Scooter Chronicles

Nil Lara – “Nil Lara”

Tracks:

1. Money Makes the Monkey Dance
2. Fighting for My Love
3. How Was I to Know
4. My First Child
5. Baby
6. Baro
7. Bleeding
8. I Will Be Free
9. Vida Mas Simple
10. Crawl
11. Mama’s Chant

Another one of the great artists that I was introduced to by the radio station known as the “The River” out of Windsor, Ontario (RIP). They played “How Was I to Know” quite a bit and I really grew to enjoy it. Glad it led me to buy the album, because it is a fantastic collection of songs.

Nil Lara was born in New Jersey to Cuban immigrants and spent some of his childhood in Venezuela. You can hear those influences on his life in his music. On “Baro”, “Vida Mas Simple”, and “Mama’s Chant” the lyrics are entirely in Spanish, though he adds some Spanish in other small bits. There is more of a Latin appeal to some of the songs as well, even sounding more authentic then Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, and the like. Lara was also before the whole “Latin explosion.”

For the most part this album has a good “world music” sound without being too heavy on it and without losing the pop sensibilities. It rocks along. Though maybe it borrows more from singer/songwriter ideals then world music.

There are some real emotional songs, such as “How Was I to Know” and “My First Child” which is a nice ode from his wife’s perspective to their son. Some of the other lyrics touch on other social issues, like “Money Makes the Monkey Dance” regarding the evils of riches and what someone’s “price” is, though there is a hopeful ending to the song (“And though my pockets have a hole I feel content within my soul / I’ve been sincere with all the customers encountered / I can’t complain I’m rich in love and I must thank my God above”).

There are some really catchy melodies and rhythms and makes you want tap along with the tunes. And all the songs combine for a really great album, one that is sorely underrated. It would probably appeal to those fans of Jeff Buckley and Rusted Root, yet few know who Nil Lara is, let alone heard his music.