A Son de Guerra

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 being 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 a Cuban son 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

At the 11th Latin Grammy Awards the album won three awards: Best Tropical Song, Best Contemporary Tropical Album and Album of the Year. At the 2011 Premio Lo Nuestro, he was the most nominated artist with six. Eventually he won the best merengue artist. At the 27th Annual Soberano Awards, previously Casandra awards, Guerra won two awards including the album of the year for A Son de Guerra. The album received a nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album at 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

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 debuted at 52 on US Billboard 200. It was certified platinum (Latin field) by the RIAA 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 and was certified gold. 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

References

1. [http://www.emimusic.es/artistas/noticias/1162/1335 Juan Luis Guerra estrena la canción Mi bendición como primer single de su nuevo álbum A son de Guerra, que se publica el 8 de junio] emimusic.es Retrieved August-30-2010.
2. [http://www.chetumail.com/?c=122&a=10459 Estrena Juan Luis video dirigido por su hijo] chetumail.com Retrieved August-30-2010.
3. [http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/ElFinanciero/Portal/cfpages/contentmgr.cfm?docId=282721&docTipo=1&orderby=docid&sortby=ASC Estrena Juan Luis Guerra su nuevo sencillo "La Calle"] ''elfinanciero.com.mx'' Retrieved September-03-2010.
4. (2010-06-07). "Juan Luis Guerra junto a 4.40 en nuevo disco".
5. "Juan Luis Guerra cumple 53 años con nuevo disco ''Asondeguerra''".
6. (2010-03-22). "Juan Luis Guerra regresa con nueva música".
7. (2010-05-21). "Juan Luis Guerra takes bachata around the world". Reuters.
8. (May 25, 2010). "Vuelve Juan Luis Guerra a los temas sociales con su CD "AsondeGuerra"".
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