Entertainment For Lively Minds
Buena Vista Social Club
Posted by Excitable Boy on 28 September 2009 - 10:59am.
Very belatedly picked up a copy of the BVSC album whilst on holiday in France last month. Played it to death and really love it - especially the piano stuff. Now need your help as to what to move onto next - anything in a similar vein you would recommend ?
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Rubén González
was the piano player on the first album. Buy his solo album which came out soon after.
Seconded...
It's called Introducing Rubén González and it's superb.
I saw him play a show at Ronnie Scott's in the mid 1990s and it was an unforgettable experience. When he came to do a solo spot, the other musicians gathered around his piano and just listened with genuine pleasure.
both his albums are excellent
Chanchullo, the second one, is also very good
Afro Cuban All Stars
...the 1st CD came out around the same time as BVSC called "A Todo La Guesta" (I think...) its great, and at a gig around the same time, I was literally in the back row of the Festival Hall and dancing my little socks off..
Orchestra Baobab
Similar story of long forgotten greats reunited for another stab at glory.
Also often a surprisingly similar sound given Cuba's musical influence on Senegal - or is it the other way round?
Made in Dakar and Specialist in All Styles are the reunion albums. Pirates Choice and Bamba are the original 70s albums - much rawer and better to these ears.
They are all great it's true
and the (immediate) trans-atlantic influence in this case was from west to east (although of course the Cuban music originally had a rich vein of W African in it anyway). There's loads of amazing West African music that was directly inspired by Cuban Salsa/Rumba etc. Try also this year's brilliant Staff Benda Bilili album from DRC Congo.
Also check out
Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo. Just genius!
Deffo!
I was lucky enough to see the 'original' stars of the movie at the NEC a few years ago - best gig I've ever been to!
I was lucky enough
to hang out with most of the Beuna Vista musicians (Reuben Gonzalez had died by this time) in Havana for a week. I won't forget THAT in a hurry. Look at the credits on the album, google all their names and you'll find a rich vein of great records.
Also, from further down in the Caribbean in Belize, despite its worthy-sounding title, I can't recommend The Garifuna Women's Project enough:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001N3TAW2/ref=dm_sp_alb
One of my favourite records of the last couple of years. Really, sublime stuff.
Oh and
the BVSC live album is cracking too.
Old gods almost dead
In the summer of 2006 I saw a wonderful show at the Barbican - "Dirty Jim's Swizzle Club", a reunion of many of the original calypso stars from Trinidad: http://bit.ly/v0cmE
The resulting album can't properly capture the spontaneous, raucous and often bawdy atmosphere of that night (and isn't quite in the Buena Vista league) but it's still worth a listen:
http://open.spotify.com/album/1mqD49O77uh3UxUXq7v2Hy
Somewhere there's a documentary knocking about...
Another tour inspired by the Buena Vista stars was that by the gypsy musicans described in the documentary: "Gypsy Caravan: When The Road Bends": http://bit.ly/40r89
Buena Vista
The live album of The Buena Vista Social Club is amazing too; recorded from the concert at Carnegie Hall, it really captures the atmosphere of a magical night. Sadly it was the last time a lot of the old players were onstage together. The Buena Visa Social Club Film is brilliant too. I've watched it three times and never tire of it. I'd love to reach Cuba one day. Fabulous music, I can't live without it.
Cuba is a bittersweet experience
You really see the spirit of the people who this music comes from, it's a great lesson in the hybrid vigour that comes from racial and cultural commingling, and the romance of Havana - amazing 50s taxis and all - is wonderful, but you are also presented with the grim realities of sex tourism, totalitarianism and poverty wherever you look.
Ay Caramba!
Ska Cubano give "fusion" a good name and are well worth a listen. Great fun and perfect party-starters. This is their 2005 album "Ay Caramba!":
http://open.spotify.com/album/36Hxti1ccVqNe6WL3uhRGw