Rather than pander to musical stereotypes, Ramos expands upon various Latin styles with his unlimited artistic imagination. Like a suspense thriller movie, the tracks on this disc take many unusual twists along the way, making it nearly impossible to easily describe and awfully tough to turn off.
Sure, Latin music is the baseline for this release, but dang if the CD doesn’t temporarily sound like reggae during “La Negra Celina,” which also features Joseph Serrato playing multiple saxophones and George St. Claire singing the lead vocal. “Carmela,” on the other hand, matches lounge jazz to Latin percussion. This track also includes a nice group vocal. “Prohibido,” which is described in the liner notes as being a song about lust, begins with what sounds like bird sound effects. This disc is filled with Latin vibes, plus a whole lot of other stuff.

Whoever called Ramos a multi-instrumentalist sure wasn’t kidding. This is because he’s heard playing a Hammond B3, Wurlitzer electric piano, grand piano, pump organ, percussion, trumpet, accordion and melodica here. Oh, and he also sings, assisted by some fine musicians along the way, such as David Grissom, who adds a scorching guitar solo to “Volcanico.”

In the notes for the song “El Indio,” Ramos jokes about how all Latin songs seem to include the words “corizon,” “amor” and “porque” in them, so he’s included all three of these oft-used terms throughout this particular track. But instead of stopping at merely resorting to such clichés to create his songs, Ramos combines these familiar elements with out-of-the-ordinary sounds, including what seems like a classical section in part of the title track, to help invent something entirely new.

Although he doesn’t come off nearly as quirky as, say, David Byrne or Paul Simon can be, Ramos is nevertheless an equally adventurous soul, especially in the way he approaches having fun with tried and true musical forms. No, “Charanga Cakewalk” is not another stuffy world music exercise, nor a “La Vida Loca” knock-off. Instead, it’s a fun tourist trip through the sounds of Latin culture.