By José Gandue @Gandour
Photo: Claudia Calle
Whether we like it or not, Miami is one of the main capitals of the daily Latino onslaught. It is a melting pot of people, where thousands of Cubans, Colombians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Argentinians… in short, thousands of inhabitants of the Latin American continent have arrived and found in South Florida their most recent living space and where, by dint of seeing each other and participating more intensely every day in the activities of this American area, In recent years they have built their own cultural foundation, a mixture of what they bring from their birthplace with what they experience day by day to survive and move forward.
By breaking free from the clichés of "Latinoness" imposed by Hollywood, The Miami art scene of recent times has taken advantage of the interesting mix of cultures that is experienced every minute in its streetsHe aims to make these natural blends his new sound, something that can't be seen or heard anywhere else. One of its most recognized representatives is the Venezuelan, born in Puerto La Cruz, Toto Gonzalez, better known as Mr. Pauer. He, who came, like many, originally from rock, upon arriving in Miami saw the potential of this fusion and activated his sound laboratory, seeking to escape from the original labels and rhythms and working on something of his own, that would not stagnate in the original folklore and that rather builds its own fusion made for the twenty-first century.
In his latest work, Orange, seems to have achieved its intention. Throughout the 14 songs that comprise this album, we see a natural transposition of rhythms that They don't stagnate at their birth mark, but rather merge into their evolution. You can feel the cumbia, the merengue, the samba, the vallenato, but in their union with the electronic, and in their ensemble with each other, they become intensely original, a cadence of their own., Miami Style. Orange It's a heterogeneous album that doesn't fall into the obvious trap of simply making the listener dance. Mr. Pauer knows how to immerse the listener in an ocean of different colors and depths, and at the end of the experience, the listener knows they've been traveling along a path of different textures and surprising twists and turns that never bores but rather excites in its variety. Mr. Pauer has had the brilliant idea of inviting musicians from diverse backgrounds (some aren't even of Latin origin), most of them residents of his city, who have helped him construct a different map, one that extrapolates from the old face of continental rumba and reinvents itself to surprise. Mr. Pauer has been astute in his purpose and has therefore achieved his goal.
Many of us (the vast majority of you and I, let's be frank) have our differences and disagreements with what has been happening for a long time in South Florida, but It is clear that in recent years there have been events worthy of a fortunate crossbreeding of races and stories that march in pursuit of their own interesting identity. Mr. Pauer is part of this new movement and brings with him great songs to celebrate.