The Bottom Line
Juan Luis Guerra is the most internationally recognized musical artist from the Dominican Republic. La Llave De Mi Corazon is his tenth album and his music is based on native merengue and bachata rhythms mixed with r&b, blues and pop. While there are a couple of fast merengue tracks, at heart this is a romantic CD, full of lovely lyrics and performed with compelling vocals and smooth, clean instrumentals.
Pros
- 13 songs that mix Dominican rhythms with r&b, soul, pop
Cons
- Not the album for lovers of pure merengue or bachata
Description
- 12 tracks (Plus bonus track) of merengue and bachata based ballads
- Guest artists: El Prodigio, Chiara Civello
- Released by EMI Televisa Music
Guide Review - CD Review: Juan Luis Guerra - La Llave De Mi Corazon
I've been hearing "Medicine For My Soul", the break-out track from Juan Luis Guerra's tenth album La Llave De Mi Corazon all over the place lately; it's big on the radio, the video is frequently played on TV, Guerra himself performed the song at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards. I like it.
But the album was a surprise. "Medicine for My Soul" is an upbeat, jazzy, multi-lingual number that's a mix of mambo, blues with a hip hop feel to it. There are two versions of the song on the album, one in English and "La Llave De Mi Corazon" in Spanish.
But that's not what this album's about. Most of the tracks on La Llave are about love and romance. While I'm not a big fan of the maudlin "you broke my heart, I can't stop crying, now my soup is salty" kind of romantic music, these ballads - a fusion of merengue or bachata with son and a distinctive r&b feel - are quite lovely. Think of them as musical sonnets, rather than country western tear jerkers.
"La Travesia" is an amusing, fast-clipped merengue; "Amores" is the other upbeat bachata that gets some great energy from Dominican accordionist El Prodigio. "Something Good" is a mellow, jazzy duet with Italian jazz vocalist Chiara Civello. But I think my favorite is "Sabia Manera", an r&b number with Saturday night soulful sax setting the mood.
If you're a novice in regards to Dominican music, this album is a great (and easy) introduction. Afficionados will be happy to add La Llave De Mi Corazon to their collection of favorites.
