Inside Out - Latin American Edition - Vol 136 - Pananana

Panamérika

Latin America

¡¡Panananá, Panamerikans!! Hum and mumble to this mumbo-jumbo show, celebrating the very healthy condition of music this side of the hemisphere: here’s a tropilicious, nostalgic and elegant edition of Panamérika. A high dose of class, distinction and joy comes from Brazil first, with a Sinamantes remake of Natalia Lafourcade’s 'Cursis Melodías'. Tracing some other unexpected connections, we go back to the year 2001, when Damon Albarn joined forces with Buena Vista Social Club's elder Ibrahim Ferrer for a Gorillaz enchantment. On the same cinematic and cartoonish scope, Panama’s Los Yegüeros follow up with some amusing spaghetti western rock. After these global interconnections it's time to get nostalgic with a leap to 1970 to captivate our senses with a Mexican bossa nova song by Venezuelan arranger Aldemaro Romero pairing with the charming Chilean Monna Bell to dedicate a song to Xochimilco, the Mexican Venice. Then we stroll on the Rio de Janeiro embankment with Orquesta Don Diego, and then some crooner charms when Canadian don Guy Lombardo dedicates a song to Managua, Nicaragua, picturing it as a nice and easy tropical getaway. The white man's wish to taste some Panamerikan juice increases when the Austrian edelweiss Lolita dedicates a song to a pinneaple, 'Ananas'. Alas, we're not finished yet! The Just Desserts keep on tearing frontiers with an Ecuador-Texas affair and our main feature this time around is an interview with Colombian avantgarde pastichists De Juepuchas, done at SXSW festival, and of course there’s the song that gives title to this show by Guatemalan cumbia ska combo La Gran Calabaza. You can't deny that this is a fruitful show for springtime. En-juice Panananá!