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Album Review
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Afropop Worldwide, Album Review >>
...In a fortuitous bit of synchronicity, a new album of trova by one of the standard-bearers of the tradition has just been released by Tumi Music: Casa De Trova: Cuba 50s, by Alejandro Almenares, a veteran guitarist who at the tender of age 76 has made his first solo album. His father, Angel Almenares, also a leading trovadore, was a co-founder along with Virgilio Palais of the Casa de la Trova.
From the first note, I was transported back to the well-worn streets of Santiago de Cuba. With exemplary virtuosity, as would be expected from a member of a trova dynasty born into the music, Almenares performs 14 of his father’s and his own compositions on tres and requinto, all in consort with the traditional trova lineup of guitarist, stand-up bass and percussion, and with a team of six solo vocalists standing in on various songs.
The music ticks along like a precision chronometer in perfect time and harmony. None of the songs were familiar to me–not the same old BVSC standards or “Guantanamera,” thank goodness–but all are buoyant, swinging compositions of boleros and sones, beautifully performed. The warm, comfortable sound was recorded right in Santiago at the nearby Siboney studio.
Two discs are included in this lovingly designed package. The second, indicated simply as “Instrumentals” was a surprise, as it is not just instrumental music, but a remix of the first disc’s selections with the lead vocals replaced by violin, flute and saxophone solos, which then make way for the original vocal choruses. So you can have it both ways according to your mood: trad trova, or trova with a bit of added musical color.
Almenares plays regularly at the Casa, often with local hero Eliades Ochoa, but unfortunately my travel schedule did not allow me to see him perform. Happily we have this lovely audio memento of the soul of Cuba to treasure... 03/19/14 >> go there
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