Chocolate (band)

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For other uses, see Chocolate (disambiguation).

Chocolate
Origin	Montevideo, Uruguay
Genre(s)	Cumbia Tropical Latin
Years active	1997– 2004
Label(s)	Fonovisa Inc Obligado Records
Members
Paulo Fernández Carlos Sosa Claudio De La Fuente Alejandro Scatone Douglas Castillos

Chocolate were a Uruguayan band from Montevideo, specializing in cumbia music. They released 3 studio albums, & at their peak, became a huge success in South America, even touring the USA in 2001. In Argentina & Uruguay, they achieved 2 Gold & 3 Platinum disks^[1].

1 Members
2 History
3 Cultural References
4 Discography
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Members

Paulo Fernández
Carlos Sosa
Claudio De La Fuente
Alejandro Scatone
Douglas Castillos

[edit] History

Formed by producer Juan Carlos Cáceres, the five-member band first released material in 1997, an album entitled Cariñito^[2]. Their material was heavily influenced by local rhythms such as murga and candombe, but recognized internationally & referred to more frequently as cumbia. Their first efforts were usually covers of other artist's tracks. Lyrically, the content was restricted to uplifting themes, often making full use of a flirtatious attitude towards women, & the feelings associated with love & lust. Much use was made of local Uruguayan lunfardo. One band member commented that when they travelled internationally, "on the radio & at press conferences we have to explain the lunfardo", which was not fully understood outside their native Uruguay. ^[3]

With the release of their Greatest Hits album in 2001, led by the single Mayonesa, they achieved international success, which had previously been restricted to Uruguay & Argentina. This came following the move to Obligado Records, & the opportunity to write their own material. The song became a hit throughout Latin America & Spanish speaking North America, often referred to as one of the 'songs of the summer' of 2001. It reached #42 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart^[4]. Literally meaning Mayonnaise, it likens the sensation of falling in love with the process of making the dressing, namely beating your heart as you would mayonnaise. The song was accompanied by a catchy dance routine.

The song's release was accompanied by a sophisticated marketing campaign, which saw the band achieve success which few Uruguayan artists have experienced. They toured Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Spain & even the USA. It was even featured as the sound track to the Spanish version of Big Brother 2^[5]. In late 2001 they participated in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile.^[6]

The band disintergrated in 2002, as various members decided to form their own projects. The line-up had already changed from the original 5,^[7] & this happened at the height of their success. Speculation surrounded the split, with accusations of bad feeling^[8] between the singers & manager Juan Carlos Cáceres. Remuneration was also allegedly an issue^[9].

[edit] Cultural References

Chocolate's music & lyrics, belonging to the cumbia style, were often thought of as being particularly attractive to the lower classes. Its use of lunfardo & sexual imagery contributed towards this, however cumbia villera has a much longer history within Latin America.