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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, 21st March 2001
Cuba's popularity as a suntrap island is on the rise, but it's still the only socialist island in the Caribbean. Many Cubans prefer not to answer questions about the island's post-Castro fortunes, but most admit that things will change. Former Talking Head David Byrne and travel writer Simon Calder offer their view on how Cuba will be affected and the appeal of Castro's Cuba, and veteran Cuban actress Hilda Oates tells how the Revolution and its aftermath indelibly stamped the personalities of Che and Castro on the island.
series produced by Nick Barraclough for Smooth Operations
Antonio
Fernandez Ortiz, better known as Nico
Saquito was at the heart of the Casa De La Trova acoustic music scene
in Santiago, Cuba, A master of the acoustic trova style, Saquito (1913-1982)
was one of Cuba's most beloved acoustic musicians, writing countless classics
and helping solidify the acoustic trova style. Early in his career, he passed
through a series of minor bands before deciding to devote himself full-time
to his music, sometime in the late 1930s. In the '40s, he worked extensively
on radio, but his career really took of in the postwar years, when he teamed
up with fellow acoustic guarachero Maximilliano ("Bimbi") Sanchez,
as part of the Guaracheros De Oriente, a group that Saquito led for decades
to come, despite constantly shifting personnel. His career as a bandleader
was briefly interrupted in the 1950s when he toured outside of Cuba and then
found himself unwelcome to return due to his left-wing political sympathies
(he later returned to Cuba in 1960, after the fall of the Batista government...)
Cuba, I Am Time: Cantar En Cuba / Blue Jackal BJAC 5010-2. Composed by Nico Saquito.
Born
in 1951 in Villa Clara, José
Lus Cortés nurtured
and developed unusual aptitudes in both music and dance since his childhood.
He attended the National School of Art where he developed his talent, eventually
becoming one of Cuban most outstanding musical figures. Cortés
has performed with several of Cuba's leading groups, including Irakere and
Los Van Van, until founding NG La Banda (Nueva Generación) in1988
together with other high calibre musicians. Flutist, composer and arranger,
Cortés blended his talent
and skill in order to meet his goal with NG to create a new sound in contemporary
Cuban music. His arrangements for the group's horn section completed with
the outstanding skill of the players, have created the signature sound easily
recognized as the "Horns of Terror". José Luis Cortés
is proud of his work with the ensemble as NG is considered one of the
most important groups around.
The Best of NG La Banda / Hemisphere 7243 5 21391 2 5.
The
Cuarteta d'Aida (with echoes of the Andrews Sisters) included Omara Portuondo
in their ranks, and were part of the "Feeling" movement, heavily influenced
by jazz and swing in the 50's.
Cuba, I Am Time: Cantar En Cuba / Blue Jackal 5012-2. Composed by Rodrigo Prats.
Pablo
Milanes is one of Cuba's top composers. A founder of the Nueva Trova
mouvement, he started with groups like
Cuarteto del Rey and Los Bucaneros before working as a soloist. Some of
his first songs were related to the Cuban music movement known as "Feeling",
and he is also known for his son. 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 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.
Antologa de la Nueva Trova 2 / EGREM CD0296. Composed by Pablo Milanes.
Born
in 1951 in Villa Clara, José Lus
Cortés nurtured and developed unusual aptitudes in both music
and dance since his childhood. He attended the National School of Art where
he developed his talent, eventually becoming one of Cuban most outstanding
musical figures. Cortés has performed with several of Cuba's leading
groups, including Irakere and Los Van Van, until founding NG La Banda (Nueva
Generación) in1988 together with other high calibre musicians. Flutist,
composer and arranger, Cortés blended his talent and skill in order
to meet his goal with NG to create a new sound in contemporary Cuban music.
His arrangements for the group's horn section completed with the outstanding
skill of the players, have created the signature sound easily recognized
as the "Horns of Terror". José Luis Cortés is proud
of his work with the ensemble as NG is considered one of the most important
groups around.
White copy only, not released
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