Style : World Music, Latin
Released : 2002, Label : Putumayo World Music
Size : 37 mb, Audio : 128 kbps

01. El Carretero - Barrio Cubano de Ronald Rubinel
02. Salsita - Sin Palabras
03. Linda Manigua - Sidestepper
04. El Estuche - Los Aterciopelados
05. Soy Callejero - Los Mocosos
06. Chan Chan - El Conjunto Massalia
07. Latin Flavour - Funkanzazenji
08. Bizcocho Amargo - Si*Se
09. Yorulamento - Supatone
10. Sensemaya - Carlos de Nicaragua & Familia
11. Cumbia De Los Muertos - Ozomatli

On Latin Groove, classic Latin traditions are transformed to the brink of mutation, but their native elegance is left intact. Funkanzazenji weave flamenco guitars and kora-like glissandi through sturdy colonnades of drum & bass on "Latin Flavor." El Conjunto Massalia's "Chan Chan" is based on a son by Compay Segundo, but veers off into Steve Cropper guitar riffs and prurient, Serge Gainsbourg-like vocals. "Yorulamento," by the German-based producer Supatone, mutates a stately charanga string section via reverberant synths and drum machines. Colombian rockers Los Aterciopelados, with their slap-happy montuno/house rhythms and whiskey-voiced chanteuse, are silkily subversive, while Ozomatli's "Cumbia de los Muertos" grounds a Mexican cumbia with heavy hits of reggae and hip-hop. As with Putumayo's Arabic Groove and World Lounge compilations, these tracks are post cards from the world music frontier, where mischievous, culturally promiscuous DJs are constantly inventing breathtaking new hybrids. --Christina Roden