HOT SALSA : India

INDIA
USA

In 1992,
Eddie Palmieri
discovers La India
and proposes to lend
a helping hand
for her career.
She prefered to take
another way.
In spite of real
possibilities,
she does not
keep pace
with the enthusiasm
she causes.

Sample from
Dicen que soy
in
Dicen que soy
(RMM)

CD selection :

Llegó La India
vía Eddie Palmieri
(Sony ; 1992)

Dicen que soy
(RMM ; 1994)

Sobre el fuego
(RMM ; 1997)

To order

Many critics see in La India a new salsa star.

One spots a great singer, not with the stating of the musical theme - which is routine -, but with her (or his) capacity to transcend this theme, and by her (or his) singing, to take along the song as far as possible.

Problem : as soon as La India comes out of the beaten paths (which she traverses rather well, with a rather original voice), her singing becomes yelling, and her variations resemble more a sterile irritation than genuine inspiration.

Her RMM records production, very clean and (maybe too much ?) over-finished, does not manage to mask the vocal weaknesses of La India.

In spite of some tempting hits (Dicen que soy; Vivir lo nuestro, in duet with Marc Anthony, accompanied by La Combinación Perfecta), her records have no pluck.

La India was also illustrated in several
latin house numbers, for a rather weak result in spite of her frequentation of some great names in the genre (Little Louie Vega).

In short, a perhaps promising singer, but who must learn how to pose her voice before being able to claim to pass in the higher rank.