Alma Caribeña

Performer: Gloria Estefan
Artist: Celia Cruz; Jose Feliciano; Yomo Toro; Rene Toledo; Ed Calle; Papo Lucca; Nestor Torres
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel includes: Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Jose Feliciano (vocals); Rene L. Todelo (12-string acoustic & Spanish guitars, cuatro); Sal Cuevas (acoustic guitar, acoustic & electric basses, background vocals); Manny Lopez (guitar, requinto); Justo L. Rivera (guitar); Yomo Toro (quatro); Nelson Gonzalez (tres); Luis R. Torres (flute, baritone saxophone); Nestor Torres (flute); Ejidio Cuadrado (accordion); Hernan "Teddy" Mulet (trumpet, trombone, background vocals); Jorge Torres (trumpet); Papo Lucca (piano); Pedro Perez Rivera, Nicky Orta (bass); Jorge A. Padilla (bongos, congas); Daniel Lopez (congas, timbales); Edwin Bonilla (timbales, guira, maracas, percussion); Robert Blades, Wendy Pederson, Angie Chirino (background vocals). Producers include: Emilio Estefan, Jr., Robert Blades, George Noriega, Randall Barlow, Rene L. Toledo. Engineers include: Scott Canto, Sebastian Krys, Javier Garza. "No Me Dejes De Querer" won the 2000 Latin Grammy Award for Best Music Video and was nominated for Best Tropical Song. ALMA CARIBENA won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album. ALMA CARIBENA won the 2001 Billboard Latin Music Award for Female Tropical/Salsa Album of the Year. This is a Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players. Personnel includes: Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Jose Feliciano (vocals); Rene L. Todelo (12-string acoustic & Spanish guitars, cuatro); Sal Cuevas (acoustic guitar, acoustic & electric basses, background vocals); Manny Lopez (guitar, requinto); Justo L. Rivera (guitar); Yomo Toro (quatro); Nelson Gonzalez (tres); Luis R. Torres (flute, baritone saxophone); Nestor Torres (flute); Ejidio Cuadrado (accordion); Hernan "Teddy" Mulet (trumpet, trombone, background vocals); Jorge Torres (trumpet); Papo Lucca (piano); Pedro Perez Rivera, Nicky Orta (bass); Jorge A. Padilla (bongos, congas); Daniel Lopez (congas, timbales); Edwin Bonilla (timbales, guira, maracas, percussion); Robert Blades, Wendy Pederson, Angie Chirino (background vocals). Producers include: Emilio Estefan, Jr., Robert Blades, George Noriega, Randall Barlow, Rene L. Toledo. Engineers include: Scott Canto, Sebastian Krys, Javier Garza. "No Me Dejes De Querer" won the 2000 Latin Grammy Award for Best Music Video and was nominated for Best Tropical Song. ALMA CARIBENA won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album. ALMA CARIBENA is surely Gloria Estefan's most uncompromisingly Latino roots record since 1995's ABRIENDO PUERTAS. Unlike the latter though, which takes a more Pan-Latin American approach to tradition, ALMA CARIBENA steers decidedly toward the island of Cuba. The tasty lineup of top-notch producers (Emilio Estefan, Jr., Rene Toledo), songwriters (Robert Blades, the Estefans) and distinguished guests (Celia Cruz, Papo Lucca) makes for a classy dose of roots pop. Gloria opens the sumptuous bolero, "Por Un Beso," with a primal cry of desperation that awakens the romantic senses. Papo Lucca commands a lush big band chart filled with thrilling stop-starts and snappy trombone, tres and piano solos. "Punto De Referencia," sets out as a dreamy, pared-down acoustic love tune overflowing with water imagery, before taking off into a full-blown salsa passage. "Solo Por Tu Amor" continues in the same pop-bolero vein, with a rosy twist of flute and strings and the delightful accordion of Egidio Cuadrado (of Carlos Vives fame). Jose Feliciano joins Gloria for an amicable duet on "Tengo Que Decirte Algo," while the regal Celia Cruz joins in on "Tres Gotas," a fun salsa take on grandmothers and their old-world ways.

Entertainment Weekly (6/2/00, p.79) - "Exquisite musicianship and scintillating material....there's no 'problema' when the beat is percolating..." - Rating: A- Q (6/00, pp.104-5) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...An abundance of thoughtful croonalongs....Gloria Estefan is the dignified real deal."

Gloria Estefan began her career as the lead singer for Miami Sound Machine, which found great popularity in the 1980s with its salsa-tinged dance music, and she went on to be a Latin crossover success story. Estefan has since gone solo and experimented with romantic ballads, Latin-inspired pop, and smooth Afro-Cuban Spanish-language albums, but her greatest strength lies in irrepressible, danceable party music.

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