And
The Beat Goes On...
By Christine Rodriguez
Marc
Anthony is why I listen to Salsa. That's not to say that he's the only artist I
listen to, but he is the one that made me pay attention and learn to appreciate the music
that I now love.
Five years ago, when I was fourteen years old, in my mother's attempt to have me really
experience the music that she grew up listening to, she took me to the 30th Anniversary
Fania All-Stars concert at Madison Square Garden. I didn't know at the time that I
was going to see and hear legends like Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Yomo Toro. The
concert was phenomenal. I got to see all of these artists perform the songs that
were playing in my house all of my life.
So what does this have to do with Marc? Well, he was the opening act of the
concert. Of the entire evening, he's who I remember best - with his then long hair,
full of energy (like always) running around the stage and sitting on the edge of it during
one of his ballads.
At that time, Otra Nota was the only cd he had released. Who knew that he was going
to one day sell out MSG all by himself? He sang those songs that I recognized from
home and that night when I got home I took my mother's Otra Nota cd from the rack and
listened. From then on, I was hooked - much to mom's delight :-)
All of this is why it is so weird to me that the man that I was used to hearing on the
Spanish language stations is now all over the English Top 40 stations. His song is
always being played and they're really promoting his concert at Roseland. I have to
admit that I like the first single entitled "I Need To Know" so I got tickets to
his show at Roseland. It's been a while since I have seen him perform and I was
looking forward to hearing his English songs for the first time. At the same time
though, It bothered me that I wasn't going to hear the songs I love.
I was psyched when Marc opened with two of his Salsa hits. He then took a quick
break and they played the "I Need to Know" video -- which everybody loved.
Afterward, he came back out and played the tracks from his new album. Most of them
were ballads - one of them he wrote for his daughter. Everyone went wild when he
performed "I Need To Know" but that was nothing in comparison to the excitement
of the crowd when he came out for the final set and sang the Salsa songs for which we love
him. As usual, he entertained us like crazy by running around stage, jumping on
speakers, and yelling "sheck it out" as he introduced his songs.
I thought the show was going to end with my favorite song "Nadie Como Ella"
which just about everybody was singing, but instead he asked us if we "¿Quieren
más?" and he sang the much appreciated, fun, audience participated version of
"Te Conozco Bien."
And then it was over. Much too soon. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of Marc on
stage again - with the perfect balance of English and Spanish - just like this show.