Rebel Radio
CD/CD-ROM by Up, Bustle and Out
Ninja Tune Records
The Rebel Radio Diaries
By Rupert Mould
La Prensa Rebelde
REVIEW BY NICK FREDMAN
"On February 1958, in the Sierra Maestra Mountains to the Northwest of Santiago de Cuba, Che installed his soft weapon against capitalism, Radio Rebelde. Broadcasting across Cuban air waves allowed Che to deliver his speeches and the principles of the Revolution direct to the people.
"Music was also broadcast on Radio Rebelde so as to make the point that this revolution was about 'Socialismo con pachanga — 'Socialism with rhythm'. Music is, and was then, a fundamental ingredient in the struggle as the Cuban nation has a musical soul" — Robert Mould.
Bristol's music scene, the source of some of the best electronic music of the last decade from the likes of Neneh Cherry, Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky, is not usually associated with radical politics.
Rupert Mould is not just a producer and musician within this scene, but also a Spanish language specialist, a passionate advocate of social justice and human rights and a talented writer. His talents and interests and those of his comrades in the Up, Bustle and Out collective have been combined in the multimedia Rebel Radio Cuban solidarity project.
In recent times, traditional Cuban music and culture has been heavily promoted. However, it has often been compromised by commercialism such as the disgusting hypocrisy of the Bacardi Rum company, which has been flying the Cuban flag while helping to organise the criminal US blockade against the island. Less nakedly money-grubbing, but still an incomplete reflection of contemporary Cuba, is the apolitical sentimentalism from the likes of Ry Cooder who produced the Buena Vista Social Club project.
It's very refreshing then for English musicians to record and release Cuban music that reflects traditional and contemporary styles, is proudly pro-revolutionary, and provides material support to the revolution by donating proceeds to Cuba's national radio network, Radio Rebelde.
The music tracks on Rebel Radio combine sessions recorded in Havana in 1998 with some of Cuba's leading musicians, such as flautist Richard Egues, playing traditional styles, such as son and descarga, cut with jazz and funk influences, as well as remixes, samples and extra tracks provided by Up, Bustle and Out.
The styles range from the traditional salsa to tracks which combine flamenco guitar and furious hip hop beats. Wafting in and out of the music are samples of Havana street life and Che Guevara rousing the workers and peasants of Cuba broadcast by the original Radio Rebelde, the revolutionary pirate radio transmitter in the Sierra Maestra.
The CD-ROM component has information about the project and film clips of several of the tracks featuring footage of the revolutionary struggle and contemporary life in Cuba. In live shows, Up, Bustle and Out show such footage as a means of enlightening people.
Accompanying the CD is the book The Rebel Radio Diaries, describing how the project came about, the recording sessions and Mould's subsequent travels around Cuba. The book provides a well-written, often poetic, travelogue with some interesting insights, rather than in-depth analysis.
Mould describes the injustice of the US blockade. He outlines the revolution's social gains but voices concerns about bureaucratism and restrictions of democratic rights. His outlook is that of a radical liberal and humanist. He is mainly concerned about Cuba's right to self determination, without seeing the Cuban Revolution as an intrinsic part of the global revolutionary process.
However, Mould stands on the right side of the barricades in the struggle to defend the Cuban Revolution, and Rebel Radio's unusual combination of radical politics with poetry, prose, film, traditional rhythms and modern beats works surprisingly well.