MediZIHna para el Alma

As Lupita and I strolled along the Paseo del Pescador early Tuesday evening, I was a bit saddened to hear only Gringo music from each and every establishment that had music playing. Although it was good music from the 70's, it wasn't tropical music and no one was singing anything in Spanish. Please folks, just because you may not speak the language doesn't mean you can't enjoy local music. Please ask to hear something local or at least Latino and tropical at the establishments you patronize. Hire the Hermanos Morelos for a few songs. Enjoy where you are while you can!

The perfect musical antidote for all that Gringo stuff is Zihua's wonderful trio, SOLO TRES. Local, tropical AND Latino. Mexican boleros and romanticos, songs from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela.....all in Spanish! And if a few of their numbers sound familiar - "Perfidia" or "Quien Sera" come to mind - that's because Gringo performers did English-language covers.

I should add that on a recent trip to Cuba, we struck up a conversation with the middle-aged bartender in the only quiet bar at our Varadero resort. (We found that the incessant beat of much Cuban music can be really irritating after an hour or so at high volume). Anyway, we got around to discussing music and we all agreed that we most enjoy ballads, and "romanticos"....and in our case, especially Mexican boleros. I noted that our favourite group in Mexico, Zihua's SOLO TRES, often performed some Cuban songs as part of their repertoire - for example "Son de la Loma" and "Guantanamera". He promptly pulled out his cellphone, plugged it into the bar's speaker system, and played "Son de la Loma" by several Cuban singers....followed by almost a dozen numbers by Mexico's wonderful trio, LOS PANCHOS! It was a nice, relaxing evening, sipping Cuban liquor de café and listening to great songs.