Banco Popular “Tiempos de Aguinaldo” Review

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The new Christmas special from Banco Popular “Tiempos de Aguinaldo” is here, and the two critics in my household are not too enthused about it.

“Tiempos de Aguinaldo” Theme

As the title implies, the theme for the 2019 Christmas special is the “aguinaldo“. However, other than a very quick mention early in the video just after the first songs, there is no further mentioned of it. The opening scene is great, giving those that didn’t get a chance to do a typical “parranda“, or “asalto navideño“, a good glimpse of what they were like in Puerto Rico.

Once they sing and get into the house, which in the video it turns out to be Jose Noguera’s, they sit and quickly mention the “aguinaldo“, including some of it different variations. At that point, I was all set to learn more about the “aguinaldos” throughout the 58-minute special. After all, this was characteristic of past Banco Popular Christmas specials.

It turns out there would be no further mentions of the “aguinaldo“. That became not only a disappointment in terms of expectations, but also what I considered a major flaw of the special. It lacks a main theme that can hold it together from beginning to end. Therefore, for the most part, the special became a bunch of music videos crammed together.

The Artists in “Tiempos de Aguinaldo”

Like in previous Banco Popular Christmas specials, this one had artists of different generations and popularity. Many of the newer artists were completely unknown to me. Some have great talent and will probably have a great career in music.

Veterans Jose Nogueras, Lalo Rodriguez, Melinda Leon, Vico C., Michael Stuart, Nano Cabrera, and Chucho Avellanet made great appearances. In addition, legendary Alfonso Velez, the creator of “El Fua”, made his first appearance in Banco Popular specials.

The younger generation was represented by Kiani Medina, Wilito Otero, Christian Nieves (cuatro), Fuete, Dayanira Arzuaga, Monika Nieves, Juan Velez, Oscarito, Pleneros de Severo, Andrea Cruz, Lunay, Chamir Bonano, Kristal Fonrodona, Tanicha Lopez, and Hiram Abrante. Please excuse me if I missed anyone.

This is a good mix of veterans and newcomers, and they tried to mixed them up as much as possible, which is a good thing. But even this lineup doesn’t compare with the name recognition of artists of past Christmas specials.

Past specials had most of the veterans I listed above, along with Ednita Nazario, Marc Anthony, Olga Tanon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cheo Feliciano, Andy Montañez, Tony Vega, Jerry Rivera, Ricky Martin, Draco, Cuco Pena, and Danny Rivera just to mention some of the locals. They also brought international guests like Ruben Blades, Juan Luis Guerra, Shakira (when she had black hair), and Juanes.

That’s just another league!

The Music in “Tiempos de Aguinaldo”

The music in “Tiempos de Aguinaldo” was very good. I liked the selection of old songs with new arrangements. For example, the classic “Fuá” started with “aguinaldo” with Alfonso Velez, but quickly transitioned to an urban “plena“.

Most songs were festive and the scenes were fun to watch. The visuals were great, and in many they captured beautiful scenery of Puerto Rico. On the other hand, I thought a couple of songs had music and visuals that didn’t seem to go together regarding the energy displayed by the artists and the tempo of the music.

All in all, I really liked the soundtrack of “Tiempos de Aguinaldo“. Hopefully it will be heard quite a bit during this Christmas season.

Past “Tiempos” Were Better

There are some goodies in “Tiempos de Aguinaldo“. The music is great, and getting to know some up-and-coming artists, singing side by side with known veterans worked well for the production.

The lack of developing the “aguinaldo” theme throughout the special was a big flaw as it deprived “Tiempos de Aguinaldo” from the theme that strings together a story. At the same time, the producers missed the opportunity to educate all of us on an important part of our musical culture.

Past Banco Popular specials developed the main theme throughout the special to provide us the opportunity to learn more about the person, music, or tradition they picked as theme. At the end of the day, that is what helps extend our culture. A video playlist of songs misses the mark on that aspect.

The above-mentioned flaws put “Tiempos de Aguinaldo” in a disadvantage to previous Banco Popular Christmas specials. However, the great performance by the artists, the quality of the music, and the beautiful visuals made this special worthy of enjoying, if you can re-calibrate your expectations to the fact you’ll be watching a nice video “playlist”.

Note: you can read about the “Aguinaldo” in “The Aguinaldo Tradition“.