Danza Kuduro is an adaptation of Vem Dancar Kuduro, from Don Omar's collaborative album released as the lead single from the album on August 15, 2010 through Machete, VI. It features singer Lucenzo and has become a big hit in most Latin American countries, and eventually all over Europe. "Danza Kuduro" was number one on the Hot Latin Songs, giving Don Omar his second US Billboard Hot Latin Songs number-one hit and Lucenzo his first. A remake of the song is also featured in the 2011 movie Fast Five as an ending song and is on the film's soundtrack album. Kuduro is a style of dancing and singing from Angola. The music of "Danza Kuduro" is largely based on "Vem Dançar Kuduro", however most of the lyrics of "Danza Kuduro" have been rewritten in the Spanish language. Brazilian rapper Daddy Kall and singer Latino released a Brazilian version "Dança Kuduro" of the song with amended Portuguese lyrics.
Background
The song is written by Lucenzo who is also producer of the song. It features a section in Portuguese taken from the Lucenzo dance hit entitled "Vem dançar kuduro" featuring Big Ali. The remainder is sung by Don Omar in Spanish. Kuduro is an Angolan type of music also very popular in Portugal. The Kuduro is a popular dance style practiced in the West African country of Angola. Originally designed to pay tribute towards the many disfigured and crippled people within the country due to the deadly civil war that ravaged the country and left landmines throughout the region. The dance is meant to not only pay tribute towards these handicapped individuals it is also supposed to incorporate their erratic and jerky movements into the flow of the moves. While Portugal once retained bloody control over the former colony the diasporic spread of the musically inspired dance craze has added to the feel of "world music" taking the concept of Kuduro from Brazil to Beijing.
Critical reception
Amar Toor from Aol Radio Blog said that the song "showcases one of reggaeton's brightest stars at his absolute best. Don Omar's song is so infectious, it will likely get buried in your mind after just one listen -- and trust us, that's a very good thing". Monica Herrera from Billboard said "The propulsive beat is laced with crowd-pleasing electric accordion runs, over which Don Omar sings and raps about a simple yet evergreen concept: dancing up a storm. The song wisely shifts him toward more tropical-leaning material-a move all too familiar in reggaetón's post-boom era-while letting him continue to explore new sounds and maintain his hold over Latin dancefloors around the world." Allison Stewart from The Washington Post said that the song "exemplifies what Omar and company do best: It's a sunny, up-tempo, utterly winning variation on Latin dance pop. 'Orphans' otherwise contains seemingly infinite variations on reggaeton, though there's nothing else as great as the standard genre track 'Hasta Abajo', which appears here in un-remixed form". At the Latin Grammy Awards of 2011, "Danza Kuduro" received a nomination for Best Urban Song. It won the Billboard Latin Music Award for Latin Rhythm Airplay Song of the Year in 2011 and 2012.
A music video was filmed on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, and was directed by music video director Vincent Egret, who has directed most of Lucenzo's recent videos. Production/Post supervised by Frederico Panetta and his team Marc-Olivier Jean, Anderson Jean, Dullin Jean, Fayolle Jean Jr. did the post-production of the music video. The video shows the singers boasting of all the wealth of a millionaire. It portrays Don Omar inviting Lucenzo to a boat ride, and picking him up in a BMW Z4. Also there are scenes of women dancing around the two artists on the beach. Before the video premiere, a preview of the video was released on July 30, 2010 through Omar's Facebook account. The full music video was premiered on August 17, 2010 through Vevo. There were more than 1 million views within the first few days of its release, making "Danza Kuduro" the #3 Most Seen Video in the World. As of March 2020, the music video had received over 1.1 billion views on YouTube.
