Urban Latino is a broad genre, and this new release from the Rough Guides is an attempt to bring the concept of world music beyond the folk side of things, and bring forward music of urban areas, and especially artists who otherwise wouldn't otherwise get attention here. It does a fair job touching on styles from all over, and is a good introduction to a variety of styles, with some great features, particularly data tracks including an interview with Chris Moss, who compiled the music and wrote the liner notes for the CD.

Of course the tracks are a mix, and what you like all depends on personal preference. I'm not a huge reggaeton fan, but the cumbia tracks are really wicked, and the songs that bring together multiple styles, from salsa to western pop, are diverse and interesting. The sounds vary from what a listener might immediately identify as "urban" to things that do sound more traditional to our ears, but it's all music of the streets of these cities and towns, and hopefully broadens ideas about what urban music means, as well as Latino.

In the whole package, the only thing I found really problematic was actually in the liner notes.

"Apart from savvy virtuoso who tout their arts in Europe, most Latin Americans don't think of their music as world music or ethnic music. It is just music, and it's simply a question of choosing a disc from the many genre on offer at the local disquerías."

Of course it's just music. It isn't music of the rest of the world - it doesn't come from anywhere else, it came from there. The presumption that the music that westerners deem to be "world" (a term with enough problems because thinking about it, pop from North America is really part of the world too) would be considered that by those making the music as anything other than their own is just silly.

The CD begins with such a positive and broadening message of introducing westerners to popular music from other countries - helping them to understand that it isn't folk, that isn't all bouncy and happy, and that it can even be dark and dangerous - but by drawing a line that says that their pop music will be somehow intrinsically different from ours, besides the obvious differences in styles and musical content, doesn't do much to forward real understanding.

Close your eyes and listen, and the CD brings new sounds and ideas about what is out there in the world. Just don't expect it to be quite so far from home.

See more of my thoughts on these CD's and other musical musings at "I Dig Music.."
Edited: [!--GH--]