I very rarely watch Freddy y Punto but last night I was drawn to it because the featured artist was Chichi Peralta. A Dominican tropical music artist from Santo Domingo who is extremely talented and creates a brand of music that is unique acoustically and also named fus?n by the artist himself. His trademark is his ability to fuse tropical rhythms to create a genre of music that in my opinion is an example of Dominican folklore and in his opinion as stated by Chichi Peralta himself in the interview "merengue africano" with a mixture of predominantly Brazilian percussion and beats, bachata, plena (Puerto Rican native music), cumbia, vallenato, son, and bolero among other rhythms. Chichi was highly inspired by his father and his love of art (music being a form of art too) and was also influenced by Juan Luis Guerra's style of music and collaborated with 4.40. Then Chichi formed his own formidable orchestra and career. In many songs you can definitely hear the JLG influence.
His first album Pa' otro la'o was a hit. Released in 1997, it quickly spread throughout Latin America due to its uniqueness and catchy rhythms. The most popular songs of the album were Amor narc?tico and La ciguapa. Those were the two songs that inspired me to buy the album. I remember I bought my copy in Colombia at the time and it was the hottest album on the shelf. His second album De vuelta al barrio is where Chichi Peralta lost me. I remember listening to it and feeling totally lost. It was a complete change from his first album acoustically and rhythm wise. I remember thinking "he will lose some followers with this album". However, my belief is that every artist has a not so good album here and there whether it is sophomore jinx or just not a well managed production, it happens. After that album I always hoped that Chichi Peralta would make a strong comeback and he did. His third album M?s que suficiente is representative of the talent music followers of his music know he has. Although I don't own the album (yet) I have heard songs from it and one song I know for sure is a hit is La zalamera.
The show last night was a treat and a reminder that Dominican music (all styles) has many "unsung" heroes that have been overshadowed by mainstream groups who in my opinion still need to prove themselves. Artists like Chichi Peralta are already in that exclusive category which can't be measured by the number of albums they produce but rather by the quality of their music. What sets Chichi Peralta apart from many artists is:
- fusion of rhythms and tropical beats (Great examples are song #6- Ella tiene from the album Pa' otro la'o and #7- Procura)
- doce tamboras
- his folkloric style
- creativity
What I especially enjoyed about the show besides the music was Chichi Peralta's composure, professionalism, comportment and self-expression when describing his love for music. He is definitely an exceptional Dominican artist that should not be overlooked.
-LDG.
His first album Pa' otro la'o was a hit. Released in 1997, it quickly spread throughout Latin America due to its uniqueness and catchy rhythms. The most popular songs of the album were Amor narc?tico and La ciguapa. Those were the two songs that inspired me to buy the album. I remember I bought my copy in Colombia at the time and it was the hottest album on the shelf. His second album De vuelta al barrio is where Chichi Peralta lost me. I remember listening to it and feeling totally lost. It was a complete change from his first album acoustically and rhythm wise. I remember thinking "he will lose some followers with this album". However, my belief is that every artist has a not so good album here and there whether it is sophomore jinx or just not a well managed production, it happens. After that album I always hoped that Chichi Peralta would make a strong comeback and he did. His third album M?s que suficiente is representative of the talent music followers of his music know he has. Although I don't own the album (yet) I have heard songs from it and one song I know for sure is a hit is La zalamera.
The show last night was a treat and a reminder that Dominican music (all styles) has many "unsung" heroes that have been overshadowed by mainstream groups who in my opinion still need to prove themselves. Artists like Chichi Peralta are already in that exclusive category which can't be measured by the number of albums they produce but rather by the quality of their music. What sets Chichi Peralta apart from many artists is:
- fusion of rhythms and tropical beats (Great examples are song #6- Ella tiene from the album Pa' otro la'o and #7- Procura)
- doce tamboras
- his folkloric style
- creativity
What I especially enjoyed about the show besides the music was Chichi Peralta's composure, professionalism, comportment and self-expression when describing his love for music. He is definitely an exceptional Dominican artist that should not be overlooked.
-LDG.