1. Shakira-Sale El Sol
2. V/A-The Roots of Chicha 2
3. Yann Tierson-Dust Lane
4. V/A-The Lost Cuban Trios of Casa Marina
5. V/A-Fania Essential Recordings
6. Jane Birkin-Di Do Dah
7. Natacha Atlas-Moungaliba
8. Seu Jorge-Seu Jorge & Almaz
9. Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg-S/T
10. Spanish Harlem Orquestra-Viva La Tradicion

Without any surprise, Shakira’s Sale El Sol took the top spot on October’s chart. Likewise, I expected The Roots of Chicha 2 & Yann Tiersen’s Dust Lane to chart in the top five. The big surprise was The Lost Cuban Trios of Casa Marina at number four, which could have done better had the store not run out of stock so quickly. Fueled by a powerful PRI The World piece, this collection of unreleased music by forgotten Cuban boleros struck a chord with the NPR crowd and everyone seemed to be asking for it. We have been dealing directly with Ahi-Nama, the indie label who released The Lost Cuban Trios, for years. They mostly release modern Cuban music such as Timba, Cuban Reggaeton & Salsa, so it was a surprise to me that they released some vintage Cuban music. A nice surprise for us and I’m sure for Ahi-Nama as well.

At number six and nine are two Jane Birkin reissues by Light In The Attic Records, who are doing a fine job with reissues, including one of my favorite non-World Music releases, El Gusano’s Fantasia Del Barrio (review coming soon). Live shows in L.A. helped out Natasha Atlas (#7) and The Spanish Harlem Orquestra (#10). At number five is probably the best Fania Records compilation ever released for a DJ; Fania Essential Recordings, released by Strut Records is all bangers, no filler in the bunch! On both CD & vinyl, there is no reason to sleep on this one, unless you have all those collectible tracks already.

1. Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg- Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (CD/LP)
2. Seu Jorge-Seu Jorge & Almaz (CD/LP)
3. Luis Miguel-S/T
4. V/A- The Afrosound of Colombia (CD/LP)
5. V/A-Afro-Beat Airways
6. Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos-Cantan En Español
7. V/A-Pomegranates (CD/LP)
8. V/A-Let’s A Go-Go!
9. Enrique Iglesias-Euphoria
10. Jacky Chalard-Je Suis Vivant Mais J'ai Peur De Gilbert Deflez  (CD/LP)

There wasn’t much movement from last month’s top ten to this month. The only newbies were the funky prog-rock of Jacky Chalard’s Je Sus Vivant, Mais J'ai Peur De Gilbert Deflez (B-Music/Finders Keepers) and, on the other end of the spectrum, the latest by romantic Latin Pop singer Luis Miguel, which landed him in the third spot. Also, compilations such as The Afrosound of Colombia, Pomegranates and Afro-Beat Airways benefited thanks in part to Amoeba’s latest edition of the Music We Like book, with heavy praise given to each release by the staff from all three Amoeba stores. Get your copy of Music We Like at any Amoeba store or you can view it online.

A few September releases  worthy of mentioning that didn’t make the top ten are the latest from The Nortec Collective, Bulevar 2000, Natasha Atlas’ Moungaliba and Issac Delgado tribute to Nat King Cole, entitled L-O-V-E. On the vinyl front, we had the reissue of Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges' classic Clube Da Esquina. Original copies of the LP go for collector's prices. For fans of Peruvian Chicha, we have the limited edition LP of Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, Ranil's Jungle Party.

 Speaking of Chicha, The long awaited Roots Of Chicha Vol. 2 comes out on October 12th and it's just as good as the first. The best way to describe Peruvian Chicha is as a mix of Cumbia rhythms and Andean melodies with surf and psychedelic rock guitar. It was performed by many popular Peruvian party bands played during the 60’s and 70’s. Some of those groups still exist today, playing updated versions of their hits. Outside of Peru, many bands are picking up the style and doing their own version of it, such as Chicha Libre (New York/France), Los Chinches (England) and La Chamba (Los Angeles), just to name a few.

I saw Joan Soriano a few years ago on the Bachata Roja tour. A bit younger than the older men he was touring with, he pretty much stole the show. His latest album, El Duque De La Bachata, is out and also comes with an hour-long documentary on Joan’s life and music. The sublime romantic songs on Soriano’s album are the perfect cure for all Pop Bachata currently being written for tweeners and housewives.

Madonna falling in Rio back in December got me to thinking, naturally enough, about Mulholland Dr.'s use of "Llorando," Rebekah Del Rio's Spanish cover of "Crying." There's a lot of gravitas to gravity -- with one slip, the reality of artifice can be exposed. At the club Silencio, when the character of Del Rio (played by Del Rio) falls, but her singing continues, David Lynch is playing around with Bertolt Brecht's epic theater and his notion of estrangement. By having the work remind the audience of the layer of representation intervening between them and the emotions they're experiencing, Brecht hoped to create a more politico-rationally engaged experience -- that is, one of empathy, not sympathy (the former being of intellectual understanding, not the latter's identification).


However, Lynch turns estrangement on its ear by using lip-synching as the emotional crux of his film. If you'll remember, the scene occurs at the point where the fugue world of Betty is fracturing, and the reality of Diane is seeping in. Diane had killed her lover, Camilla, out of jealousy, replacing her in the dream with the amnesiac Rita. Of course Rita can't remember who she is, because she's a manifestation of Diane's oneiric state, a displacement of Camilla, with all the bad stuff repressed. As Rita, she's a ghost, pure desideratum, or Diane's objective (objectified) correlative of the real deal. (In fact, the same applies to Betty; she's Diane's idealized self.) Just as the illusion of the film's representational quality is most exposed (Lynch's "eye of the duck" scene), Betty and Rita begin sobbing -- and (provided the Silencio sequence works properly) the audience along with them.