Kirsty MacColl's Cuba

COOBA!

This series was recorded in Havana late last year (2000), just weeks before singer songwriter Kirsty MacColl's tragic death in a boating accident in Mexico. What was already set to be an exciting and informative series takes on a new poignancy in the light of Kirsty's death.

Series producer John Leonard says, "Kirsty had always had a love affair with Cuba and her affinity for the music shines through". Kirsty was therefore the best possible person to take Radio2 listeners on a musical tour of this sun-soaked but controversial Caribbean island.

The phenomenal success of the Buena Vista Social Club CD has meant that Cuban music is currently enjoying its highest profile for many years. Throughout this remarkable eight part series Kirsty goes in search of the best Cuban music and discovers with the aid of expert musicologist Dr Jan Fairley, that there is plenty on offer. We'll hear from the best musicians in Havana and from people who love Cuba and Cuban music with a passion.

Tracing the roots of today's styles back to the big names of the 1940s and 1950s, such as Perez Prado and Beny More, Kirsty examines the heart-stopping moments of Cuban history in the 1960s, such as the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis, while sampling the sounds of Los Zafiros, one of the island's best-known doo-wop groups.

Kirsty talks about the recording of the remarkable Buena Vista album and subsequent film with producer Nick Gold and musician Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, a key figure in pulling together such personalities as singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo and legendary pianist Ruben Gonzalez.

During the series Kirsty considers the impact of Che Guevara and Cuban president Fidel Castro on the course of the country's history and wonders how Cuba's image may change with the passing of the Castro years. There's comment on Cuba's rise as a tourist destination from Independent on Sunday travel editor Simon Calder and former Talking Head David Byrne, and Buena Vista star Omara Portuondo tells of her years as a dancer for Carmen Miranda at Havana's hottest nightspot, the Tropicana.

Kirsty and Jan Fairley will also offer their opinions on the best Cuban music available in the UK.

Series producer John Leonard recalls: "Kirsty's always had a love affair with Cuba and her affinity with the music shines through. We'll hear from the best musicians in Havana and from people who love Cuba and Cuban music with a passion. It's a remarkable series."

"I was with Kirsty MacColl in Havana just a month before her tragic death at the age of 41. We were there to make a series on Cuba and Cuban music for Radio 2, and we spent a week together recording on location. Her death, on 18 December - two days before the series was due to be broadcast - shocked us all. Kirsty MacColl's Cuba harnesses her love of Cuban music and sets it against the turbulent history of the island, through Castro's revolution, the missile crisis and the hardships following the Soviet Union's collapse. We talk about strong-smelling cigars, powerful spirits and fifties cars, and play as much great music as we can - from Beny More and Perez Prado to the present day, via the great success of the Buena Vista Social Club, the undoubted gateway into Cuban music for most listeners."

"I will certainly feel strange hearing the first show going out this week. After our first production meeting, I asked Kirsty to pick her favourite tracks; a couple of days later a tape dropped through the office door with a series of gems on it. You'll hear many of them throughout the series. She told me she developed her love of Cuban music when she worked with some Cuban session musicians in New York, and it became one of the loves of her life. She taught herself to speak Spanish so she could understand the songs and played them constantly at home, so much so that apparently her teenage children would ask her to put something else on the CD player."

"Every hour in Havana was precious, but Kirsty knew how to work hard and relax on the road. One night coming back from the Bay of Pigs, she bought some rum to make the journey go faster, and after a couple of glasses we began to swap jokes and sing songs. I remember her saying, 'Here's a song my dad taught me.' We expected an old folk number but she launched into a brilliant version of the Groucho Marx song Lydia the Tattooed Lady. It was risque, funny and wonderfully performed. It's odd, but this is the memory that sticks for me: Kirsty with a glass of rum, roaring with laughter at a rude song."

Series theme music

Represent / Orishas / 00:23 (varies)
Mo Vida / Putumayo PUTU 166-2
Composed by Orishas, Nicolas Nocchi, Roldan G. Rivero

Mambo De La Luna / Kirsty MacColl / 01:49 (varies)
Tropical Brainstorm / V2 / WR1009872
Composed by Kirsty MacColl, Pete Glenister, Dave Ruffy

Style [ Standard ] [ Cool Blue ] [ Tropical ] [ Hangover ] [ Text ] [ BIG Text ]

Kirsty MacColl's Cuba

COOBA!

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