|
|
 |
CD Review
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Dirty Linen, CD Review >>
Econdida Records – Cuban Essentials A 10 Volume Series of recording from the 50s to the 90s
The resurgence of Cuban music in the States is partially due to Ry Cooder’s help, with his clout he pushed for the artists in the Buena Vista Social Club; this effort is probably the most ambitious and comprehensive project involving that music to be undertaken since then. Escondida Music has gone back into the vaults of one of Cuba’s recording super power, EGREM, to uncover the treasures recorded by these 10 titans of Cuban music, select the ‘best’ recordings, clean them up, but still retain the power of the artist and the song, and present these historic recordings to us for us to savor. It is a wide-ranging group of musicians, all of who at one time or another were considered to be among the super-stars of the music from this close, but oh so far Neighbor Island. All the artists have suffered from the embargo on bringing Cuban exports of all kinds to this country, and it was very much our loss at not being able to hear these vibrant musicians live until their later years, if at all. On some of the recordings the age is apparent but the sound is remarkable good and clean without losing the vitality that these artists possessed when doing these recordings, primarily in the 1940s and 50s, but some were done during the 1980s,. There are, or will be, 10 recordings, in this series when they get them all finished. There are 6 that are done and available at the moment and they are: Ibrahim Ferrer, Ay, Candela;, Ruben Gonzalez, Mementos; Omara Portuondo, Sentimiento; Compay Segundo, El Compadre Again; Eliades Ochoa, A la Casa de la Trova; and Chucho Valdez, Virtuoso. Still to come are: Juan Formell y Los Van Van, Por Encima del Nivel; Benny More, Ritmo; Irakere, Bacalao con Pan; and Various Artists, Guantanamera.
We have the broad range of styles of Omara Portuondo, going from the smooth enchantress on Vieja Luna, to the heart broken one on the next tune a sad, Te Queria. You can almost touch, and be enveloped by the heart wrenching vocals on this tune. The force of Agua Que Cae Del Cielo, brings out a whole other side of this remarkable singer. She is one of the most versatile vocalists that was singing at that time in any language. The one complaint and it is trivial on these discs is the liner notes don’t tell you who is playing and arranging on the tunes. This must be because of the time passed since they were made but it might have been helpful at times.
Ibrahim Ferrer, we again know from the Buena Vista Social Club, but this is Ferrrer at his best in the early years. He has been singing since the 1940s and this is he with the early younger drive of his youth. There is plenty of horn driven tunes propelled by Afro- Cuban percussion. These are the early dance tunes that helped establish Cuban music and its rhythms in this country. With the upbeat style you can picture this rogue just smiling as the orchestra churns it out behind him whipping the dancers to keep up with him.
Irakere had Cuba’s first disco hit and caused a stir in this country during the Carter administration when the embargo was briefly lifted. With their incendiary Afro-Cuban percussion, their horn driven jazz seemed to eclipse anything around in the jazz world at that time. They were obviously listening to what going on in the world of music, and were carrying it forward with their own direction. This was an ever shifting group of musicians but mostly driven by Chucho Valdez on piano.
Even though the recordings are sometimes 60 years old they sound as fresh and vibrant today as they did when they were recorded. They are still pushing people out of their chairs to dance to the music. This is an ambitious project and it is done well, Don’t miss this wonderful retrospective of Cuban music. 01/10/06
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
