Reggaeton Night

On Friday, I went to Reggaeton Night here in Buenos Aires. Reggaeton is a music genre that has developed as sort of a mix of reggae, cumbia, hip-hop and rap. Most of it is in Spanish, although there will occasionally be some English thrown in there.

Reggaeton has developed in countries through Central America and the Caribbean, and it has actually gotten pretty popular in the U.S. Many people consider it a "guilty pleasure". This is because reggaeton isn't always exactly "good" music - the lyrics are often cheesy (with some exceptions - see Calle 13), the rhythms and melodies repetitive, and the singer is usually decked out in platinum chains and other over-the-top bling.

But it is feel good music, and it is great for dance clubs. I guess people start considering it a guilty pleasure when they leave the dance club and start listening to reggaeton on their iPods.

Well, I listened to a whole lot of it when I lived in Panama. As a matter of fact, I still listen to a lot of reggaeton. I listen to it on my iPod in Boston, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. Anyway, I need to get back to telling you about what happened at the show.

The 3 singers on Friday night all came from Panama - Eddy Lover, La Factoria, and Makano. None of these guys are favorites of mine, but each of them has a couple songs that I like. I went with my friend Consuelo, who is a reggaeton fanatic from Chile. You know how in audiences there are always a few people holding up signs - well we made one. Here it is:


Q Sopa, fren! - in Panama it would basically mean "What's up man!?!". Anyway, it is definitely Panamanian slang, and a reggaeton singer from Panama would be really surprised to hear the phrase in Argentina. So Consuelo and I made the sign and took it to the concert.

Eddy Lover sang first, followed by La Factoria. They have a song together that was really popular a year or 2 ago called Perdoname - here is a link you should definitely check out. Each of the singers talks for a few minutes in between each song. Usually giving an introduction to the next song that they will sing. As I explained, the lyrics to the songs are usually really cheesy, so you can imagine that these little "chats" between songs are pretty ridiculous. Usually they say something like "Donde estan las muuuujeeereeeesss??!?!?" - that loosely translates to "Where da ladies at?!?" All the girls in the crowd then go crazy and start screaming.

Then they say something like, "who here has ever had a girl break your heart, then she calls you a few weeks later and says she wants to get back together? - Well, that happened to me with a girl in Panama, and I told her that now I am looking for an Argentine girlfriend!" Again - the girls in the crowd scream wildly. Then, the singer begins a song about "you broke my heart, but now I've moved on and you can't have me back" - or some other ridiculously sappy or empowering subject matter. It is GREAT!

As you can see in the picture I took of her, La Factoria is kind of thick. Not fat, but thick. You can also see in the picture that they put some flowery ruffles on the front of the yellow one-piece bathing suit thing that she is wearing - this covers her belly. After hearing her talk, she also appears to be an idiot. No matter - like I said before, this is just feel-good music. Consuelo and I agreed, though, that they shouldn't allow her to speak between her songs.

Then everyone starts cheering for Makano to come out and perform. Makano is probably the most famous of the 3 singers at Reggaeton Night. Here is a link to one of his more popular songs. He also has a song with a young Panamanian girl (only 9 years old), named Josenid. This little girl won a children's singing competition in Panama back in 2008 while I was there. Her song with Makano has become a pretty big hit throughout Latin America, and she came out to perform the song on Friday night. Makano has highlights in his hair, and the Argentine girls loved him. He invited 4 young girls to come up onto the stage and the each took turns hugging him. From what Makano says, he really loves his fans. He really appreciated all of us being there that night. That's so nice of him.

So Consuelo is holding up our Q SOPA sign, and one of the dancers on stage sees it in the middle of a song and starts cracking up. The 3 singers could not see the sign during their performances, though, because the 2 guys were wearing sunglasses all night and La Factoria was blinded by her massive ego. At the end of the show, Consuelo and I went up to the foot of the stage and Eddy Lover finally saw the Q SOPA sign - so he starts laughing and giving a thumbs-up sign. I am not one to generalize, but a lot of the reggaeton guys seem to like making hand signals. Take another look at the pictures in this post - in every single one of them the singer is making a hand signal. Anyway, so Eddy Lover gives us a thumbs-up hand signal. Then the performers ended up taking the sign with them backstage after the show. It would have been nice of them to invite us back stage to party with them. Maybe they even brought a bottle of Seco Herrerano or some Ron Abuelo that we could have sipped on while exchanging a bunch of Panamanian slang. Oh well - it wasn't to be.

Anyway, the concert was tons of fun and really made me miss Panama.