CD Review -  Sólo se vive una vez   by Laritza Bacallao (Planet Records 2014)
Review by Michelle White , All rights reserved

Cubadisco 2015 Winner - Opera Prima

Laritza Bacallao was born into music. Both her her father (Ernesto Bacallao) and grandfather (Felo Bacallao) were singers with Orquesta Aragón, and as a child Laritza sang with that legendary orchestra on more than one occasion. While her family history is permanently associated with the best in Cuban traditional dance music, Laritza's first solo album, "Sólo se vive una vez", can be described as Pan-Caribbean electronica. There is no salsa or timba and the only acoustic song is a bachata by Descemer Bueno. Instead most songs freely mix electronic versions of Caribbean rhythms such as plena, batucada, conga, merengue, bachata, ballada and reggaeton.

"Sólo se vive una vez" is certainly a lot of music for your money containing 16 songs. Several of the tracks have spent time at the top of the Cuban charts, most notably "Estrés", "Que suenen los tambores", "Carnaval" and "Nadie te lo quita (lo que está para ti)". The video for "Que suene  los tambores" won in the Lucas  2014 Award (Cubans video awards) for Best Electronic Merengue and the album took home the Cubadisco 2015 "Opera Prima" award. Most of the songs were written by Osmany Espinosa with Martin Freddy contributing five songs. There is also a tribute to Juan Formel - a reggae inspired version of "El buey cansao".

This is not a music for dancing casino, but it is a contagious dance album. The songs have the  simplicity of merengue with the intensity of electronica, making it tempting and easy for even the most left-footed to dance along. It will appeal to the younger crowd and fans of that illusive Tropical genre. You can purchase "Sólo se vive una vez" at Amazon, iTunes and Spotify.

Personnel in Sólo se vive una vez