the members of his band who have been with him from the very beginning of his solo career.

Right before the performance of the song Odio Por Amor, he addressed the disaster that happened in Japan and his heartfelt words echoed among all the attendees.

He closed out the concert with an encore of not one or two but fours songs. At the end of the concert he brought out his cell phone and recorded the crowd cheering for him which he later posted on twitter.

I was extremely pleased with the show, more artists should take notes from him. We have Juanes el “parcero” for a very long time. 





Credits: Rogers & Cowan / Another Planet Entertainment