Best Latin American Music Compilation - Traditional & Modern Hits for Parties, Relaxation & Cultural Exploration

Best of Latin America states in its program notes that, excepting indigenous music, “[A]ll Latin American music has one thing in common—its Hispanic heritage.” I can go a little bit further about two other commonalities I found in this album.1. Unapologetic integration of synthesized soundsSome tracks sound like they’re entirely done on a really good keyboard. I was confused by these sounds at first, but they pervade the whole album, and I guess you get used to it. When you combine the synthesized sounds with the variety of real instruments featured, you get this very interesting cocktail of sound throughout the album. Accordion solos, mallet features, the trumpet duo you might expect from mariachi bands, and many others pop up. It’s a really interesting grab-bag of sound.2. Non-western ideasWeird tempo changes, rhythmic ideas, and harmonic changes pervade in a way that you don’t hear in American pop music. It’s refreshing and cool. You can really expect the unexpected throughout this album.This album tries to cover a lot of ground, featuring music from 14 countries on its 15 tracks. This isn’t really a good album for getting too DEEP into anything, but it’s not what it’s designed for. Many tracks sound like they could be playing from a street vendor’s stereo on the streets of Mexico. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you. For me, this album is an interesting thing to put on at a party for ambience, but I won’t be spending much more time with it when this review is done.