Music Store 
Contemporary Music

Our music store is in two parts.  One, on this page, features currently popular singers from throughout Latin America and from Spain.  The other features "timeless" music, either singers or songs or both.  It is here.  A pretty good selection of both kinds is in our "Cantemos", too.

Why feature music on a website that's supposed to be about learning the Spanish language, you may wonder.  Well, there are several reasons.

First, a lot of people (including me) just like Latin music.  But there are more serious reasons as well.

For one thing, words or phrases heard a few times with a melody seem to stick in the brain better than attempts at memorizing.  Very often, songs will have either words or phrases or both that are important in communicating in Spanish.  An anecdote about how a silly song helped me in learning Spanish is here.

Another reason, and something you may not have thought of, is that even a superficial knowledge of Latin music will both indicate to Latinos that you are simpático/a, and provide good non-controversial subjects for conversation.  

Ednita Nazario One of the few Puerto Ricans to have success in Latin America, she was voted the top female singer of 2003 by Billboard Magazine, the principal organ of the recording industry.  Her albums can be found by clicking on her name above.

Rosario is from a Spanish family of musicians, and her songs are a mix of traditional Spanish flamenco with influences from Cuba and other Latin American countries.  She is a Latin Grammy winner.

 Ricky Martin is another Puerto Rican who has made it big in the Latin music world.  He started out as a member of the Latin answer to Boyz on the Block, which was called Menudo (Translation - "Guts").  Thankfully, it had a brief life.  The popularity of some singers might be skewed toward popularity in the U.S., since the sources I'm using (Billboard, Latin Grammies, Univision) are all based in the U.S.A.

Ricardo Arjona  Guatemala is very proud of Ricardo Arjona, probably the best known Guatemalan ever.  He's had quite a life: spent some time as an elementary school teacher; was on Guatemala's national basketball team (where he holds the record for most points in a game; acted in some telenovelas (soap operas) in Mexico; and became a world famous singer.  One of his songs Si el norte fuera el sur (If the north were the south) is not only very popular, but also has some very prickly lyrics for us norteamericanos.  The lyrics from this song, and a translation are here.
 
Alejandro Sanz

x

x

x

x

x

x