Pop Music Reviews : El General Energetic but Disappointing
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El General, the new Panamanian sensation whose debut album “Muevelo Con El General” proves that reggae and rap can also be executed in Spanish, headlined the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday dressed in his characteristic military garb and flanked by a pair of ornamental dancers.
The singer demonstrated his energetic dancing and his skill at rap improvisation, but the brevity of his six-song, 40-minute set (which started at midnight in a show advertised for 8 p.m.) and his use of backing tapes instead of a band ultimately made the show a disappointment.
Charismatic and full of Latin picardia (bawdy humor), the New York-based El General (real name, Edgardo A. Franco) joked with the audience, coming across more as an entertainer than a singer.
El General ended the evening with “Muevelo,” his current hit, winding up a concert that also featured opening act La Sonora Dinamita. When the popular Colombian ensemble reappeared for a second preliminary set, it drew the anger of an audience impatient for the headliner. But once it started playing such well known cumbias as “Tengo Una Bolita,” the group transformed the Palladium into a big dance hall.
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