{"id":21747,"date":"2023-12-31T11:30:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T15:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=21747"},"modified":"2023-12-31T11:38:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T15:38:51","slug":"reflections-on-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2023\/12\/31\/reflections-on-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
Another year has passed, and I truly hope it was a good one for you. You may have noticed that in 2023 Latino Music Caf\u00e9<\/a> didn’t have as much content activity as in previous years. I’ll get into the reasons for that in a moment, but wanted to share these reflections first.<\/p>\n This year marked the centenaries of two great Latin musicians, both of Puerto Rican heritage. Ernesto Antonio Puente, better known as Tito Puente<\/a><\/em> was born April 20, 1923, and Pablo Rodriguez Lozada, better known as Tito Rodriguez<\/a><\/em>. There were many homages to these great bandleaders and musicians both in Puerto Rican and in New York. There was an album released by Giovanni Hidalgo<\/a><\/em> as a “Tribute to the King<\/a><\/em>” Tito Puente. Besides being a great bandleader, Puente was an extraordinary percussionist, visionary, composer, and arranger. Rodriguez was a great crooner, “gruarachero”, and even dancer.<\/p>\n But in 2023 the content on Latino Music Caf\u00e9 was scarce. I embarked on the project of writing books, and I’m focusing in one in particular that has consumed most of my writing time. I reflected on blogs vs. books and decided that books could leave a more lasting legacy than a blog. Besides the book I’m currently writing, I have a few book concepts that I’m giving shape to start writing soon. At this point, I don’t want to reveal much about the book I’m writing as the person I’m working with prefers to keep the project low-key until we’re ready to announce it. Stay tuned for that in 2024.<\/p>\n As I thought about the dilemma of writing books vs. blogging, this year I decided to focus more on the book project. And yet, as I reflect on 2023 and look forward to 2024, I realize that it doesn’t have to be one OR the other. Perhaps there’s a way to make both work. More on that later.<\/p>\n