Cubanocast

To follow up on the coffee songs from this post, I will now search my vast Cuban music collection: Round and round...voila!

Our Boricua neighbors' most famous band is the wonderful El Gran Combo. Since Puerto Rico's founding in 1493, they've been putting out world-class Caribbean music. Their Salsa is exceptionally level-headed, with neither the vulgarity that mars today's Reggaeton nor the exaggerated sentimentality of most modern Salsa.

The message in "Azuquita Pa'l Cafe" is one I endorse: God created women to lighten men's coffee. God's gift, indeed. And, such a variety! All bring something to the table (figure of speech, ladies).

It's the podcast.

30 Aniversario Bailando Con El Mundo

Follow up:

"Azuquita, with choreography. This is probably a quincenera. They're a lot of fun. Being a high school teacher in the #1 quincenera region of the world, I go to a few a year.

Lucho Gatica's one of the two dozen or so artists whose albums made it into my parent's humble household. His breathy, hyper-romantic singing anticipated the style that dominates Spanish pop today.

30 Exitos Insuperables Lucho Gatica by Lucho Gatica

The best revenge is living well. The protagonist in Columbian group Ritmo Caliente's "Mi Cafetal" lords his vast coffee holding over his ex. That'll show her.

La Rumba Del Siglo 20 - 04, volume 7

What a blessing youtube is! Here's band Son de Cuba playing their hearts out, for the thousandth time maybe, earning pennies probably, at some small gig in Cuba. Dude films them, uploads. I search on Youtube, watch. A wonderful performance immortalized, appreciated.

The singer doesn't care about what people say: He (she doesn't feminize the masculine lead) doesn't have a bunch of stuff, but he has his cafetal.

"El Cafetal" is a relic of pre-revolutionary Cuba. Contemporary Cubans can't own cafetals or anything else, as land and objects are shared by the proletariat. I wonder what the audience is thinking as they hear this? Could it be a sort of protest song of sorts?

Gossip is a common theme in Cuban music- must be a big problem there.

Speaking of economic fantasy, Dominican Juan Luis Guerra wants it to rain cafe. Mr. Guerra should be careful what he wishes for: A shower of coffee would be an ecological disaster. I think. If anybody can confirm that, I'd appreciate it.

Grandes Exitos de Juan Luis Guerra Y 4.40

I'm not sure who this is. Its from a load of music I acquired from an Army buddy while I was in Iraq. Dude, tag your stuff! Music detective: The accordion suggests Colombian Vallenato.

Cuba con Voz de Mujer is one of my favorite recent acquisitions. Rita Montaner sings "Ay Mama Ines." "All black people drink coffee"- a rather sweeping generalization on her part.

Cuba Con Voz De Mujer

Another ancient version by one of the first recorded Cuban groups, Sexteto Habanero.

Las Raices del Son 1925-1931

A more accessible performance by Bebo Valdez.

Mama Ines

The guy in "La Negra Tomasa" is bewitched by a negra's coffee. Must be delicious.

Pinareno: From the Tobacco Road of Cuba

The one below is on a very expensive CD set called, Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans. There's a few good songs like the "Negra Tomasa" below, but overall, the collection underwhelmed me.

Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans

Rolando Laserie was a fun Cuban singer, popularizing the phrase "De Pelicula," but he sometimes didn't make sense. He wants his sugar on the bottom. OK. Whatever. Why then would he want the preparer to stir the coffee? Wouldn't that evenly distribute the coffee around the cup and thus defeat the original intent? "Tiene el Azucar Abajo":

Grandes Exitos by Rolando Laserie

Let's close with some light classical from perhaps the greatest Cuban composer, Ernesto Lecuona. A zarzuela is a partly spoken, partly sung play from Spain, similar to German singspiel. Most Cuban zarzuelas sing of black Cubans' hardships...to rich white patrons. Here are some that take place in, on, or around a cafetal.

From La Cafetal, called "Lamento Africano," played by Thomas Tirino:

The next two are from Maria la O.

Lovely, no?

A chancletera is a common woman. My dad suggests that chancleteras may also be of dubious virtue.

Lecuona: Complete Piano Music (The), Vol. 5 by Thomas Y. Tirino

Café Bustelo Supreme Café Espresso, 10-Ounce Cans (Pack of 4)

Cuban Espresso / Cafe Pilon 1lbs bag

Bialetti Moka Express 3-Cup Stovetop Percolator