[FA Worldmusic] Tremendous NY Performance by Dominican Sonero Legend "Puerto Plata"

[Evangeline Kim]

http://www.iasorecords.com/puerto-plata.cfm

While world music fans have amassed great collections of Cuban and Puerto
Rican music over the past few decades,  lesser-known from the Spanish-speaking
Caribbean in the world music universe remains the music from the Dominican
Republic: bolero, son, bachata and merengue.  (Last year we saw two
compilations appear on the World Music Network label, Bachata and Merengue,
which are worthy intros to those two enormously popular styles.)

This past weekend, I was thrilled to experience live one of the last Dominican
sonero legends, Jose Cobles aka "Puerto Plata," who headlined a small festival
in New York, Quisqueya en el Hudson.  A spry, delightful 84 year-old
performer, Puerto Plata had the crowds (including scores of charmed children!)
applauding and dancing away to his mix of son laced with bachata and merengue
rhythms.  His was by far one of the greatest Afro-Latin performances I've ever
seen.  His band was tight, with glorious guitars, bass, guira, tambora and
bongo drums as they serenaded the evening with impossibly romantic and witty
songs.

The power and beauty of Puerto Plata's music are stunning, and the good news
is that he'll be performing during the Madison World Music Festival, the
Chicago World Music Festival, Globalquerque! in New Mexico and also, the State
University of New Mexico -- in the latter half of September.  If you're in
those neighborhoods then, Puerto Plata's concerts are definitely worth
pursuing.

At above link, you can sample some of Puerto Plata's music.

Best!
Evangeline