''De Mi Alma Latina'' (also known as ''From My Latin Soul'') is a 1994

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...

album by Spanish

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

. It was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the Latin pop genre. Honors i ...

of the year. Most of the tracks on the album are medleys of, in the words of one author, "some of the Latino world's most memorable melodies." The only new composition on the album, "De México a Buenos Aires", was written by Domingo's son Plácido Domingo Jr. All the songs are in Spanish, except for "

Manhã de Carnaval "Manhã de Carnaval" ("Carnival Morning") is a song by Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá and lyricist Antônio Maria. "Manhã de Carnaval" appeared as a principal theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film ''Orfeu Negro'' by French director Marcel Ca ...

" and "

Aquarela do Brasil "Aquarela do Brasil" (, 'Watercolor of Brazil'), written by Ary Barroso in 1939 and known in the English-speaking world simply as "Brazil", is one of the most famous Brazilian songs. Background and composition Ary Barroso wrote "Aquarela do Bras ...

", which are in Portuguese. Domingo also used "De Mi Alma Latina" and "From My Latin Soul" as the names for some of his subsequent Latin music concerts. In 1997, he released a follow-up album entitled ''De Mi Alma Latina 2''.

Background

Both

Angel Records Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark was used by the Gramophon ...

and

EMI 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 E ...

worked together on the album. The president of EMI Latin explained that both labels were trying to "reach every possible Placido fan out there, be it Latino or

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

." In addition to the audio recording, Domingo starred in a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

of one of the songs on the album, the Peruvian classic "

La Flor de la Canela "La flor de la canela", commonly translated to the English language as "The Cinnamon Flower", is a Creole waltz composed by the Peruvian singer-songwriter Chabuca Granda. The song was first recorded in 1950 by the musica criolla trio Los Morochu ...

", with Colombian actress

Amparo Grisales Amparo Grisales de Tessarolo (born Amparo Grisales Patiño September 19, 1956) is a Colombian actress. Best known for her role as Lucrecia Rivas in ''The Mafia Dolls.'' Also starred in the 2007 Telemundo serial ''Madre Luna'' ("''Mother Moon''") ...

Reception

The reviewer for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' praised the album as in some ways "the most satisfying record Domingo has made." After stating that numerous good recordings of operas exist, he elaborated: "But you don't find much when you start looking (as I have) for a recording of '

Aquellos ojos verdes "Green Eyes" is a popular song, originally written in Spanish under the title "Aquellos Ojos Verdes" ("Those Green Eyes") by Adolfo Utrera and Nilo Menéndez in 1929. The English translation was made by Eddie Rivera and Eddie Woods in 1931. Span ...

' or '

Solamente una vez "You Belong to My Heart" is the name of an English-language version of the Mexican Bolero song "Solamente una vez" (''Only Once'', in English). This song was composed by Mexican songwriter Agustín Lara and originally performed by singer Ana Marí ...

' sung with a voice of Domingo's caliber and an instinct for the proper style." He also called Domingo "versatile as any musician in living memory" in part for the variety of recordings he had out at the time, including ''De Mi Alma Latina'', the opera ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

'', the classical symphonic album, ''Placido Domingo Sings and Conducts Tchaikovsky'', and re-issues of ''Placido Domingo: Opera Classics'' and ''Verdi and Puccini Duets'' (with

Leontyne Price Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano who was the first African Americans, African American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera, where s ...

). Domingo's multi-platinum live recording as part of the

Three Tenors The Three Tenors were an operatic singing trio, active during the 1990s and early 2000s, and termed as a supergroup (a title normally reserved for rock and pop groups) consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and ...

, ''

The Three Tenors in Concert 1994 ''The Three Tenors in Concert 1994'' is a live album by José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti with conductor Zubin Mehta. The album was recorded on July 16, 1994, at the Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles with the Los Angele ...

'', also came out two weeks before ''De Mi Alma Latina''. In January 1995, the recording's Grammy nomination for

Best Latin Pop Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the Latin pop genre. Honors in ...

was the first ever received by the classical music label, Angel Records. At the time of the album's nomination, ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' called ''De Mi Alma Latina'' underrated and predicted that Domingo might beat frontrunner and eventual winner

Luis Miguel Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...

for his ''

Segundo Romance ''Segundo Romance'' ( en, italic=yes, Second Romance) is the tenth studio album by Mexican singer Luis Miguel, released on 30 August 1994 through WEA Latina. Like Miguel's 1991 album ''Romance'', ''Segundo Romance'' comprises cover versions of ...

''.

Track listing

Chart positions

Sales and certifications

Personnel

, vocals *

Bebu Silvetti Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno (27 March 1944 – 5 July 2003), professionally known as Bebu Silvetti or simply Silvetti, was an Argentine- born Mexican pianist, composer, conductor, arranger, and record producer. In the 1970s he moved to M ...

, conductor, arranger, piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*VVC Symphonic Orchestra *WC Symphony *

Ana Gabriel María Guadalupe Araujo Yong (born December 10, 1955), better known as Ana Gabriel, is a Mexican singer and songwriter from Guamuchil, Sinaloa, Mexico. She first sang on the stage at age six, singing "Regalo A Dios" by José Alfredo Jiménez. S ...

, guest vocals *

Daniela Romo Daniela Romo (born Teresa Presmanes Corona; 27 August 1959) is a Mexican singer, actress and TV hostess. During her career, she has sold 17 million records, making her one of the best-selling Latin music artists. Biography Born Teresa Presman ...

, guest vocals *

Patricia Sosa Patricia Sosa (born January 23, 1956) is an Argentine singer and actress. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Patricia Sosa began her career in 1975, with the cover band Nomady Soul. She created the rock band La Torre with her husband Oscar Mediavi ...

, guest vocals *

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

, guest vocals *Francis Benítez, backup vocals *Bibi Cross-Nicolosi, backup vocals *Pierre Garreaud, backup vocals *Daniel Indart, backup vocals *Yari Moré, backup vocals *Carlos Murguía, backup vocals *Ana Robles, backup vocals *Sara Traina, backup vocals *Giselda Vatchky, backup vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Mi Alma Latina 1994 albums Plácido Domingo albums Albums produced by Bebu Silvetti Albums arranged by Bebu Silvetti