There’s No Holding It Back Now

After many previous false starts and years of mediocrity, rock en espan~ol finally gained commercial clout, some crossover exposure and a high level of maturity and creativity in 1998. That was the year’s key development in Latin music, and with the genre’s main creative forces readying new albums, rock en espan~ol is unlikely to be derailed in 1999.

Expectations are tremendous for the new album by Cafe Tacuba, which might be a two-CD set. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs’ follow-up to the Grammy-winning “Fabulosos Calavera” will show whether the band can continue experimenting while maintaining its commercial status. Gustavo Cerati, one of Latin rock’s true visionaries, will release his first album since disbanding the popular Soda Stereo.

Other Latin fields are active, too. The coming year will see prolific Juan Gabriel releasing an album of banda music, Celia Cruz doing a bolero collection, Cheo Feliciano paying tribute to Frank Sinatra, mariachi princess Nydia Rojas debuting on Hollywood Records, and Los Lobos teaming once again with studio whiz Mitchell Froom.

It will take that kind of output to match what we heard in 1998, one of the most vibrant years in recent memory for the Latino recording industry.

Aterciopelados’ “Caribe Atomico” was the best Latin release of the year. While singer Andrea Echeverri spent her time listening to every trip-hop record she could get hold of, her songwriting partner Hector Buitrago was buying a sampler and fulfilling his dream of composing on a computer.

The Colombian band added a Latin American warmth to the compositions, and the result stands alongside Cafe Tacuba’s “Re” and the Cadillacs’ “Fabulosos Calavera” as one of the essential rock en espan~ol albums.

And “Caribe” was only the tip of the iceberg. In 1998, many bands found their true voice and the technology to express it. The year saw wonderful releases by Maldita Vecindad, Tijuana No, Bloque and singer Manu Chao. Newcomers Los Amigos Invisibles took an assured step toward disco heaven with their American debut, “The Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera.” And the often mediocre Los Angeles scene has taken new strength from one-of-a-kind bands such as Yeska and Ozomatli.

In the Latin pop realm, it was business as usual until two records with that old intangible magic came along.

Ricky Martin’s “Vuelve” and Juan Gabriel’s “Celebrando 25 An~os” stood as paradigms for everything a studio and live album, respectively, should sound like. Martin’s achieved a delicate balance between commerce and art, while Gabriel impressed with his unrivaled ability to pack a two-hour show with self-penned hits.

The world of salsa, meantime, suffered from excessive studio gimmicks. Fewer and fewer artists managed to preserve the genuine sound of the rumba, the son and the guaguanco, as tropical music was afflicted by ills ranging from tasteless rap segments to saccharine arrangements.

The list of candidates for the year’s best salsa record includes the usual suspects: Eddie Palmieri, with a triumphant return to salsa after 10 years in Latin jazz, Tony Vega, Joe Arroyo and Cruz. The most refreshing sounds came from Ahi-Nama Records, a relatively new label that has been making a name for itself importing quality Cuban music. Its Arte Mixto is arguably the best band to come out of the island in the last 15 years. The label also mastered the art of career resurrection with a solo album by the smoky-voiced Rolo Martinez.

In the field of Mexican regional music, the legendary Vicente Fernandez, Los Tigres del Norte and Angeles Ochoa released new albums, all boasting their usual standards of excellence. And local group Conjunto Jardin took us on a trip to Veracruz with a wistful collection of traditional songs on its debut album, “El Nuevo Son Jarocho.”

And 1998 was a great year for the novice listener. A number of labels invested in anthologies of Latin music that not only didn’t insult the consumer’s intelligence, but were also educational and fun.

Although their choices can be erratic at times, the Rough Guide’s CDs dedicated to Brazil, Cuba, salsa and music from the Andes were excellent single-disc compilations.

Putumayo’s platters of exotic flavors are a little more ambitious: Its anthologies make a point of connecting different cultures in one disc, such as the recent “A Native American Odyssey,” which unites music from South and North America with interesting results.

And the Hemisphere series released two definitive collections, one on contemporary Cuban music, the other on women in tango. These are all especially recommended for listeners looking to gain a global perspective on Latin music.*