Spanish love phrases
May 30, 2008 at 5:25 pm | In Colloquialisms, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Free Spanish Lesson, Hispanic, Humor, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Learning English, Learning Spanish, Modern Spanish, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Poll, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino, Spanglish, Spanish, Spanish Classes, Spanish Language, Survey, Vaya | 24 CommentsTags: amar, definition of "amar", definition of "querer", English, images, links, love, love phrases, Poll, querer, Spanish, Survey
First of all, there are two main verbs to express love (emotional love) in Spanish, “Querer” and “Amar”.
What is the difference between “Querer” and “Amar”? Well, both verbs express an emotional love, “to love”, but “Amar” expresses a stronger and more intense type of love than “Querer”.
Also, while “Amar” means exclusively “to love” intensively, “Querer” has different meanings besides to love, such as to want or to desire. In Spanish “Querer” is commonly used to express these three meanings.

Therefore, there is usually a difference when in Spanish someone tells you: “Te Quiero Mucho” or “Te Amo Mucho”. The latter is much more intense than the former.
I think that it is interesting the fact that in Spanish there are two verbs that express love, with different intensity.
Do you know of any other language that has two or more verbs to express love? We will love to know them!!
The following are some of my Favorite Spanish Love Phrases as well as words related to romantic love. I hope that you like them as much as I do!!
El Cachao
April 9, 2008 at 1:39 am | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Latin Stars, Modern Spanish, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Quotes, Sabor Latino, Shakira | Leave a CommentTags: Ahora si, andy garcia, bassplayer, composer, Cuba, Cuba Linda, El Maestro, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Irael Cachao Lopez, links, mambo, musician, resources
Israel “Cachao” López was born in Havana, Cuba, in September 14, 1918 and died in March 22, 2008.
He was known as “Cachao”. A Cuban mambo musician, bassist and composer, he helped bring mambo music to popularity in the United States in the 1950s.

In his last years he became the most important living figure in Cuban music. He was regarded as the most important bassist in twentieth-century popular music. He innovated the Cuban music and influenced the now familiar bass lines of American R&B.
El Cachao has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, won several Grammy Awards and has been described as “the inventor of the mambo”. He is also considered a master of descarga (Latin jam sessions).

The name Cachao is “La Mata”, “The Tree”, from this tree rooted in the deepest traditions of Cuban music everything in modern Cuban music, music known to many as Salsa stems.
Cachao left Cuba in 1962. First he spent two years in Spain and then came to New York City. There he performed with mambo bands led by Tito Rodríguez, José Fajardo and Eddie Palmieri. For decades, he worked almost entirely as a sideman.
Then, he moved to Las Vegas and then to Miami. Cachao made only three albums as a leader between 1970 and 1990.
In 1990, Andy García, who is a longtime fan of Cachao’s music, organized recording sessions with leading Cuban musicians and a tribute concert for Cachao in Miami: “Master Sessions Volume 1” and “Master Sessions Volume 2”.
Afterwards, Andy García produced two more albums for Cachao, “Cuba Linda” (2000) and the Grammy-winning “Ahora sí” (2004)
“He leaves with us a legacy of extraordinary trendsetting music, and an unequaled example of humanity, that was a gift to all of us, who had the good fortune and honor to experience.”
Andy García

With renewed recognition, Cachao spent the 1990’s and 2000’s touring and recording worldwide and collecting awards.
There are two main documentaries about El Cachao, “Cachao, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos” and was released in the 1990’s and “Cachao: Uno Más” which will be released in April of 2008.

“I consider our collaboration and friendship one of most important accomplishments of my life. Cachao is our musical father. He is revered by all who have come in contact with him and his music and is referred to simply as El Maestro. He has been honored around the world and has his rightful place in the Smithsonian Institute.”
Andy García
Needless to say, Andy García is a proud member of the Cachao Orchestra.
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*** Visit VayaSpanish.com for more content revolving around the Spanish language, culture, and more! ***
Related Links, Resources, and Other Points of Interest:
* The King of Mambo experiences a career revival-at age 89!
* Israel “Cachao” López dies
* Cachaito López biograhpy
* Mambo Jumbo
* “Cachao” gets Star on Walk of Fame
* Cachao discography
* El Cachao filmography
* Gloria Estefan biography
* La vida es un carnaval! Celia Cruz
* The Latino Vote, who do you prefer?
* Latin American Music
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Celia Cruz! La vida es un carnaval!!
February 15, 2008 at 11:04 pm | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Latin Stars, Modern Spanish, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino | 1 CommentTags: Afro-Cuban rhythms, biography, Celia Cruz, Cuba, Cuba-American singer, images, La Sonora Matancera, life is a carnival, salsa, the queen of salsa
Life is a carnival!
Born in October 21, 1925, she was a Cuban-American singer who spent most of her career living in New Jersey, working in the United States and several Latin American countries.

Some have said that she is indisputably the best known and most influential female figure in the history of Cuban music. The New York Times called her “one of the world’s great singers” and various specialized publications have named her the best female vocalist in the United States on a number of years. She is called “the queen of salsa”, with her catchy Afro-Cuban rhythms she won several generations of listeners.
In 1966 Cruz joined the orchestra of Tito Puente, with whom she has performed many times. Before that, she also worked with other bands, including the Cuban top dance band La Sonora Matancera where she was hired, in 1965, to be the lead singer. The band and Cruz left the island soon before Fidel Castro took power. She never came back. After leaving Cuba she decided to settle in the United States.

She found the style that would define the rest of her career in the 1970s, when she worked with an independent label called Fania. Stars like Rubén Blades, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco and Hector Lavoe were some of the Fania All Stars. At that time the term “salsa” was coined and Celia earned the respect of its players and its fans as well.
Gloria Estefan
February 4, 2008 at 7:31 pm | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Latin Stars, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino, Spanglish | 2 CommentsTags: actress, biography, Cuba, discography, Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Latin music, Miami, Miami Sound Machine, music, singer, Sony BMG/Epic, The Miami Latin Boys, writer
I have great admiration for this wonderful artist. I have grown up with her music and had enjoyed it up to today. I think that indeed she is one of the biggest new stars to emerge during the mid-eighties. It is my pleasure to have an entry of her in my blog.
Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo García, her maiden name, was born on September 1, 1957 in Havana, Cuba.She is a wonderful singer-songwriter, and actress and a writer. When singing her genre is pop music, rock music, and pop rock, dance pop, Latin pop and dance music.

Gloria Estéfan plays the guitar, percussion and vocals. She has been active since 1977 to present and she is associated with Emilio Estéfan Jr. and Miami Sound Machine. Her label is Sony BMG/Epic.
Gloria is known as the “Queen of Latin Pop” and she is a five-time Grammy Award-wining Cuban American singer and songwriter. She has also a number of hits on the pop, dance, adult contemporary, and Latin and salsa charts.
She and her parents moved to Miami, Florida, when she was 16 months old, following the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Gloria was raised primarily in Miami and attended the University of Miami. She graduated in 1978 with a degree in communications and psychology.

As a child Gloria liked to write poetry and she took classical guitar lessons. She once said: “When my father was ill, music was my escape. I would lock myself up in my room for hours and just sing. I wouldn’t cry..I refused to cry..Music was the only way I had to just let go, so I sang for fun and or emotional catharsis”
Brazilian music
January 16, 2008 at 1:27 am | In Communication, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Latin Stars, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino, World History | 1 CommentTags: Afro-Brazilian music, Axe music, Baiao, Bebel Gilberto, Bossa Nova, Brazilian funk, Brazilian link, brazilian music, Carimbo, Chico Buarque, Joao Gilberto, joy, Lambada, Lundu, Mangue Beat, Maria Behtania, Maxixe, Pagode, passion, Roberto Carlos, samba, sentiment, Vinicius de Moraes
Brazilian music in my opinion is amazing; it is one of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.Since Brazil has a diverse musical heritage, the Brazilian music comes from many parts of the world.
It is a result of an Amerindian; Portuguese, and African sources meeting global influences.

There are also very popular regional music styles influenced by African and European forms. Samba is one of the best-known forms of Brazilian music worldwide. Other genres including Bossa Nova are well known as well.
Among the unique styles from Brazilian music we can find Brazilian rock, axé, choro, sertanejo, samba, forró, breja and MPB; among others. According to what I have read Brazil has a growing community of modern/experimental composition as well, including electro acoustic music. Brazilian genres formed a solid tradition in general.
In the following picture there are 37 names of Brazilian music; can you find them?
Among the Afro-Brazilian music genres we can hear about are:Lambada,Baiäo,Pagode,Axé music,Brazilian Funk,Carimbo,Lundu,Mangue Beat, and Maxixe.
Brazilian music transmits sentiment, joy and most of all, passion. The following is a fantastic website for Brazilian links. It has many Brazilian artists listed as well as their information. I hope that you find it interesting as well:
There is too much information and categories to talk about in this type of music, the Brazilian music. I could spend weeks writing in my blog about this topic. So, by now, I can tell you that some of my favorite singers; the ones that I have listen to more often and love more and more every time I do it are:
María Bethânia
Chico Buarque
Roberto Carlos
Bebel Gilberto
João Gilberto
Vinicius de Moraes
If you would like to learn more about the singers from Brazil and their subcategories you can take a look at the following link from wikipedia. It has a great page to learn about that. Here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Brazilian_singers
Have you heard music from Brazil? Do you like it? Do you have any other singer you like? Let us know!!
Latin American music
January 7, 2008 at 8:30 pm | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Modern Spanish, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino, World History | 7 CommentsTags: African music, American music, chachacha, charanga, conga, Creole, English music, Latin American music, Latin American rhythms, Latin music, mango, merengue, Portuguese, rumba, salsa, Spanish, tropical Latin music
It is called Latin Music as well. The Latin American music includes the music of all countries in Latin America; it comes in many varieties.
The unifying thread of the Latin Music is the use of Latin languages, predominately the Spanish language, the Portuguese language in Brazil, and to a lesser extent, Latin-derived Creole languages such as that found in Haiti.

Latin America can be divided into several French-speaking islands in the Caribbean Sea; such as Puerto Rico, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Spanish music, Portuguese music and Latin American music strongly cross-fertilized each other; even though Spain isn’t part of Latin America.
Interestingly Latin music also absorbed influences from English and American music in particular African music.

Very little is known about music in what is now Latin America prior to the arrival of Europeans. Latin music is almost entirely a synthesis of European, African and indigenous elements.
The arrival of the Spanish and their music heralded the beginning of Latin American music. The advanced civilizations of the pre-contact era included the Mayan, The Aztec and The Incan empires.
Generally Spanish song forms, African rhythms and European harmony are major parts of tropical Latin music, as are the more modern genres such as rock, heavy-metal, jazz, punk, hip hop, R&B and reggae.
Aztec Tattoos – Art Meets History
December 11, 2007 at 9:19 pm | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Recommendations, Sabor Latino, World History | 15 CommentsTags: ancient civilization, arts, Aztec calendar, Aztec sun, Aztec warrior, Aztecs, Central America, connection, deities, eagle, education, goddesses, gods, heritage, Mexico, religion, religious practices, rituals, stenght, symbolic meaning, tattoos, tradition, tribe
The Aztecs were a powerful ancient civilization that lived from the 13thto the 16th century in and around the area of Mexico and Central America.
Having tattoos was and is a common practice among many tribes; religion and gods were very important in the Aztec culture and therefore Aztecs used to have tattoos to show and reflect a devotion to their deities.
They often used them in rituals; most of the designs that exist now are ancient symbols that offered respect to these gods and goddesses.

Because the Aztec culture was based in tradition, in arts and in education as well as in religious practices, they held many different designs and shapes as sacred.
Art was very important and themes such as the Aztec calendar are common designs for tattoos.
Other common theme for Aztecs tattoos used nowadays is based around the sun because it is consider being the provider of life; the calendar was based around the sun as well.

Other important reasons of why Aztecs decorated themselves with tattoos were to differentiate between tribes, to mark a person’s status or to show a warrior’s rank as well as his accomplishments.
Shakira: Latin Pop Sensation
November 22, 2007 at 4:24 am | In American Culture, Business & Marketing, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, Latin Stars, Modern Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino, Pop Culture, Sabor Latino, Shakira, Spanglish, Television & Film | 15 CommentsTags: , , actress, Arabic, Colombia, dancer, el oasis, Emilio Estefan, English, Gloria Estefan, instrumentalist, Latin America, Laundry Service, Lebanese, philanthropist, record producer, rock&roll, Shakira, songwriter, Spanish
Her real name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll. She was born in February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombia and her father was of Lebanese descent. As a child, Shakira soaked up music from both cultures and listened heavily to English language rock & roll. Within her favorite rock & roll bands are Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Police, The Cure and Nirvana.
Known as Shakira, her first name; she is a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, dancer, philanthropist and she is also an occasional actress. As an actress she played the role on a Colombian telenovela: “El Oasis”.Shakira, her main name, is a Spanish name that came from the Arabic word for “graceful”.According to her biography, she wrote her first song at age eight and speaks English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Italian. She is a perfectionist and spends hours in the studio. Her career started in Latin America where she has been a major figure; approximately in the mid-1990s. With her album Laundry Service she conquered the English–speaking world. She is the only artist from South America to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart. The United World Chart and the UK Singles Chart.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote once: “Shakira’s music has a personal stamp that doesn’t look like anyone else’s and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age, with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention”
An interesting note about her album LAUNDRY SERVICE is the way she was able to translate her Latin American sensibility into a new language. Shakira’s partnership with Emilio and Gloria Estefan gave her the idea to do songs in English. The first song that was translated in English by Gloria Estefan was “Ojos Así”, a great hit written originally by Shakira! That song appears in Shakira’s album ¿Dónde están los ladrones? or Where are the thieves?She has dyed her long brown hair blonde and has romanced Antonio de la Rua, who is son of the former president of Argentina)Shakira’s discography includes:
- Magia (Magic;1991)
- Peligro (Danger;1994)
- Pies Descalzos (Barefeet;1995)
- The Remixes (1997)
- ¿Dónde están los ladrones? (Where are the thieves?;1998)
- MTV Unplugged (2000)
- Laundry Service (2001)
- Grandes Éxitos (Greatest Hits; 2002)
- Live Off the Record (2004)
Shakira’s DVDs and films:
- MTV Unplugged (2000)
- Live Off the Record (2004)
If you would like to buy or to download some of her music, this is a great site to do so:http://music.aol.com/artist/shakira/174707/discography So, what do you think of Shakira? We would like to see what you have to say!
Identity of Latin Culture
November 14, 2007 at 9:43 pm | In American Culture, Communication, Contemporary Spanish, Hispanic, Hola Mundo, Latin Culture, Latin Roots, NYC Local, New York City, New York Spanish, Orgullo Hispano, Orgullo Latino | 2 CommentsTags: Anglo-America, Aztec, Central America, culture, Dominican Republic, Haiti, high culture, Hispanics, Identity, Inca, Latin America, Latin-American, Maya, Mexico, Moche, Nasca, Olmec, popular culture, Portuguese, Puerto Rico, Romance languages, South America, Spanish, The Caribbean, Tiwanaku, Toltec
Latin America is the region of the Americas where Romance Languages, those derived from Latin (particularly Spanish and Portuguese) are primarily spoken. Latin America is contrasted with the less frequently used term Anglo-America, designating that region of the Americas where English predominates.
Latin American Culture is the formal or informal expression of the peoples of Latin America; includes both: “High Culture” that refers to literature, high art, etc; and “Popular Culture” that refers to music, folk art and dance as well ad religion and other practices people are used to or have them as custom.
Regions of the Americas considered as Latin America include Mexico, Central America, South America; and The Caribbean (Cuba, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) in which Haiti is generally included since it is a non-Hispanic country with some Hispanic cultural influence.
Advanced civilizations such as Aztec, Maya, Toltec, and Olmec, of the Central American continent make Latin American culture a rich and fascinating study.
The southern part of Latin American culture includes most of South America, including the ancient civilizations of Inca, Moche, Nasca, and Tiwanaku.
In the USA there is an important Latin American cultural presence in places like California, the Southwest and cities such as New York and Miami.
Hispanics living in The United States are America citizens or residents of Hispanic ethnicity who identify themselves as having Hispanic Cultural heritage. Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group.
The Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain and anyone with origins in any Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas.
Sometimes people confuse the terms “Spanish” with “Hispanic”. The Spanish (or Spaniards) are the people who were born in Spain. The Hispanics have a culture with strong links with the Spanish culture.
The Hispanic culture and ethnicity has enriched its culture with a mix of Native Americans and Spanish-European civilizations.
As an interesting note Latino is defined in English language dictionaries as:
• A person of Latin- American or Spanish-speaking ancestry;
• A Latin American;
• A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American descent, often one living in the United States;
• A Spanish speaking person from Latin American birth or descent who lives in the U.S.;
• Latin inhabitant of the United States
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I thought that it was interesting to speak a little about this topic, getting increasingly interesting for everyone as we have more questions and information.
There are tons of information to discuss about this topic, which I will do in the future with your help and comments.
We would love to hear your opinions about this topic; over the time we can all have great information and learn about it!!
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