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"Ay! Que Rico" CD Review
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The Miami Herald , "Ay! Que Rico" CD Review >>
By: Jordan Levin
Ay! Que Rico is a quintessential Cuban phrase for anything delicious – whether music, sensual pleasure, food or good times. And it pretty much says it all about this unexpectedly captivating, independently produced gem from Miami-raised Jose Conde. The songs are original, the sound is son, mambo and other classic styles, freshened with subtle rhythm and instrumental touches (nice remix by DJ Le Spam, Miami’s king of electro-Latin funk), and the players are excellent. Now living in New York, Conde mixes up the food, sex and musical metaphors with another precious and essential Cuban quality – light but irresistible swing. Ay! Que Rico sounds old fashioned and new at the same time. It’s enough to renew your faith in Cuban music. Relaxed humor permeates this CD. Song subtitles in loops of 3” mix music and food references. Several songs, like the title track with its refrain of “It’s so good, what mama cook” play happily with food/sex metaphors. Even when Conde gets political, he doesn’t get heavy. Puenta a Mi Gente (Bridge to my People), about connecting Cubans here and on the island, promises to “add bricks of humor, which is ours naturally,” And Conde’s gift for flowery romantic metaphors is right in a Cuban line stretching back to Guantanamera, as is the way his music keeps you on the dance floor, laughing at how good it feels. Delicious. 07/02/04
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