Ten months after the initial volume of
CUBA: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85
, England's
Soul Jazz Records
continues its excavation of material from Havana's EGREM Studios and
Areito
Records with another double-disc. This volume, also compiled by
Gilles Peterson
and
Stuart Baker
, picks up where the first left off. Both are soundtracks for the coffee table book Cuba: Original Album Cover Art of Cuban Music.
After the revolution, musicians were state-employed and labels were subsidized. Music was made in a vacuum where artists could create, but performing outlets were restricted to block parties and state-sanctioned festivals; nightclubs were closed. This climate proved fertile ground for experimentation; it led many artists to innovate on traditional styles -- son, songo, rhumba, mambo, guaguanco, etc. -- aided by effects pedals and electronic keyboards. The renaissance of Cuban jazz during the period is reflected on these releases, as are integrations with disco, funk, soul, tropicalia, and MPB.
Check opener "Y Que Bien" by
Juan Pablo Torres y Algo Nuevo
. A funky salsa vamp offered by jagged synths and distorted electric guitars is framed by fingerpopping brass, fretless bass, and many layers of percussion. Interlocking circular vamps emerge in place of a melody until the middle, when
Torres
begins scatting near the end. The historic
Los Van Van
Juan Formell
are represented by a gloriously remastered "Por Que lo Haces?" juxtaposing rumbling son with strings, horns, wah-wah guitars, and bass. The multi-part vocal harmonies, swirling choruses, and Afrobeat guitars frame frenetic timbales, congas, and claves. The combined effect sounds like
Mandrill
jamming with
Irakere
.
Los Papines
offers "Solo de Tumba y Bongo." It simmers with son alongside jazz, spidery funk, and Colombian cumbia in a steamy mix. Disc one closes with
Grupo Raices Nuevas
' wooly "Baila Mi Guaguanco," where guaguanco meets salsa, jazz fusion, and disco, led by killer zig-zagging synths.
Disc two offers
Orquesta Riverside
's "En Casa del Trompo No Bailes." It begins as a darkly tinged disco exercise in drum funk before erupting into an orgy of hard-swinging big-band salsa.
Los Brito
's "El 4-5-6" bubbles with dueling male and female vocal choruses atop rumbling, syncopated, salsa-fied jazz.
Grupo Los Yoyi
contributes "Tu No Me Puedes Conquistar," an experiment in psychedelic jazz with wonky fuzz guitars and organs leading the way over deep, rumbling percussion. Speaking of psychedelia,
Grupo de Experimentacion Sonora del ICAIC
's "Cuba Va" weds distorted acoustic and electric guitars atop a shuffling rock beat; later, it morphs into danzon over a folk-pop melody. Closer "Finalizo un Amor" by
Los Reyes 73
swaggers across funk, rock, jazz, and son with layered strings, spacy organ, rippling guitar, and a rubbery bassline under a loopy vocal. The booklet is annotated with copious, authoritative liner notes, discographical info, and rare photos. Like its predecessor,
CUBA: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85, Vol. 2
is essential listening for fans of Afro-Latin music. ~ Thom Jurek