Flamenco, Reggae, Cuban flare, and North American folk music. These genres are radically different in some cases… but one group has managed to combine these sounds as if they were meant to be together. How is this so? Well, this requires another history lesson. On their myspeace page they mentioned something called Ida Y Vuelta (Round-Trip) songs. Apparently, this is a type of music that uses certain styles from Flamenco. For those who don’t know Flamenco originated in Spain or Spanish culture. Yes, Spanish does not mean Mexico or El Salvador. It means its from Spain!! But what makes Ida Y Vuelta music so innovative is that its mixture of Cuban, African, and Native American music.
Why this exchange of music genres occurred, I’m not really sure. If someone wants to explain to me the historical background for this I would really appreciate it.
But back to the music! They are called Locura. The stuff that I have heard from them are from their MySpace made my ears itch for more. Everytime I hear their tracks I just want to get up and dance. And no, not like Lady Gaga wants me to dance but actually bust a few Latin moves. What is the name of this wonderful and hypnotic band? They are called Locura and they reside in the great city of Oakland.
But I have to warn you, the video above doesn’t really do them justice. This was the only one I could find of them but at the very least it shows you how their music varies. But you have to go on their MySpace to see…no hear this. I highly recommend Una Ola.
