Juan Luis Guerra brought thousands to their feet in Parque Viva on Saturday, October 31.
Less than a year after his last visit to Costa Rica, Juan Luis Guerra returned to tico soil this past Saturday. The tour, named after Guerra’s most recent album, Todo Tiene Su Hora, is now well on its way and will continue until spring of 2016. His vibrant new music accompanied by the special graphics and quality-designed lighting that were announced back in August, did not disappoint.
In fact, even though the majority of people TCRN interviewed were not previously familiar with Guerra’s newest work, many left saying that it was hard to choose just one favorite part of the concert because the whole set was so outstanding.
The Concert
Los Ajenos launched the Guerra concert to an energetic start. The local band has been dubbed the “party phenomenon” of Costa Rica, and for good reason. Within seconds of stepping on stage, they already had at least half the crowd on their feet. Their main goal, says Los Ajenos, is to provide clean fun for young and old. Judging by the pictures below, it seems their performance was a success.
Then, following a brief video intro that incorporated real, onstage props, Guerra emerged from a blue telephone box with full confidence in his newest songs from Todo Tiene Su Hora. As always, the Dominican artist pushed the limits of traditional merengue — this time with the opening song, “Cookies and Cream.” Check it out in the video below.
Turning back to some tried and true pieces, “La Travesia” was Guerra’s second song, and the night continued as such: some new, some old, all great for dancing. At one point, the concert even featured a metal guiro soloist.
The Album
Todo Tiene Su Hora follows the same theme of mixing the old with the new. Guerra has long been known for his ability to renovate traditional Latin American music — keeping merengue, bachata and salsa alive for today’s generations just as much as those of before.
As his 12th studio record, Todo Tiene Su Hora sought to incorporate atypical instruments into these styles while keeping the music’s authentic sound. According to Guerra:
[pull_quote_center]We’re using many strings [and] violins. Instruments that are normally used in classical music, we have adapted to the bachata… we are trying to bring happiness to the people; it doesn’t matter that we are addressing a social issue.[/pull_quote_center]
Moreover, different musical styles have been embedded into the disk. The aforementioned “Cookies and Cream,” for example, is a fusion of merengue with the North American styles of both funk and jazz.
Also included on the album is Lo Nuestro Awards and the Latin Grammy Awards nominated “Tus Besos.”
Todo Tiene Su Hora is available as an MP3 download for just $5.99 on Amazon — or get a FREE MP3 download of the album with the purchase of a CD at $9.98.