The Funky Sounds of Revolutionary Cuba, Vol. 1

By Robert Fox

Dig out your disco shoes, your hammer-and-sickle, and put on your funk face--you may need them all once you get a load of “Si, Para Usted: The Funky Sounds of Revolutionary Cuba, Vol. 1.”

The recording is a 2007 release organized by Canadian DJ Dan Zacks, who hosts the celebrated Waxing Deep radio show from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Waxing Deep specializes in resurrecting previously lost vinyl from around the world, and thankfully for world music fans, the live and archived shows are available online, or via podcast. In an interview with the Tucson Citizen, Zacks explains how he got turned on to Cuba’s eclectic funk scene from the 1970s:

I spent a number of years selling records professionally in Montreal, which happens to be one of the few locales outside of Cuba and former Soviet bloc countries where you can find Cuban records (in part because of the close relations between Castro and (former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre) Trudeau). While sourcing Quebecois music, I would sometimes stumble across the odd Cuban release, usually folkloric music, but on rare occasions something funky by Juan Pablo Torres or Groupo Monumental. These records were my first introduction to the sound on "Si, Para Usted," and I was quickly seduced by their unlikely provenance--communist funk?--and their dance floor potential.

For all of modern Cuba’s many controversies, limitations and inspirations, no one disputes that in the 1970s and 80s, Cuba’s revolutionary government invested heavily in music and in musicians, even as it strictly controlled distribution through the state-owned record company EGREM. Politics were out-of-bounds, but mining Cuba’s vast musical heritage was encouraged. Many talented musicians were offered free musical education and given opportunities to record and compose outside of pre-revolutionary class and racial barriers, and outside of purely market-defined standards of musical value.

Thus the anomaly pointed out by Pitchfork Media: “a repressive communist government that fostered a vibrant, influential, and essential musical output…In the 1960s and 70s, Cuban music played just as big a role in the development of popular music styles in Central and West Africa as anything coming out of the U.S. or Europe.” According to Calabash Music, “an unprecedented combination of socialism and artistic freedom flourished during the mid-years of Castro’s Cuba, enabling musicians to create an innovative body of music based on traditional styles.” All Music Guide adds that Cuba "subsidized music schools and paid all proficient musicians a stable salary, then watched as they demonstrated their new smarts on releases for EGREM, Cuba's sole record label."

Waxing Deep Records dug through ERGREM’s archives and the “Si, Para Usted” recording illustrates the dizzying ferment that was Cuba’s 1970s music scene. As described in OC Weekly:

Who knew that Cuba, in all its Castro-acted iron-fistedness, was a hotbed of funkadelic inventiveness? Si, Para Usted documents a thriving community of musicians who merged their country's renowned rhythmic verve with the piquant progressive-rock, psychedelic and funk elements that were infiltrating bands
worldwide during the '70s… These influences penetrated the Communist cultural gatekeepers and seeped into Cuba's stream of (altered) consciousness… think of Santana jamming with Fela Kuti's Africa 70 and Os Mutantes in an equatorial opium den. The 17 songs on Si, Para Usted coruscate, radiate and oscillate beyond the Buena Vista Social Club's templates while still acknowledging their importance. Si, Para Usted is a helluva rumba in the jungle.

Many of the groups represented will be familiar to Cuban music fans (e.g. Los Van Van, Irakere, Juan Pablo Torres, Orchestra Riverside), but Waxing Deep has dug out some choice tracks from these superstars that illustrate the era’s heavy bass-oriented funk mixed with son rhythms. Pitchfork Media describes Irakere’s pounding “Bacalao Con Pan” as “an astounding slab of grinding, psychedelic funk that tosses freak-out guitars with bright horns and even a bit of salsa piano,” and notes “the stabbing horns, wicked fuzz guitar, dubby effects and funk drums” on Juan Pablo Torres’s “Son a Propulsion.”

You can check out song samples for yourself on the Waxing Deep website.

While listeners outside of Cuba may categorize this music as funk, Dan Zacks points out that the category isn’t a relevant one inside Cuba:

I should take this opportunity to clarify that there is no "Cuban funk" in Cuba. You can't go to Havana and ask someone selling music for "funk Cubano"; he or she would have no idea what you were talking about. What people outside of Cuba refer to as Cuban funk is definitely funky, but in Cuba it has no special designation. It's merely "música popular." The tracks on the compilation are pop from the '70s and early '80s based on traditional forms but influenced by foreign artists like Earth, Wind & Fire and…Isaac Hayes's "Theme From Shaft." It's funky as anything, and like so many collectors and DJs, I'm happy to refer to it as Cuban funk, but in Cuba, it's just another son.

This recording truly captures a bygone era of Cuban music. Dan Zacks describes going to Havana last year to do research for the CD. Local musicians were playing Buena Vista Social Club chestnuts for tourists, while Reggaeton and salsa from Miami and New York boomed out of homes to the exclusion of home-brewed music forms. Meanwhile “many of the musicians on the compilation left Cuba in the '90s (or earlier)--Juan Pablo Torres, Ricardo Eddy Martinez, Jorge Soler (of Grupo Los Yoyi), Arturo Sandoval, etc.--and the conditions that created the compilation's music no longer exist.” He adds that while all of the music is licensed through EGREM, the CD is not being distributed inside of Cuba, as “virtually no Cuban could afford even its wholesale price."

Let's hope there's a volume 2 to continue publicizing this important and groovy music.

The "Son" And The "Father"

By Marc Bruner

It just doesn't get any better than this - sitting in the open air under the beautiful California sky watching a fantastic double-bill of African music, with Vieux Farka Toure opening for Toumani Diabate. What an exciting and memorable show!

Vieux, the immensely talented son of the late Malian musical giant Ali Farka Toure, put on a mesmerizing performance of electric guitar-based blues and African rock. African music lovers delighted in the 2006 release of Vieux's excellent debut album, but as Banning Eyre (senior editor of afropop.org) explains, "as great as the recording is, it in no way prepared me for the charisma, chops, and overall showmanship of the young man himself."

All Music Guide explains, Vieux's music "is such a triumph in every way that the question isn't whether he will carry on the legacy, but rather just how much further he will take it." As a special treat, the legendary guitarist Mama Sissoko was part of Vieux's band, adding wisdom and experience (and another wickedly talented guitar player) to Vieux's youthful exuberance.

Toumani Diabate and his band were no less impressive, blending tradition and modernity in a captivating big band sound. Toumani is not only one of the world's very greatest kora players, but is also a tireless innovator and an extremely entertaining showman. At one point, he gave a kora lesson to the audience, showing how to play the bassline and melody while improvising, all at the same time.

When I first heard a CD of Toumani playing the kora, I wrongly thought it was several different musicians, not figuring it was just one lone master doing three things at once. And with his 10 other supremely talented band-members, Toumani created a veritable wall of sounds and rythms that had the crowd dancing and smiling ear to ear.

The pairing of these two great artists is especially fitting, given Toumani's groundbreaking collaboration with Vieux's father Ali before his death, as well as Toumani's contributions to Vieux's own album. Toumani even referred to Vieux as his own "son," who was continuing Mali's musical traditions and innovations into the next generation. Apparently, Ali Farka
Toure didn't even want his son Vieux to be a musician, and it was none other than Toumani Diabate who persuaded Ali otherwise. I'm sure thankful for that.

Goombay Funky Fever

By Marc Bruner

A while back we did a post on "Cult Cargo: Belize City Boil Up," an outstanding album of rare 70s-era funk, soul and reggae from Belize, a small country with remarkably diverse musical and cultural roots. Be sure to check out the second installment of Pan-American vibes from the excellent Numero Group label, "Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay," an equally satisfying set of funky '70s tunes from the Bahamas.

What is "goombay"? Numero Group has the answer: "Goombay is a drum. Goombay is an annual Bahamian street festival. Goombay is a flavor, literally, and not entirely distant from pina colada. And goombay is the genre of Bahamian music given its name by the drum that beats its rhythm.

But goombay is also a sort of shorthand for what native Bahamian musicians of the 1970s crafted: an island music instantly familiar and specifically Caribbean, yet unequivocally Bahamian."

The music is edifying and entertaining from start to finish, filled with vintage organ, heavy base lines and deep, deep soul. Kudos to Numero Group for pulling these invaluable remnants of Bahamian culture from the verge of extinction. The opening tune, "Gonna Build a Nation," a plea for civic participation in the wake of the country's newfound independence, was banned by the state controlled radio station for being too cynical. ("Building a nation on the sand, everybody gotta lend a hand. This won't be a whole lottta fun, but if we don't do it, it won't be done").

"Don't Touch That Thing" offers a different kind of lesson ("Don't touch that thing, your mama gonna know. How she gonna know? Your belly gonna show.") Songs like "Goombay Bump, "Tighter & Tighter," and "Funky Fever" are -- as their titles suggest -- just downright tight and funky. And don't miss the funky Bahamian version of the jazz classic "Take Five."

So, put on your flip-flops and start making those blender drinks - and give "Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Boombay" a spin or two on your CD player.

Stars of The Sahara

By Marc Bruner

Tinariwen has certainly been in the news lately.

In February 2007, they released their fantastic third allbum, Aman Iman (meaning "water is life"). Many have been aware for some time of Tinariwen's enchanting "desert blues" sound, but as All Music Guide points out, "they're a remarkable rock and roll band, too." Indeed, their interlocking guitars "create a glorious syncopated noise that puts most rockers to shame."

The music is downright exhilarating and has attracted loud praise from long-time rock heavyweights Carolos Santana and Robert Plant. Check out this video of Santana with the band at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Or how about this one with Robert Plant, playing "Whole Lotta Love."

The band was also featured on the cover of the March/April issue of Songlines, which asks: "Is Rock 'n' Roll Ready?" Who wouldn't be ready for the searing guitar work, the intense, hypnotic vocals and the potent, rythmic vibes?

And now Tinariwen have been chosen to open for the Rolling Stones in front of a 65,000 strong crowd at Slane Castle, Dublin, Ireland next August.

Certainly a far cry from their stunning first release, the Radio Tisdas Sessions, recorded in a small town in northern Mali on rationed electricity from a generator. Just another powerful example of the universal appeal, and growing popularity, of African music.

More:

Fly Global Music Culture article in Tinariwen.

Wikipedia entry on Tinariwen.

Toubab Krewe's Unique Blend

By Marc Bruner

Toubab Krewe's debut album, an invigorating and innovative mix of West African and down-home American music, certainly took me by surprise. Their live performance Saturday night in San Francisco was even more of an eye (and ear) opener. At times hard-driving and frenetic, at times silky and ethereal, the band is incredibly tight, extremely talented and loads of fun.

Members of the band, which hails from Asheville, North Carolina, studied music extensively in West Africa and the result is a thrilling blend of musical styles that uses traditional Malian instruments like the kora and kamelen n'goni in new and exciting ways.

NPR explains: "Toubab Krewe's sound combines traditional West African rhythms and instruments with classic Southern rock, hip-hop, reggae, country and Latin sounds for a unique listening experience." On stage, they infuse this rich musical mix with unparalleled energy and passion, for a live show that leaves you speechless, but keeps your feet moving throughout.

I heard it from a good source that Chopteeth recently opened for Toubab Krewe in Baltimore. I wish I could have seen that one. Definitely check out Toubab Krewe's debut album here.