Buena Vista Social Club
Featuring Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Eliades Ochoa, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Ry Cooder
Introducing Rubén González
Rubén González
A Todo Cuba le Gusta
Afro-Cuban All Stars
World Circuit through Festival
Reviewed by Norm Dixon
"I've looked for this kind of musical honesty all my life — music that is untouched by greed or by commerce. I've never found it anywhere but in Cuba ... You go down there and you feel, 'Hey, it's still here, and I can be part of it'", enthuses roots music guru Ry Cooder about his 1996 trip to Cuba, which resulted in these three brilliant albums.
Ry Cooder is well known for his talent for exploring, preserving, repackaging and making popular roots music of the US — blues, gospel, "Tex-Mex", country and Hawaiian.
More recently he has experimented with blending different roots styles, such as the blues and Malian music on his famous Talking Timbuktu album with guitarist Ali Farke Touré, or his collaboration with Indian raga guitarist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Cooder approaches such explorations and experiments with great respect. They are genuine collaborations, not slick gimmickry.
While it is sad that it takes the involvement of a Ry Cooder (or, much more disturbingly, a Paul Simon or David Byrne) before big record companies seriously market great music of other cultures, Cooder's approach ensures that the music shines in its own terms. His endorsement means swags of these records will sell, introducing many to music that has been denied them by the 38-year US economic blockade of Cuba.
Despite the prominence of Cooder's name in the hype surrounding these records, it is the remarkable Cuban musicians who are the stars. Sure, Cooder supplies some of his trademark slide guitar and blues licks as he jams along, but this show belongs to this bunch of veteran musicians, who have individually and collectively invented and shaped much of Afro-Cuban music over the past 40 years.
Cooder's original idea was to do a sort of big band version of Talking Timbuktu by bringing some of west Africa's best musicians and letting them loose in a studio with Cuba's legends. When this fell through at the last moment, the Cubans and Cooder said "Let's do it anyway".
Holed up beneath the high ceilings of the recording studios of Egrem, the state-owned record company, a "super-band" of legends and contemporary stars produced three kicking, spontaneous albums. No overdubs, no studio tricks, no digital retouching, no interfering pop producers — just pure, unadulterated talent, joy, fun and enthusiasm.
Buena Vista Social Club and A Todo Cuba le Gusta both highlight the talents of 89-year-young guitarist-singer Compay Segundo, the startlingly energetic 77-year-old pianist Rubén González, 70-year-old crooner Ibrahim Ferrer, and Omara "Piaf of Cuba" Portuondo.
Ferrer joined the project by chance when somebody spotted him wandering down the street and shouted out, "There's Ibrahim, let's ask him to sing, he's pretty good".
Cooder likens coming to Cuba and finding Segundo and Ferrer still playing like wandering into a quiet bar in New Orleans and finding Louis Armstrong still performing. "[Segundo's] legendary and famous in Cuba and Europe. I've got his stuff on tape. I didn't know if he was alive or dead. The only reason I knew his name was that, on a lot of old records, they would shout out who's playing."
The social club analogy is apt. The sessions have that relaxed feel of a gang of musos and their friends hanging out, Cuba libres never far away, having an great time. The mood is infectious. Together with younger performers from the island's top bands like Sierra Maestra and Ikakere, they perform new versions of the best known tunes from Cuban music's "golden era" of the 1940s and '50s.
But this music is not some quaint museum relic. They are seriously rump-shake-inducing classics infused with jumping percussion and a stingingly funky horn section.
A Todo Cuba le Gusta lets the vocalists take centre stage. Six singers share the credits over the 10 tracks, including 80-year-old belter Pio Levya. On "Alto Songo", five of them sing up a storm together.
On all three albums, it is the amazing septuagenarian Rubén González who almost steals the show. So much so, that he was given the chance to record his first solo album.
Described as a cross between Thelonius Monk and Felix the Cat, González's playing oozes character. His solo album is a mixture of traditional Cuban cha-cha, son and mambo and explosive improvisation, with heaps of humour. As a Rootsworld e-zine review commented, González's piano playing "is so rootsy it crawls".
The wonderfully illustrated and informative liner notes are virtual textbooks on Cuban music and its history.
Apart from great music, these albums give an insight into the spirit and determination of a people who must survive the blockade imposed by their giant northern neighbour in retaliation for choosing an economic and political system that puts people before profit. Says Cooder: "These are artists who are proud of their accomplishments, but they're not measured in terms of dollars and cents and cars and clothes and things".
The release of these albums and their popularity are a blow to the US blockade. Says Cooder: "People will be enriched when they hear this music. If you can open them up a little, maybe they'll be a little less reflexive and less brainwashed. Maybe they'll get to the point where they'll say: 'How can I hate and fear these Cubans we've been taught to hate and fear?'. Because it isn't possible after you hear this music."