MONTREAL’S LATIN LOVERS
Santos show exposes Hispanic music scene
When bachata music superstar Romeo Santos plays to a packed Bell Centre in March, it might come as a surprise to just about everyone in Montreal — that is, everyone except our city’s Latin music aficionados.
In a city historically divided along francophone and anglophone lines, it can be tough to gauge the popularity of Latin music stars here. But in markets with large Spanish-speaking communities — and Montreal could be considered one with more than 120,000 people in greater Montreal who count the language as their mother tongue — Santos is revered. The 36-year-old has sold out just about every major venue in his native New York, including three shows at Madison Square Garden on his current Golden tour.
Historically, Montreal will get internationally known Latin touring acts. Crossover sensations like Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin have performed here in recent years, while Colombian singer Shakira will play the Bell Centre Aug. 8.
Santos is in a different category because he hasn’t made an English-language album yet, although that hasn’t affected his popularity here. The same could be said for reggaeton artists Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee, as the former played the Bell Centre last September and the latter played his ubiquitous hit Despacito at Stade Uniprix last August. Then there’s 47-year-old Mexican pop crooner Luis Miguel, known as “The Son of Mexico,” who will be at the Bell Centre in June. It could just be a coincidence, but more Latin artists appear to be booking Montreal stops on their North American tours.
For the city’s longtime Latin music institutions, Santos’s music has been a part of daily life long before the concert announcement. On Saturday night at Peel St. club Salsathèque, Montreal’s oldest Latin dance club, DJ Carlos will mix Santos songs into his sets.
“If you want to get the people moving, you put on Romeo Santos,” he said.
Santos is the face of a style of music called bachata, which is also a dance. It originates from the Dominican Republic, and Santos is credited with having modernized the decades-old genre both with his band Aventura and now as a solo artist. Santos is far and away the biggest bachata star in the world. The romantic vocals — whether you understand them or not — can feel almost uncomfortably intimate at times, yet the irresistible rhythms still get your hips swaying.
The family-run Club 649 on SteCatherine St. W. is also one of the country ’s oldest Latin dance clubs, having been in business since 1985, and at their Latin Groove Dance and Fitness School, they teach bachata.
“Bachata is the most sensual type of dance in the universe,” said owner Sandra Campanelli.
“I never doubted that an artist like Romeo Santos would come to Montreal — not only does Montreal have a huge Latin community, but you don’t have to be Latin to love bachata. At least 60 per cent of our students aren’t Latino. It’s something everyone can enjoy.”
Local musician Lex Garcia, who sings and raps in English, French and Spanish with his group Small Talk, said Aventura was a fixture growing up. The Santos-led group was founded in 1993 and released five albums of genre-bending bachata pop before parting ways in 2011 so Santos could concentrate on his solo career.
“For anyone who was a teenager between 2001 and 2009, parties weren’t popping unless you had Aventura playing,” Garcia said. “The second album (We Broke the Rules) was just hits: you could play any song from it and everyone would know the words. Bachata has existed for a long time, but Aventura made it into pop music.”
There’s also a storytelling aspect to Santos’s lyrics that appeals to Garcia.
“He’s like a musical telenovela. He’s really intense with his words and how the songs are written,” he said.
Growing up in Montreal, Garcia said he had to seek out the latest hits and trends in Latin music. He discovered new music through church basement parties, family barbecues and the many Dominican barber shops dotting the Blue Line from Jean-Talon to St-Michel.
Other invaluable resources were St-Michel garage Kiko Muffler’s mixtapes and radio programs (on Mike FM Thursdays and Fridays), as well as the longest-running Latin music program in the city, La Rumba (formerly known as La Rumba du Samedi) on Université de Montréal station CISM.
There was also the Festival international du merengue et de la musique latine de Montréal at Parc Jean-Drapeau, now merged into their Week-ends du monde summer programming.
“It was Hispanic Osheaga,” Garcia recalls. “Most of my first shows were reggaeton shows there.”
While it’s true that many Montrealers will be introduced to Santos for the first time when he comes to town, Latin music in the city has been hiding in plain sight for years.
For instance, DJ Carlos has been spinning Latin tunes at the skating rink in the Old Port on Wednesdays as part of their weekly Hot Rhythms on Ice theme night, and has played Latin music at Salsafolie at Jardins Gamelin in Berri Square in the summer.
And of course there’s Despacito, the massive 2017 radio hit and the first Spanish-language song to top the Billboard Hot 100 since the Macarena. Although Canadian Justin Bieber is the most famous voice on the song, the original featured only Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.
“Despacito put Latin music on the map,” says Campanelli. “It made it accessible to everyone. We love it when a Canadian or American is influenced by our music and makes it their own. It’s telling everyone that anyone can dance or sing Latin music.”
Hits like Despacito are good for business, says Campanelli. Latin Groove currently hosts 40 classes a week with 20 instructors.
“I was teaching a salsa class and one of the students asked me to play Despacito and if we could dance salsa to it. It’s a four-four beat, so why not? I played it five times, over and over again.”
DJ Carlos, on the other hand, doesn’t play Despacito as much in his sets anymore.
“I play a mix of 80 per cent Latin music and 20 per cent Top 40 hits you hear on the radio,” he says. He usually sticks to four styles of music: merengue, bachata and salsa for the earlier crowds and couples who want to dance, while bringing the more hip-hop influenced and bass-heavy reggaeton later in the night for younger audiences looking for more of a club atmosphere. He even keeps a güira by his laptop, a traditional metal scraper instrument used in bachata, to give his sets a live element.
Carlos thinks the key to Salsathèque’s 38 years in business, and it could be said of all of Montreal’s long-standing Latin music hubs, is that even as trends emerged and receded, the club has stayed true to the music’s roots.
“This place isn’t intimidating,” he said.
“If you want to come and dance, you can do that. But if you just want to drink or watch people, you can do that, too. You don’t need to be an expert. Just watching people dance can feel like a show.”
For anyone who was a teenager between 2001 and 2009, parties weren’t popping unless you had Aventura playing . ... Bachata has existed for a long time, but Aventura made it into pop music.