The city of Detroit, Michigan is a city with a rich musical history dating back to the 40’s and 50’s with blues, gospel and jazz. However, in the 60’s and 70’s, it became even more notable with the birth of Motown and artists like Iggy and The Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper, Bob Seeger, Grand Funk Railroad and Kiss to name a few, and most recently, the resurgence of an oddity in rock & roll, the Mexican/American, Sixto Rodriguez, better known as Sugar Man.
Today, Detroit has given us another musical oddity, but this one was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and his name is Ricardo Naipes, who just released his first full length CD, Estrategia Sobrevivir (Survival Strategy).
Estrategia Sobrevivir is a 12 song eclectic collection that goes from rock, pop to soulful ballads and the title could not have been a more appropriate as Ricardo Naipes has had to survive and persevere in an environment that is not interested in pop rock and even less in Spanish.
Presently Detroit is ruled by hip-hop music on the English market and in the Spanish market, the music of choice is “banda” or “grupera”, leaving little room for an aspiring young singer song writer who was influenced by Spanish rock and pop music.
Ricardo began his musical path in the restaurant where he used to work and played what the restaurant’s clientele wanted to hear, which was far away from his musical influences which led him to create his own music with which he fought against the prejudice of his own people who often told him he would not have a future playing that music for “maricones” (queers).
After trying his luck on a couple of previous projects and changing management companies, and now with L.A. based, The Moxie Promo, Naipes began this new chapter in his musical career with the release of two singles, the first one, “Al Norte” which is also the opening cut on the album, in which Ricardo sings about the plight of immigrants coming to the U.S. in search of a better life.
The second and most recent single is titled “Malvada” (Evil person), and it gives the album a rock & roll edge with a pulsating rhythm that is preceded by an electronic introduction that is then taken over by razor sharp guitar chords and energetic choruses that accentuate the feeling of this break up song.
The third cut, “Lucas”, showcases Ricardo’s talent as a song writer, story teller and musician as he takes this tragic story of an aspiring musician in which Ricardo’s passionate voice glides over simple piano and acoustic guitar chords while a string section and soulful electric guitar melodies give the song the tragic feeling that the lyrics are describing. This song will definitely give you goose bumps.
Other notable cuts on the album are the more rock influenced “Creo”, and “Por Qué No Me Dices” and the acoustic ballad “Más” which is carefully adorned by subtle melodic electric guitar fills and piano notes.
Another highlight on Estrategia Sobrevivir is a reggae version of the Mexican classic “Bésame Mucho”, a song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velazquez and has been covered by the likes of The Beatles, Luis Miguel, Cesária Évora and Andrea Bocelli amongst many others.
Estrategia Sobrevivir can be downloaded from iTunes and you can follow Ricardo Naipes on his official website at www.ricardonaipes.com, facebook and Youtube.
