Bituaya’s first show in Los Angles wasn’t met with much fanfare. Roughly sixty people came to their show Saturday at Tropical De Nopal gallery, hosted by Eclectica deejays Reyes and Glenn Red. After their seventy five minute set briefly stalled by power outages and a complaining neighbor who called the police, I can gladly say that I was there to witness one of the best shows I’ve seen this year, if not in the last few.

Bituaya hails from Venezuela, a country known by most Americans more for their oil, baseball players and of course, their leader Hugo Chavez, who is overly hated by the right and overly loved by the left. Venezuela has a rich music history, from the Joropo music that reminds me of Mexico’s Son Jarocho, to Latin Pop stars Richardo Montaner and Jose “El Puma” Rodriguez. In recent years people all over the world have been getting down to the alterna-house sounds of the legendary Los Amigos Invisibles. Venezuela also has a rich history of great Salsa artists such as personal favorites, Oscar D’Leon, Federico y Su Combo, Los Dementes and La Dimension Latina. One cannot deny the influence of Caribbean music on Venezuelans or for that matter, on Bituaya as a band. Bituaya continues the trend of recent Latin America artists perfecting the mixture of Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia, Reggae, Hip-Hop and Electronica effortlessly and without sounding contrived.

I have been blessed to know Jose “Crunchy” Espinoza for about fifteen years. He is one of Los Angeles' finest musicians in a town of many great talents. You probably don’t know him by name but you have heard his work through the music of Ozomatli (he was one of the co-founders of the group) and The Salvador Santana Band. He has also done plenty of session work with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas, Blackalicous and Money Mark, just to name a few. Crunchy, a multi-instrumentalist who plays sax, flute and percussion, has been leading various Jazz groups in recent years. One of the groups is the monstrous, Cuban Funk inspired Ubalaye, which has the sickest collection of L.A. based musicians in one band. He took some time off from touring to finish his masters degree in Afro-Latin Music at Cal State L.A. Since then, besides recording and gigging, he has been teaching music for grade school students as well as raising his own kids.

This year has been tough one for Jose. He has been fighting cancer most of the year and has gone through stretches where the doctors have advised him not to play. Still, Crunchy continues to write music and you can hear some of his pieces on Sunday, December 5th at a show entitled “Crunchyfest” at the California Institute Of The Arts (CalArts). On The bill will be The Cal Arts Salsa Band, Cava, Salvador Santana, Sono-Lux and Crunchy-led Umbalaye. The event is free but donations will be accepted to help Crunchy with his medical expenses. The show is from 12 pm to 6pm. For more info please click here.

I’m a little late with the Amoeba Hollywood World Music best sellers list for March, so here it goes.

1. Charlotte Gainsbourg-IRM
2. Basseko Kouyate-I Speak Fula
3. Bunbury-Las Consecuencias
4. Chatmonchy-S/T
5. V/A-Pomegranates
6. Julieta Venegas-Otra Cosa
7. V/A-Pomegranates (LP version)
8. V/A-Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia
9. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate-Ali & Toumani
10. V/A-Nigeria Special Vol.2

Charlotte tops the chart for the third month in a row. Most likely she will bumped by the new Ozomatli in April (More on that later). If you live in or near San Francisco, take note: Charlotte Gainsbourg will be appearing at the SF Amoeba for Record Store Day, where she will be doing a signing at 12 noon! The Pomegranates compilation scores double positions on the chart with both the CD and LP version making the top ten. Two in-store performances fueled the sales of  Basseko Kouyate and Chatmonchy. None of the releases on the top ten show any signs of slowing down; if anything, some may sell more than when they were first released in the coming weeks!

April is turning into another busy month of new releases. So far we had releases by Angelique Kidjo’s Oyo, Mulatu Astatke's Steps Ahead and Richard Bona’s The Ten Shades of Blues. Another B-Music compilation, Absolute Belter, is a collection of Psychedelic pop nuggets from Spain from the late 60’s/early 70’s. The LP version will be out soon, so I hear.

Wil-Dog Abers, bass player and one of the O.G. members of Ozomatli, loves Mexican Banda music. He loves it more than most Mexicanos. So what to do with all that love of Banda music? Start your own Banda!

Here are some pics from the band's show at Anda!, a club I do once a month at Mal's Bar with fellow deejays Gazoo, Ray Ricky Rivera and Mando Fever. The show was a lot of fun and the banda blew the roof off the bar!

In no particular order:

"Space Cumbia" - Poncho Kingz (Sonidero Nacional re-mix)
A good song by the "so-so" Poncho Kingz gets a makeover. Best thing Sonidero Nacional has done since Celso Pina’s “Cumbia Sobre El Rio”

"Afrobeatnik?"- Gecko Turner
Like a modern day "Soul Makossa" without completely biting the original.

"Mi Sonsito"-Ticklah
This little known song is better and lots more fun than Lily Allen’s “Smile”

"Scared Money" - Saul Williams
One of the less bombastic songs of his Internet-only release. A simple roots-reggae loop behind his potent lyrics and it works well.

"Cumbia De Los Aburridos" - Calle 13
Nastier and almost as good as 2005’s “Atrévete."

"Arenita Playita" – 4to Poder
I must have listened to this song a million times over the summer. I’m looking forward to a full-length release by this Venezuelan band one day.

"Be Easy" - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
We have Sharon Jones to thank for giving us the best lesson on pursuing love.

"Heater" - Samim
German techno meets Colombian Cumbia. XLR8R magazine put it best, “It was the only way the Germans would get introduced to Cumbia.”

"Café Con Sangre" - Jose Conde Y Ola Fresca
My personal favorite song of the year. Freshest Salsa tune I’ve heard in years.