Sadly, Latin House is an often overlooked sub genre when it comes to house music.
It seldom gets played on Internet radio channels. Thus the majority of its fantastic and original material doesn’t reach the amount of ears that it should.
Fortunately, there are DJs and producers out there like the fearless Dr. Kucho! and the innovative Zenbi to add a dash of spicy flavor to our favorite beats. Their collaboration on the 2012 track, “Echale Candela”, creates a unique fiesta blend that listeners from all cultures and musical backgrounds will enjoy.
Dr. Kucho!, a.k.a. Daniel Salazar, is actually a Spanish DJ/producer and Zenbi, a.k.a. Christopher Porter, is an American producer, both of whom have a strong background in Tribal House, which makes this track’s origins even more intriguing.
Disc Doctor w/ African drum beat
Coming from the Disc Doctor label, one would expect Candela to feature that serious rhythmic African drum beat that Doctor listeners have become so accustom to. However, Candela mixes it up with signature Latin sounds and a beat that would make Gloria Estefan do the Conga.
What’s interesting and tricky about the song is that it begins with about a minute intro that sounds very tribal. A steady drum beat gets the song going and there’s even a brief bongo roll about 15 seconds in.
Then, just when you think it’s another classic Tribal House mix, in come the sweet horns and light percussion sounds of maracas and tambourines. The horns then become more influential in the foreground, which leads into the next section that’s purely Latin.
About midway through the track, at three minutes in, is where I fell in love with it. A fade with a gently played Latin piano melody leads into a drop that turns the track into a Latin dance party. The song becomes the definition of a fiesta and you can’t help but move to it. This is where a beautiful fusion between the two sub genres occurs; where Tribal and Latin House meet to create audio ecstasy. If you don’t dig the track at this point, you are either deaf or not human.
Play it again
As the track slides into the outro, reverting back to the original sound of the intro, you won’t be able to resist playing it over again. The journey is certainly worth taking and enjoying on repeat listens.
What’s also great about this type of music is that is also opens up the door to all kinds of new possibilities. You can’t help but wonder, if they can mix Latin and Tribal, what other musical concoctions can they come up with? Obviously, some blends are more successful than others and this happens to be one of them.
Remember how I said earlier that it was tough to find this kind of tune? Well, fortunately there’s Houseschuh Internet Radio to the rescue. Be sure to check out this glorious track among others at houseschuh.com.