NPR Features Cuban Artists
National Public Radio has just featured some up-and-coming Cuban artists (still living in Cuba) in a piece titled New Island Sounds from Cuba's Young Guard
among the featured artists are Descemer Bueno (something like rap meets guaguanco), Haydee Milanes (Enya meets Yoruba chants), and Juan-Carlos Formell (pseudo jazz meets Brazilian roots -- but he's Cuban ... oh well).
none of those artists particularly impress. the packages seem designed to appeal to the American or European markets, rather than to truly move forward the state of Cuban music, and the results, while mildly interesting, fall far short of the kind of musical brew for which Cuba is rightly famous.
this is the country, after all, which produced conga, rumba, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and guaracha -- the last of which went on to become the dominant musical form of the Latin world under its export name, "salsa," the result of Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants working in New York which then spread back into Latin America.
perhaps less known is the habanera, which eventually landed in Argentina and became the mother of tango. and that leaves out such vibrant Cuban musical styles as danzon, son, son montuno, and guaguanco.
at any rate, the above-mentioned artists miss the essence of Cuban music, which is hard to define, but which comes down to an irresistible beat (whether fast or slow), powerful melodies, and layered and nuanced lyrics. even older artists working with ballads and slow compositions never forgot those basic elements, and thus you end up with awesome pieces that deviate from the Cuban norm but somehow embrace it, such as Silvio Rodriguez's Ojala and Pablo Milanes's Yo Pisare Las Calles Nuevamente. (yeah, they're commies ... but they're talented commies).
of the above groups, no one seems to have caught the fire. they do try, and they go through their motions, but the whole is never greater than the sum of the parts.
one group does command attention. they are called Habana Abierta (Open Havana), and they sing of social taboos such as drug use and (one wonders if the censors have been on the job lately) emigration, the relationships between emigrants and those left behind, and the hopes of the Cuban people in general. they have just recently released their second album, Boomerang; their first album 24 Hours, was released in 1999.
habana abierta
and did i mention their music rocks? they manage to look back to Cuba's classical rhythms and melodies, and yet streamline them and, dare i say it, modernize them, in such a fashion that they do create something new. their song-writing is still not there 100% (even 7 years after their first release), but if this is signs of things to come, this is one group I'll be keeping my eyes on.
this song Asere Que Vola? (street slang for "What's happening, my friend?") really promises much from these guys. i hope their song-writing improves and the censors don't notice them any time soon.
among the featured artists are Descemer Bueno (something like rap meets guaguanco), Haydee Milanes (Enya meets Yoruba chants), and Juan-Carlos Formell (pseudo jazz meets Brazilian roots -- but he's Cuban ... oh well).
none of those artists particularly impress. the packages seem designed to appeal to the American or European markets, rather than to truly move forward the state of Cuban music, and the results, while mildly interesting, fall far short of the kind of musical brew for which Cuba is rightly famous.
this is the country, after all, which produced conga, rumba, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and guaracha -- the last of which went on to become the dominant musical form of the Latin world under its export name, "salsa," the result of Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants working in New York which then spread back into Latin America.
perhaps less known is the habanera, which eventually landed in Argentina and became the mother of tango. and that leaves out such vibrant Cuban musical styles as danzon, son, son montuno, and guaguanco.
at any rate, the above-mentioned artists miss the essence of Cuban music, which is hard to define, but which comes down to an irresistible beat (whether fast or slow), powerful melodies, and layered and nuanced lyrics. even older artists working with ballads and slow compositions never forgot those basic elements, and thus you end up with awesome pieces that deviate from the Cuban norm but somehow embrace it, such as Silvio Rodriguez's Ojala and Pablo Milanes's Yo Pisare Las Calles Nuevamente. (yeah, they're commies ... but they're talented commies).
of the above groups, no one seems to have caught the fire. they do try, and they go through their motions, but the whole is never greater than the sum of the parts.
one group does command attention. they are called Habana Abierta (Open Havana), and they sing of social taboos such as drug use and (one wonders if the censors have been on the job lately) emigration, the relationships between emigrants and those left behind, and the hopes of the Cuban people in general. they have just recently released their second album, Boomerang; their first album 24 Hours, was released in 1999.
habana abierta
and did i mention their music rocks? they manage to look back to Cuba's classical rhythms and melodies, and yet streamline them and, dare i say it, modernize them, in such a fashion that they do create something new. their song-writing is still not there 100% (even 7 years after their first release), but if this is signs of things to come, this is one group I'll be keeping my eyes on.
this song Asere Que Vola? (street slang for "What's happening, my friend?") really promises much from these guys. i hope their song-writing improves and the censors don't notice them any time soon.
posted by Yimboro | 7:04 PM
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