Calle 13 Greeted by Anti-Reggaeton campaign in Mexico City - Reggaeton News

By Jeremy Schwartz, Statesman

May 08, 2007

We checked out Mexico City’s version of Lollapalooza this weekend, the two-day Vive Latino rock festival.

Unbeknownst to us, we were walking into a firestorm.

Unfortunately, we missed Sunday’s lineup with seminal bands like Cafe Tacuba and electronica outfits the Nortec Collective and the Instituto Mexicano del Sonido. But we were most excited to check out Calle 13, the Puerto Rican Grammy-winning hip hop/reggaeton group, Saturday night.

Apparently, there’s been quite a lot of moaning and bellyaching from Mexico City’s rockeros about the direction the festival has taken over the last eight years. Many believe it has strayed too far from its rock en espanol roots and Calle 13 had become the poster child for what some fans consider inappropriate invitees.

A whole anti-Calle 13 campaign was launched on the Internet and a good number of fans had “Say No to Reggaeton” t-shirts and posters.

When Calle 13 came out they were pelted with a never-ending stream of beer cups, pizza boxes, boos and middle fingers. It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen at a show.

Lead singer Rene Perez tried vainly to explain that the group wasn’t your run-of-the mill reggaeton (the group uses klezmer-sounding horns and other off-the-wall beats), but couldn’t stop the bleeding.

This isn’t the first time Calle 13 has had trouble finding acceptance. After winning three Latino Grammys last year, the group was ridiculed by mainstream reggaeton acts, kind of like De La Soul catching flak when they first came out.

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