Aventura 'anxious' at the White House

You may not have heard of Aventura, but millions of Latin music fans have. A Bronx-based Dominican Republic "Bachata" band, they are the top-selling Latin Music group of 2009 and one of its biggest concert draws. Their upcoming January Madison Square Gardens concert sold out in three hours - so fast that a second night was added and a third is being negotiated.

With tonight's In Performance show at the White House they're about to reach a whole new audience.

"This is a huge honor for us," lead singer Henry Santos Jeter told USA TODAY's Robert Bianco a few minutes ago on the South Lawn. "We're really blessed that we're able to be a part of this ... to represent a genre and a culture." Jeter describes that culture, Bachata, as a mix of rhythm, blues and Bolero, and says it appeals to people of all ages -- including, he hopes, Barack and Michelle Obama. "I'm anxious. I can't wait to go on stage, and then be able to say this to my kids."

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY


!!!!!!!!Pa' que lo sepa!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Fiesta-latina-en-la-Casa-Blanca/


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, 2009 AT 3:45 PM
Fiesta Latina en la Casa Blanca
Posted by Luis Miranda
Esta noche la Casa Blanca se llenará del sabor de la cultura latina. Cómo parte de una serie de eventos en celebración de la música y el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, el Presidente Barack Obama y la Primera Dama le darán la bienvenida a una serie de invitados especiales de la música y entrenamiento latino. Entre los invitados se encuentran Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Tito el Bambino, Thalia y el grupo Aventura. También estarán presentes Jimmy Smits, Eva Longoria y George Lopez, entre otros. La cena estará a cargo de la chef Maricel Presilla.

El evento será transmitido en vivo a partir de las 7:15 hora del este en WhiteHouse.gov/live y a través de Facebook. También podrá seguirnos a través de la nueva cuenta en español en twitter .

Por otra parte y para continuar la celebración del Mes de la Herencia Hispana, WhiteHouse.gov ha puesto hoy a su disposición una nueva versión de su página principal en español. En esta página podrá encontrar información sobre la reforma de salud, comunicados de prensa y declaraciones del Presidente así como acceso a nuestra lista de reproducción de videos en español o con subtítulos en español en YouTube, la nueva cuenta en Twitter y el blog. Esta página será actualizada cada semana, por lo que le pedimos que la visite frecuentemente.

¡Comparta esta información con sus familiares, amigos y compañeros de trabajo y disfrute el resto del Mes de la Herencia Hispana!

Sweet! Now if we could only get them to come back to the DR!

El torito y anthony santos son bachatero de pura sepa

Aventura sells out 18,000 seat venues, Antony Santos & El Torito sell out 100 capacity restaurant venues. Not even comparable in terms of popularity or marketable scope.

Yea but Aventura is equivalent to bubble gum pop in the Bachata genre...Antony Santos and others are the real deal...it's like saying MC Hammer truly represents hip hop because of his record sales...if you say that to anyone that really knows hip hop they'll have a good laugh at your expense. Aventura does not put out what's referred to as "bachata para hombre con pelo en el pecho".

Agreed, I was only trying to give Mr. Xwill a hard time. Popularity often has very little to do with talent or ability. Sadly, the most important variable in the entertainment industry is marketability, talent is not a necessary component for success. That said, I still think it's a noteworthy accomplishment to sell out 36,000 tickets for a two date performance.

I was at a Torito concert last week here in Chicago, it was packed with people from all countries. Also, have you ever seen Anthony Santos in the US/DR? Full house and its not a 100 person restaurant. The thing is that aventura have all of the little girls and soccer moms as fans. They can ask daddy for some $$$ for the concert so nasty

Yes obviously Aventura is minor league compared to Hector Acosta, Anthony Santos, Alex Bueno Frank Reyes, etc.

BUt they are in the Whitehouse!!!!!!!!!

That is recognition, bachata is a uniquely Dominican genre and very distinct from others.

I may be reading too much into this but i feel it is a great accomplishment to get national recognition.

Granted, dominicans should also strive to be recognized in other fields such as science, literature, economics, etc, but still this is great.

Anthony Santos should get a lot more credit for his huge contribution to Bachata's cross over from low life cabaret music in the early 80's to the phenomenom its become. Althought a lot of people don't like it, Bachata's appeal is very international. Central and South America are big markets for our Bachateros. Now days some spend most of their time touring Europe where not just Dominicans go out to see them, but all of Iberoamerica as witnessed in the concert held in Madrid not long ago.
Aventura does appeal to a modern pop audience, but the group just like all other pop groups is falling apart. Anthony Santos has been the undisputed King of Bachata and is not showing any signs of loosing his title any time soon.