Gilberto Santa Rosa Nicely Delivers Boleros

Gilberto Santa Rosa launched his 25th recording titled “Necesito un Bolero” (November 2014). This 14-song album is mostly a “Bolero” album, with 3 of the songs being Salsa tunes.

“Necesito un Bolero” already reached the #1 position in Billboard’s “Top Tropical Albums”, becoming Santa Rosa’s 12th album to reach that coveted top spot.

Classy “Boleros” with Luxury Guests Singers

I found “Necesito un Bolero” a classy album of boleros by “El Caballero de la Salsa”. Gilberto has been fine-tuning his singing of slow songs for quite a while now. His first cut and first album single was “Por Como Van las Cosas“. This is a song composed by Mexican Latin music star Marco Antonio Solis, who sings with Gilberto as one of his “luxury guests”, as Santa Rosa has described the 4 guests that participate in “Necesito un Bolero“.

The other singing guests in the album include Mexican singers Eugenia Leon in “Tequila y Cancion“, and Natalia Lafourcade in “A Donde Vamos a Parar”. Finally, Cuban singer Lena (who has the Bolero Filin in her blood from her mother Melena y grandmother Elena Burke) appears singing “Apaga la Luz”.

Well Produced Album

The production mastery of the charismatic 52-year-old Gilberto Santa Rosa in “Necesito un Bolero” should not go unnoticed. The Salsa star added a plentiful 14 unique songs to the album. And this is without any re-mixes or different versions of the same song. Not many artists are so generous in providing this amount of musical volume in their albums. The key here is that this opens the opportunity to provide variety to the album, and Gilberto masterly makes the best of it.

As I said before, 11 of the 14 songs are “boleros”, and he interweaves 4 duets among the songs. This still gives him 7 songs to work the “bolero” on his own. This carefully crafted mix provides a great spark of variety as you listen through the album.

Although the “bolero” is at center stage in “Necesito un Bolero“, Gilberto Santa Rosa did not forget his Salsa fans. The former Willie Rosario front man included 3 Salsa tunes to please his fans. My favorite of the 3 is “Titere“, a very catchy and danceable Salsa. Additionally, the Salsa song “Semana” resembles the lyrical style of Gilberto’s previous hit “Conteo Regresivo“. However, in this song, he uses the days of the week instead of numbers. Finally, “Este Amor” is the 3rd Salsa in the album, all good tunes.

Why Not Bring Kany Back?

I couldn’t find any missed opportunities in such a well-crafted production as “Necesito un Bolero“. Nonetheless, this album would have been a good opportunity to bring back Kany Garcia for another duet. They did one in Irrepetible (2010) on the song “Y Tu y Yo“. With Kany fans rising exponentially, this would’ve been a great opportunity to leverage her rising popularity.

“Necesito un Bolero” A Frist Class “Bolero” Album

Keeping up with his high standard of recording quality, Gilberto Santa Rosa brings a 1st class production in “Necesito un Bolero”. Some of his fans prefer to see him only as a Salsa singer. However, Gilberto has been able to craft himself a niche in the “bolero” and “balada” fan taste.

I have not mentioned that his three Mexican guest singers will surely provide Gilberto with more fans in the highly coveted and important Mexican Latin music market. In that market Salsa is just a fraction of the fan base that pop and romantic melodies have.

Bolero fans will be pleased with this album, and his Salsa fans can get a taste of something new from the gentleman of Salsa music.