With a new karaoke app for Alejandro Sanz’s song “La Música No Se Toca,” fans of the Spanish star can record covers of the title track of his 2012 album, which spent 23 weeks on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, and is currently at No. 14.
Students from The Berklee School of Music’s campus in Valencia, Spain have already set a benchmark with their version of Sanz’s song, a pop-rock tune that honors the sacred nature of music. With an arrangement arguably better than the guitar-driven original, the global big band performance by 60 Berklee students of diverse origins was orchestrated by producer Javier Limón. Winner of the 2004 Latin Grammy for Producer of the Year, Limón is behind recordings by Bebo Valdés, Paco de Lucia and Concha Buika.
With a distinct sound featuring a cocktail hour-friendly shake-up of flamenco and Latin jazz, he has brought Spanish blues music to new adult contemporary audiences, much like Sanz has done in the pop world. Limón is also the artistic director of Berklee’s Mediterranean Music Institute.
The Berklee students’ video of “La Música Se Toca” features young artists to watch, like Argentine singer/songwriter and film scoring major Felipe Campos, 22-year-old singer Eleni Arapoglou from Greece, and Los Rumberos de Massachusetts, to name just a few. The production also makes a good case for incorporating more harmonica into Latin music. Shot on the streets of Valencia and Boston, the video is dedicated to victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
“La Música No Se Toca” App, created by Red Karaoke, is available today (June 11) for iPad and iPhone, and will later be released for android. The app includes a video of the song shot on location with Sanz in Veracruz, Mexico.
Sanz is currently on tour in Spain.