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The Kirsty MacColl web site
History of Cuban Music
Kirsty's snapshot history of Cuban music, recorded with Jan Fairley and a BBC Radio team in late 2000.
In these pages we hope to provide a further boost to the Cuban music which Kirsty loved by providing additional information and links to the artists' websites for your further explorations!
Broadcast
on BBC Radio 2, 14th February 2001
Kirsty takes a trip to the Bay of Pigs to re-visit the dramatic years from Castro's Revolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Buena Vista Social Club star Ibrahim Ferrer tells how he was in Moscow with Kruschev during the crisis, Gloria Estefan recalls her father's involvement in the anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion and veteran Cuban actress Hilda Oartes tells of a chance encounter with Che Guevara during the revolution. There's music from Carlos Puebla, Silvio Rodriguez and the Afro-Cuban All-Stars. Later in the series Kirsty visits Havana's famous Egrem Studios and picks some of the best Cuban music available in the UK.
A
composer, guitarist and singer, in 1953 Carlos
Puebla founded Los Tradicionales
Conjunto and started performances at the La Bodeguita del Medio restaurant,
and later studied at the School of Professional Development in Havana. In
his songs he sings about the most relevant events in the Cuban people's history,
becoming a chronicler of all national events from 1959 up to his death. He
used a serious and direct language, tinged in many cases with humour. He
also tackled love and daily work.
Hasta Siempre / EGREM CD0083
One
of revolutionary Cuba's greatest folk/pop songwriters, Silvio
Rodríguez started
his career in the late 1960s as a member of a state-sponsored song collective,
along with other nueva trova artists such as Pablo Milanes and Sara Gonzales.
Rodríguez was by far and away the best of the group. On his early acoustic-oriented
albums, his ability to interweave complex melodies, expressive vocals and
lightning fast guitar is nothing short of dazzling. His songs are both poetic
and poppy and some, such as Sueno Con Serpientes,
have become standards in the modern Latin American pop/folk repertoire. Unfortunately,
Rodríguez later embraced the jazz-tinged pop pretentions of fellow
nueva trova legend, Pablo Milanes, and his later work suffers from baroque,
leaden arrangements. Stick with the early albums, though, and you'll be quite
happy.
Los Grandes Exitos / Luaka Bop 72438-49026-2-9. Composed by Silvio Rodríguez.
Ibrahím
Ferrer was born at a social club dance on February 20, 1927 In San Luis,
a town near Santiago, Cuba. He never looked back from that musical introduction
to the world. At 13,
he formed his first musical group with his cousin, called the Jovenes del
Son (Young Men of Son). Ibrahim was called to sing with a succession of bands
e.g.Conjunto Wilson, Conjunto Sorpresa and Orquesta
Chepín-Chovén.
By the 1950's he was established as the singer with Pacho Alonso's group
based in Santiago and later Havana, and stayed with them for more than 20
years. Ferrer’s work consisted
mainly of guanachas, sones and up-tempo numbers, although he yearned
to sing boleros. He enjoyed some popularity with boleros but would have
to wait nearly forty years to record one worthy of his considerable
talents. That song, Dos Gardenias by
Isolina Carrillo, is featured on the Buena Vista Social Club recording. When
a bolero singer of the old school was required for the sessions
in 1996. Ferrer was plucked off the streets of Havana where he was
taking his daily walk. Whereas the other stars
from the Buena Vista sessions had originally some fame both in and outside
of Cuba, Ibrahim Ferrer had never been previously recognized in his own right. “I
pinch myself all the time,” Ibrahím said. “It is a dream come
true. When I was younger I thought I was going to travel the world with my
music. The only chance I got was when I came to Europe in 1962. Then there
was the missile crisis. I played in Paris and Eastern Europe with Pacho Alonso’s
orchestra and then I was stuck in Europe. I had to stay until everything
settled down again before I could go home. Then nothing happened for thirty-five
years. This has given me the will to live. I’m living the dream of
my youth in the body of an old man.”
Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahím Ferrer / World Circuit WCD 055. Composed by Armando Medina.
A
composer, guitarist and singer, in 1953 Carlos
Puebla founded Los Tradicionales Conjunto and started performances at
the La Bodeguita del Medio restaurant, and later studied at the School of
Professional Development in Havana. In his songs he sings about the most
relevant events in the Cuban people's history, becoming a chronicler of all
national events from 1959 up to his death. He used a serious and direct language,
tinged in many cases with humour. He also tackled love and daily work.
Cantarte Comandante / EGREM CD0259
The Afro-Cuban
All Stars spans 4 generations of musicians ranging from the age of
81 to 13: Juan De Marcos González, the Quincy Jones of Cuba, has
a mission to show the world the wealth, diversity and vitality of Cuban
music.
Distinto, Diferente / World Circuit WCD 058. Composed by Juan de Marcos González, Lázaro Villa.
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