Hello Webmaster,

Gloria Estefan's "Mi Tierra" is indeed a very danceable CD, which I already possess. In my opinion track 6 "No hay mal..." is a quick cha cha. After the lyrics have been sung - how do you call this repetitive song part typical for salsa-music - the rhythm and instrumentation are very cha cha-ish. If you listen again, you will recognize even a rhythmical phrase (pa -paa pa -paa) which is taken from (Santana's) "Oye como va", which is surely a cha cha, be it a slower one.

Erik

Technically, the second section of this song is really a very slow Salsa. It has all of the elements of Salsa, except for the tempo. The accent you hear on the 4&1 is the conga drum, which is present in Cha Cha, Rumba, Mambo, and Salsa.

Still, I wouldn't argue with you that it has a sort of a Cha Cha flavor. Then again, I wouldn't argue with any other interpretation, either... Rumba, Salsa, or Cha Cha. The second section is somewhat ambiguous, and I can see how someone might listen to it and hear any of those three dances (or maybe even Mambo, though it's a bit more of a stretch).

For simplicity's sake, I just used the Rumba interpretation for section two. It's not unreasonable... American style Rumba is alot more rhythmical than its International counterpart. But I do admit that this interpretation doesn't acknowledge the very disctinct rhythmical difference between sections.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Atkinson, webmaster

By the way, for those who were wondering, we were discussing track 6 from Gloria Estefan's album, "Mi Tierra". There is a RealAudio clip on ballroomdancers.com, but it only covers the first 30 seconds, which does not include the section of music in question.

Unfortunately, copyright restrictions do not permit me to record any more than this.