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Concert Preview/CD Review
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Albany Democrat - Herald, Concert Preview/CD Review >>
Mojitos for your ears
Ska Cubano skanks its way to the Oregon Zoo for concert
By THERESA HOGUE
The Entertainer
PORTLAND - Names such as Compay Segundo, Celia Cruz and Ibrahim Ferrer are spoken with reverence around my house. There are enough CDs floating around the living room to devote an entire shelf to Cuban music in all its forms, from Afro-Cuban to salsa.
Now we're happy to make a little more room and introduce a shiny new blue CD to the mix, and we're pretty sure it's going to make nice with the neighbors.
"Ska Cubano," features a blend of influences we've loved but have never heard before in such a delightful combination. The buoyant sounds of Jamaican ska, with its wild horns and stacatto lyrics blend with the Afro-infused beauty of Cuban music, sprinkled at times with middle Eastern rhythms and other Latin American influences, including Colombian cumbia. The wild infusion is the product of a marriage between the United Kingdom and Cuba. UK deejay natty Bo traveled to Cuba with music lover and British busonessman Peter Scott, and there came across Cuban musician Beny Billy, who claims to be a reincarnation of Cuban music legend Beny More, and whose voice is an eerie imitation of the late singer.
The musical collaboration resulted in "Ay Caramba!" the group's second album, which features ska, calypso, Jamaican "mento" and the traditional Cuban sound of "son," as well as several cumbia numbers. Each song is boisterous and danceable.
The fetching "No Me Desepres," (Don't Drive Me Crazy) is one of my favorite pieces on the album. In the song, Billy begs his lovely black companion to stop inciting madness in him as she dances the cumbia and the tango so provacatively. Billy's rich voice may implore her to cease, but it is clear that the songer doth protest too much. Backed by amazing brass, it's impossible not to swing your hips seductively as well. Some of my favorite lyrics follow in "Big Bamboo," which was a popular calypso tune in the 1950s. It discusses the age old debate of whether or not size really matters, and in this case, the verdict is most definitely, "Yes."
"I asked my woman what I should do, to make her happy and keep her true. All she said that I want from you is likkle likkle piece of the big bamboo."
In the song "Cachita," by Puerto Rican songwriter Rafael Hernandez, the singer tries to convince his lady, who is fond of Cuban "son," that the Puerto Rican rumba is superior, and that every one in the world is dancing to it, from the Englosh lords to the Eskimos.
"Se divierte asi el frances, y tambien el aleman. Y se alegra el irlandes, hasta el musilman. (The French have fun this way, and so do the Germans. It makes the Irish happy, and even the Muslims)."
I am always a big fan of songs about misbehaving women, and "Jezebel" is no exception. The Ska Cubano version of the classic song about the enchanting, if naughty, Jezebel is pure ska, and although reminiscent of the Edith Piak version I am more familiar with, it takes on a life of its own, a resonant life full of brass.
Finally, one of the most fun songs on the album is "Bobine," which blends Haitian merengue with Afro-Cuban sounds, combining to cook up the sound of a street festival, full of sweat and smiling faces and gyrating hips.
Oregonians can travel the world via Ska Cubano's music when they perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug 2, at the Oregon Zoo as part of the Wells Fargo Summer Concert Series presented by Fred Meter. Tickets are $9.50, which includes zoo admission.
Tickets are available at www.oregonzoo.org/Concerts/indez.htm.
07/27/06
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