Cal Jader’s Best Tracks of 2014

@whatslater

We asked Movimientos’ Cal Jader – a man at the heart of London’s Latin American music scene – to pick out 10 of his favourite tracks of the year, and boy has he delivered. It’s a selection that Cal calls “a snapshot of my year on the decks and on the airwaves – tracks for the speaker stack and for the bedroom hi-fi, and some equally at home on both.” With selections from Brazil – where Cal spent two months this year – as well as Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Panama, France, Palestine and the UK, these tracks paint a broad picture of where Latin American music is currently at, both in Latin America itself and in cultural capitals around the world.

Cal will no doubt be showing off some of these selections at the annual Latin end-of-year send-off Tropicalista New Year’s Eve – hosted by Movimientos and Arriba La Cumbia – that will be happening at Rich Mix this year. This is not a party to be missed! Find out details and get your tickets from movimientos.org.uk/movimientos-nye-new-years-eve-london-rich-mix-2014.

Bazurto All Stars “El Bololó”
Three minutes of joyous champeta heaven – perfectly crafted Afro-Latin pop complete with cheesy beach video! La Sabrosura pura!!

Ana Tijoux “Somos Sur (feat Shadia Mansour)”
A fist-pumping call-to-action featuring hard hitting hip-hop beats, killer horns, strings and speed mambo plus Palestinian rapper Shadia Mansour – what more could you want?! A vital anthem for the disenfranchised global south.

Tropkillaz “Kizoombow”
Dancefloor slayer from the prolific Tropkillaz. This track marries elements of trap and baile funk with a killer berimbau lick. Taken from the excellent Dutty Artz comp of new Brazilian bass music Kafundó Vol 1 compiled by Maga Bo and Wolfram Lange.
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Don Pascal “Tributo feat Cristhian Salgado & Hector Viveros (The Reflex Tribute Mix)”
French producer Don Pascal hooked up with Colombian musicians (via Quantic) for this bouncy salsa house tribute to famous Latin pianists.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/166908630″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Dona Onete “Homenagem Aos Orixás”
My latest ‘new favourite track’ from the 72 year old’s essential debut album Feitiço Caboclo on Mais Um Discos. A lilting Caribbean-flavoured Amazonic groove with – as a the title suggests – a homage to Orixás – Afro-Brazilian gods.

Juçara Marçal e Russo Passapusso “Cala Boca Menino”
Metá Metá‘s lead singer Juçara Marçal and the brilliant new (at least to me) singer Russo Passapusso combine on my favourite track from the outstanding Goma Laca – Afrobrasilidades em 78 RPM album celebrating classic Afro-Brazilian music with reinventions of music based on rhythms like candomblé, capoeira, jongo, coco-rojão, embolada and choro from the decades of 1920 to 1950 orchestred by the don of the Salvador scene Leiteres Leite.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/159202051″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Monsalve y Los Forajidos “La Carcajá”
Insanely funky track from Venezuelan bass player Monsalve and his group’s EP (full album to be released 2015) with a unique take on the sounds of the Afro-Venezuelan tambores.

Willie Colón / Celia Cruz “Pun Pun Catalu (Canyon Cody & Captain Planet Remix)”
Another blast from the recent Fania Records remixes series – just when you thought you were happily dancing your merengue steps the tune morphs into an earth-shattering horn-led Latin trap monster. Strictly for the fat soundsystems! Also worth checking Captain Planet’s recent album if you like bastardised modern tropical funk.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/154772562″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Ruben Blades “Pedro Navaja” (Taken from Tangos)
Blades’ enduring salsa CLASSIC gets a genius tango re-working on his latest album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXayhFIEkTw

Tremor “Huella (Frikstailers Rmx)”
An unexpected detour from the Frikstailers for their dub remix of Tremor’s “Huella”, cleverly tuning the original’s haunting frequencies into a skanking tropical steppah.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/104535348″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

To listen to even more of Cal’s favourites from the year simply check out his 60-track Best of 2014 Mix or his Movimientos Best of 2014 Radio Show – essential listening!

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