After the promotion of their second album, La Calle De Las Sirenas, Kabah did a complete 180 to reinvent themselves as one of the most successful and relevant pop groups of the ’90s generation. They ditched the bubble gum pop for an edgy rock pop with all the members going with a slightly gothic look and it was what they needed in order to be taken seriously.
Esperanto catapulted the group Kabah into the big leagues with quality music and a style the represented the members as individuals. No longer were the members in bright-colored matching outfits. And each one of the members shines throughout the album with distinctive solo songs that represented their personalities.
The album starts off with a track that I always use to educate people when it comes to Latin pop music. As a gringo that doesn’t speak Spanish but only listens to Spanish music, I will take the song “Esperanto” and make them listen to it. Why? Because it is how I listen to music I don’t understand. With the lyrics of “Na Na Na…” anyone in the world can literally sing along with Kabah. I always get criticized for not understanding the music I listen to but music is a universal language. If it is good, why not listen to it. It’s like today, KPop is becoming a world favorite but the amount of people knowing Korean is even less than those who speak Spanish. If you like the music, listen to it no matter what language it is in.
I think I agree with the fans of Kabah that the best song from the album is “Mai Mai” but my second favorite comes from the vocals of Apio and his solo track, “Muriendo De Amor” (Dying of Love). When I stated that the members’ solos reflected their personalities, Apio’s image at the time was a little goth boy and his song has that underlying sound to it.
I think, ultimately, Kabah blasted it out of the park with their third album. They continue to get better with age as we have seen from their first album to this one. The album is not available on Apple Music or Spotify at this time to sample but trust me, it is worth buying.
Since that day, I have been study Latin pop and rock music and have become a Latin pop music historian through the publishing of articles, fanzine, and websites. My goal is to teach people about Latin pop music and the history behind it with my website, Siempre En Domingo.
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