''A Son de Guerra'' (English: to the beat of war) is the 11th studio album recorded by Dominican singer-songwriter

Juan Luis Guerra Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born June 7, 1957) is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. He has sold 30 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Throughout his career, he has wo ...

, It was released by

Capitol Latin Capitol Latin (formerly EMI Latin) is a brand of Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Previously, it was a subsidiary of EMI. History In 1989, José Behar, the former head of CBS Discos, signed Selena to ...

on June 8, 2010 (see 2010 in music). The album contains 11 tracks, and its musical structure and production are based on Merengue, Bachata, Son, Salsa and incorporates

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, rap, and mambo styles. Lyrical themes on the album include protest against political corruption, immigration, love and

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

. Featured appearances include Juanes and Chris Botti. For many fans and critics alike, it's his album with the most social content and strong social criticism since his 1992's Areito. ''A Son de Guerra'' met with positive reviews by the critics''.'' It won three awards including Album of the Year on November 11, 2010, at the 11th Annual Latin Grammy Awards and was nominated Best Tropical Latin Album at

53rd Annual Grammy Awards The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prio ...

. The album was support by six official singles: '' Bachata en Fukuoka'' which won Best Tropical Song at the 11th Latin Grammy Awards, ''Mi Bendicion, La Guagua, La Calle, Lola`s Bambo and Apaga y Vamonos''. ''A Son de Guerra'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard''

Tropical Albums Tropical Albums (formerly known as ''Tropical/Salsa'') is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Established in June 1985, the chart compiles information about the top-selling albums in genres like salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia, ...

. It remained the top-selling album on the chart for 9 weeks and was certified platinum (Latin field) in the

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by the

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(RIAA). It top the charts in Spain and Uruguay and reached the top 10 in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. It was certified gold and platinum in Mexico and Venezuela. To promote the album, Guerra embarked on the ''

A Son de Guerra World Tour The ''A Son de Guerra World Tour'' was a concert tour by Juan Luis Guerra, mainly to promote his eleventh studio album, ''A Son de Guerra'' (2010). The tour began with three shows in Puerto Rico before moving to South and Central America. Support ...

''. In 2013, Guerra released A Son de Guerra Tour, recorded live during the tour stop in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

the previous year.

Background and production

By the end of 2009, Guerra concluded his Travesia Tour which he performed in countries such as Japan for the first time. At the end of the tour, the artist stated that he wanted to do something different in comparison to his other works. By 2010, Juan Luis Guerra had sold over 20 million copies worldwide. On March 22, 2010, Guerra released the lead single "Bachata en Fukuoka" and he explained that he got the inspiration of the lyrics during his stop of his previous in the city of the same name in Japan. On May 25, 2010, Guerra revealed to the press "Perhaps it is the most varied album in terms of musical genres, in others I have made two or three fusions, in this one I have made a deeper mix". Also, it explained first time he mixed seven music genres: bachata, merengue, mambo, jazz, cumbia, son and rock and also that he returned to do social content on his music.

Musical style, writing and composition

The album contains 11 tracks in total. The opening track "No aparecen" is a romantic merengue. "La Guagua" is a son with elements of cumbia and guracha with a strong with a political message and is a reflection about the poverty and political corruption in Latin America. Mi bendicion is a bachata song that talks about the blessing of been love. "La Calle" feat Juanes, is a rock song with also contains social criticism. "Bachata en Fukuoka" is a romantic bachata song. "Apaga y Vamonos" is a merengue song that contains social criticism and reflects about how the poverty, corruption and poor conditions had stayed the same. "Son del Rey" is Christian song with an infectious Cuban son rhythm. Cayo Arena is a merengue with strong influences of jazz and blues. "Arregla Los Papeles" is an intricate salsa that talks about immigration. "Lola`s Mambo" is a salsa song with elements of mambo. Caribbean Blues is son song and is his first English language song since "Medicine for my soul" on his 10th studio album La Llave la de mi corazon.

Critical reception

''A Son de Guerra'' it was one of the most anticipated Latin albums for the summer of 2010. The album met with positive reviews. Jason Birchmeier of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album a positive review, and while he felt that "there's nothing extravagant here", he stated that "every song is interesting from one standpoint or another." At the 11th Latin Grammy Awards the album won three awards: Best Tropical Song, Best Contemporary Tropical Album and Album of the Year for his “A Son de Guerra. At the 2011 Premio Lo Nuestro, he was the most nominated artist with six. Eventually he won best merengue artist. At the 27th Annual

Soberano Awards The Soberano Awards are the Dominican music awards, which are awarded annually by the Asociación de Cronistas de Arte of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo. Often referenced in music line-ups to delineate a musician's popularity in Hispani ...

, previously Casandra awards, Guerra won two awards including album of the year for A Son de Guerra. The album received a nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album at

Commercial performance

In the United States, A son de Guerra debuted at number two on the Billboard Top Latin Albums and number one ''Billboard'' Tropical Albums on the week of 26 June 2010. Also, It debut at 52 on ''US

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

''. It was certified platinum (latin field) by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for shipping 100,000 copies in the United States. In Mexico, the album peaked a number six and was certified gold for selling over 30,000 copies. In Chile, it peaked at number 7 and number 6 in Colombia at albums retail charts. In Peru, it peaked at number 9 at the albums retail albums charts. In Spain, A son de Guerra debuted at number one on the albums charts. In Uruguay, the album debuted at number one at the album monthly charts. In Ecuador, the album reached number 5 on the retail charts and sold over 5,000 copies. In Venezuela, it reached number 2 at the albums retail charts and was certified platinum.

Credits and personnel

*Adam Ayan – mastering *Patricio Bonilla – trombone *David Channing – engineer *Vinnie Colaiuta – drums *Juan De La Cruz – bongos, conga, maracas, Timbals, guiro *Abednego DeLos Santos – electric bass *Jose Fléte – trombone *Rafael "Rafo" German – guira *Juan Luis Guerra – producer, arrangements *Jeremías King – electric bass *Rafael Lazzaro – engineer *Allan Leschhorn – engineer *Luis Mansilla – engineer *Adalgisa Pantaleon – chorus *Apolinar Peralta – trombone *Juan Rizek – Chorus *Frank Rodriguez – assistant engineer *Janina Rosado – piano, producer, engineer, chorus, synth *Allen Sides – engineer *Ruben Toribio – electric bass *Carlos Torres – trombone *David Torres – mixing assistant *Ronnie Torres – engineer, mixing, mastering supervisor *Roger Zayas – chorus

Tracklist

Chart performance

Sales and certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A Son De Guerra 2010 albums Juan Luis Guerra albums Latin Grammy Award winners for Album of the Year Capitol Latin albums Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album