35 Aniversario
35 Aniversario is a studio album by Colombian salsa group Grupo Niche, released on October 2, 2015, through PPM Records. It was produced by José Aguirre, musical director of the group and marks their thirty-five years of career. The album is their second album after the death of Jairo Varela, one of the founders of the group and its main director.
At the 17th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Salsa Album, while at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Tropical Latin Album, being the group's first Grammy Award nomination. It was also nominated for Tropical Album of the Year at the Premio Lo Nuestro 2017.
Background
On September 21, 2015, the group announced the date release of the album via their Twitter account, sharing a picture of the front and back cover of the album as well as the track list. 35 Aniversario is the group's second release after the death of Jairo Varela on August 8, 2012, from a heart attack, the first one being Tocando el cielo con las manos, Varela was one of the two founders of the group alongside Alexis Lozano, who later left the group, Varela served as the director of the group and wrote most of its songs. The album was produced by José Aguirre who took over as the musical director of the group in August 2015, replacing Richie Valdés.The album is composed of eleven tracks, all of them being old songs written by Varela with the exception of the last track "Herederos de un Legado", composed by Aguirre. About the album, the group said "this new album proposes to rescue old recordings made by Grupo Niche that, due to the great diffusion of other hits of the group, did not have the opportunity to be on mass radio, but that have the quality and seal of its composer, the master Jairo Varela". To promote the release of the album, the group made a series of concerts in various cities of United States including New Orleans and New York, and later in Peru, Colombia and Dominican Republic.