(ESP-ENG) La música en vivo se escucha mejor? Gran debate... // Does live music sound better? Great debate...

Hello friends, good vibes to all.

Source!

That's a question that has always been on my mind, because for me in most cases music sounds better when it is played live and not as a product of a recording studio. This happens to me because I usually listen to the live versions of the songs and in the end I find them much more incredible than their recorded version sisters. And this happens to me with all genres, from salsa to the heaviest rock, which leads me to believe that in the end I have the answer to that question. I must say that this came to my mind in part after having listened to a cover by @itzchemaya that left me a little crazy and which confirmed my "theory"...

Live music, beyond its genre I repeat, involves a lot of feeling, it is much more genuine than the one we receive from a studio because it involves many factors that suddenly in the other not: the vibes of the people, the improvisation, the adrenaline, even the arrangements that can be made for a concert that end up being different but better than the original, all this leads to a live version sounds much better. Of course, it is also a double-edged sword because it can lead to out of tune vocals and instrumentals, forgetting a lyric, etc. That's why today I bring five examples from different genres in which I think they are quite better than their original studio versions.... Let's see what they are:

- Juan Luis Guerra - La Bilirrubina (live)

I had the joy of going to a concert of maestro JLG the last time he came to Venezuela in 2011 and I can say that live it sounded better than on a CD, it is impressive what that orchestra can do. But as a percussionist myself, for those who don't know I have been playing Latin percussion for more than 20 years as a hobby of course, I notice certain things that may go unnoticed, in the second 39 and minute 1.09 there are a couple of cuts that are not in the original version, cuts that seem brutal to me because as simple as they may seem they give a different dynamic to the song. With merengue you can play a lot with this kind of things and here they do it to perfection. Minute 35 with the mambo of saxophones to then enter the questions and answers of trumpets and trombones is another of the different things here and it goes through the respective cut and the energy of the public that is contagious even to the musicians. At the end of the day it's a totally different song from the original that for me sounds 100 times better.

- Fania All Stars & Ismael Quintana - Adoración (live)

This is one of the great salsa brava gems of all time, and seeing Ismael Quintana and maestro Eddie Palmieri at the piano is something that unfortunately we can only do on video. Another great example that what is alive has more life, starting with the solo on the cuatro of another master Yomo Toro that gives an intro to what will be a total download of good music and adrenaline. When I was talking about improvisation and the good vibes that can be experienced on stage I was referring to this song and at minute 6:20 you can notice it, it is at that moment when this song takes on another meaning and enters another dimension, one that was very common or is very common in the genre. Eddie Palmieri's solo, full of pure feeling, is so iconic that any fan can hum it without any problem and that is what the studio version doesn't have, that magic that makes a song very peculiar. But don't misunderstand, everything you see is planned but to a certain extent and it's that little margin of not knowing what's going to happen that makes Adoración the piece it is today, one of the best of all time.

- Metallica - The Memory Remains (live)

A radical change of genre but necessary. You may ask yourself, why did you choose The Memory Remains and not another song? - This song has a particularity and it is that in it there is a part where you can hear, in the original version, a humming alluding to a music box which is very, very characteristic. To hear that part but sung by the public is something that makes any live version of this song, for me, sound a little better because it is an energy with which it is very easy to become infected and that without being there you can get involved without problems. There are those who prefer the original version because it is more sinister but it is not my case, I like it yes, but nothing like the force with which it is heard being live and direct. It starts at minute 3:20 and lasts almost a minute and a half just humming and at the end it just fades out just like the studio version. Metallica has better songs without any doubt but I think there are few that achieve that connection with the audience as this one does.

- Franco de Vita ft. Noel Schajris, Leonel García - Si la ves (live)

Another magic of live versions is that there can be collaborations that enhance a song to the point that the reference is no longer the original and I think that's what happens with this song. Franco de Vita is one of the greatest composers and singers that Venezuela has, those who do not know him I introduce them, and being one of the greatest he has a few songs that can be considered hymns and "Si la ves" is one of them. The particularity is that here we see him with two monsters of Latin music such as the duo Sin Bandera. The voice of Leonel and Noel at the piano doing backing vocals for Franco de Vita are factors that make a song great and here they did it with flying colors. We are listening to a song being interpreted by three voices when originally it is only Franco who sings it, this makes it much more attractive, it has more marked nuances, logically different tones and styles making it, as I said, a great reference today. If that concert had not taken place we would probably never have heard this version, another reason for the importance of live music.

- Billie Eilish - No Time To Die (live)

Billie Eilish, one of the most underrated singers for me and one of those with the best voice and ability to transmit in the music scene. In itself this song is very solemn and very sober but listening to it live with a piano accompaniment I think it impacts a little more than usual. I chose it because in general the songs of the James Bond movies are all in the same style, I could have selected Adele's but no, I went with Billie because she is currently one of the singers that catches my attention the most. When you listen to this version it is very likely that the hairs on your arms stand up because it is watching her getting bigger and bigger as the minutes go by even though the song does not ask her to scream or raise her voice; it also helps her to be accompanied by a symphony orchestra. The way she closes the song is what I like the most, how she is fading out her voice on such a big stage speaks a lot about the sensitivity with which she sings because that is her magic, the tact she has to interpret. People should listen to Billie live more, they would be amazed at what she can do.

This was just a small and very reduced list for genres that live music for me and in most occasions can sound and be better than any studio version. But well, between tastes and colors we have for everything and I'm sure there will be different opinions and that's good, how boring it would be if we all thought the same.

Well my people that's all for today, I hope you liked it.
¡A hug to everyone, we'll hear you in the next one!