The Reggaeton Report

Some funny stuff is going on with reggaeton. I've watched as one particular salsera who was initially pretty resistant to it, if not outright hostile, has decided that maybe it's not all bad after all, and maybe it could even end up having a lot of the social relevance that salsa had in the 70s. (Heck, I used to say 99% of it was crap, but I don't find myself saying that any more.)

While reggaeton might not be the exact type of next big thing certain sectors were looking for, it's making a big impact in Puerto Rico (well, it already had, obviously), throughout Latin America, among and Latinos in the US. Also, the frequency enthusiasm with which reggaetoneros and salseros are collaborating is pretty striking. (Unfortunately, the salsa singers who get involved aren't always the most appropriate for collaborations with reggaetoneros. It tends to be based on the commercial status of the singer, rather than stylistic affinities. For example, you have Victor Manuelle collaborating with Tego Calderon on a recent compilations (Cocorocos), and yet someone like Luisito Carrion who has more of a street/calle vibe might be a more obvious choice. (Except where commercial considerations enter into it.) Or how about Jose Alberto even, who I think has a higher commercial profile than Luisito Carrion?

(None of this is to say reggaeton is necessarily going to gain a huge share in my listening habits, but it already has a larger slice than I would have expected at one point. Oddly, a lot of that is thanks to pandora.com. I might actually start buying some of this stuff.)

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Also, check out this in-depth Peter Scholtes article about reggaeton in Minneapolis:

http://citypages.com/databank/27/1355/article14906.asp?page=1