Cubanocast

A familiar sight

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.

Rocking that hair clip, one of the girls El Gran Combo might have come across on the beaches of Puerto Rico.

30 Aniversario Bailando Con El Mundo

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Of my departed acquaintances, only a few consistently tug on my consciousness. My sister-in-law, Leticia Orozco is one of those beings. God blessed her with a gentle and loving heart and through that same heart, blessed everybody who knew her. God keep her.

As part of my general annoyingness, I choose "theme songs" for people I know. I have ones for my wife and kids and make the same jokes, on occasion, to my students. Without going into detail, there was a time when Dile que por mi no tema by Celia Cruz was an appropriate selection for Letty. Inspired by George Herbert's maxim, "Living well is the best revenge," it's about a woman's determination to continue after being dumped by her man; think of it as the Cuban version of I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

This is one for the ladies to play along with some wine and cheese (or coffee and chocolate bon bons) during a post-crisis recovery session with your girlfriends.

Golden Years

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Thanks to colleague and friend, Mr. Radomski for alerting me to the passing of Cuban music great, trombonist Generoso Jimenez on Saturday, September 15 (R.I.P.). Generoso is one of the few musicians mentioned within a song ("Chocolate" Armentero comes to mind). I've hastily compiled some of his work in this post. Enjoy:

Generoso at the Grammy awards

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The Peanut Vendor, Antonio Machin

A pregon is the call a vendor makes when selling his wares and form the basis of the lyrics in the songs below. The pregon in Cuban music is a vast and wonderful sub-genre that's an appropriate subject to explore on Labor Day.

Wiki on pregon

Also suitable for today is partying. Don't worry, you don't have to R.S.V.P. Cubanocast isn't very formal. You already know the address. Just click to enter.

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I saw The Mask with my kids recently. It's not as great as I remember it, but it's still a lot of fun. The coincidentally Cuban Cameron Diaz is stunning in this film- gorgeous in a way she hasn't appeared since- and it's nice to remember Jim Carrey before he became a serious actor.

The Cubanocast relevant scene here is Carrey's performance of Cuban Pete. Cuban Pete hearkens back to a time when Americans visited Cuba in great numbers and the two nations maintained an excellent cultural, economic, and sometimes genetic exchange. During the Cuban Pete era, Latinos, only about one or two percent of the American population at the time, were still considered somewhat exotic in America, and the justified (so I've been told) stereotype of Latin men as romantic and good lovers in general fired the fantasies of Americanas throughout our great nation.

Let's begin with the Sonora Matancera's instrumental version. Not spectacular, but remember that the Sonora Matancera wasn't necessarily a virtuoso band; like Motown in the United States, it specialized in perfect crossover pop.

Listen to Sonora Matancera.

EN MEXICO

The great Louis Armstrong provides another version of Cuban Pete. It benefits from an injection of Armstrong's virtuoso, inspiring trumpet solo and froggy baritone.

Listen to Armstrong

OK, now for the not great, but still wonderful Desi Arnaz, my sentimental favorite. He teams up with two ladies here, one of whom is Lucy and the other being Amanda Lane. This is the version upon which the Mask performance must have been based as the two sound almost exactly alike. Lane provides one of those great pre-rock female pop voices.

Listen to Desi and Lane

The one with Lucy is from the television show.

Babalu

Next we come up to Tito Puente in a mellow mood. Perhaps the song presents Cuban Pete during a lazy morning after a tiring night of chasing women. I read the excellent book and saw the disappointing movie Mambo Kings. The movie featured a heavily accented and unknown Antonio Banderas.


Listen to Tito's version.

The Mambo Kings

The Mambo Kings: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

OK, finally Jim Carrey. He's a little obnoxious here with his comedically-flat voice inflections, but what else would one expect?

The video from the Mask is dubbed in French as a gift to my thousands of Canadian fans. The ending of the video gives us a taste of tomorrow's featured song, Cachita.

The Mask: Music From The Motion Picture

The Mask (New Line Platinum Series)

And, Asymmetric never passes up an excuse to admire the opposite (in my case) sex.

Called double entendre in France, doble sentido in Latin America, and hey, that's dirty in Arkansas, double meaning in today's music is the married people in twin beds of musical convention, a throwback to a time when people swaddled overt sexual speech in analogies and metaphors (art is best when pushing against a restraint, but that's another post). Today, unsubtlety is the favored approach of artists and radio stations stream their bawdiness across America as if they felt the radio towers needed an electronic enema. Rap and Reggaeton are the worst. Reggaeton is a good beat rendered unlistenable by the most relentlessly stupid lyrics since Australopithecus Rickys found an evolutionary advantage to crooning their Lucys.** Some rap isn't dumb and some rap isn't dirty, but few manage to avoid both foolishness and vulgarity.

Ranging from almost-sophisticated to modern crude, I've assembled some examples of doble sentido for your listening enjoyment:

The first one isn't about sex, but politics. Se Te Cayo el Tabaco is a phrase applied to somebody who's just been found out-the jig is up, in Cuban. It's an attack on unenlightened Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Listen to Se te Cayo el Tabaco

Se Te Cayo El Tabaco

Now that we're gotten that out of the way, let's proceed to the sexual ones: Here we have the great Miguelito Valdez with La Cachimba de San Juan. A cachimba is a pipe for smoking. San Juan's perfumed cachimba has the "mysterious" power to inspire women to "smoke" it. I love the lazy trumpet and Valdez manages to restrain himself enough to put forth a strait performance void of his sometimes exaggerated vocal flourishes.

Listen to Cachimba.

Cuban Sextetos & Conjuntos

Next we have Anselmo Sacasas wishing to chupar or "suck" on his girl's mouth. He thinks she should learn to chupar as well. That in and of itself doesn't make it doble sentido, but the way he carries on makes the listener believe he desires more than a simple kiss.

Musically, its a gem- beautiful piano and world beating jauntiness.

Listen to Chupa Chupa.

1942-1944

Casino de la Playa's Cascarita doesn't quite mean that unhealthy delicacy, chorizo.

Listen to Quiero un Sombrero.

Memories of Cuba, 1937-1944

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Happy Father's Day

I thought I'd pay a Cuban music tribute to fathers. Not as numerous as tributes to mothers (such is a father's lot in life), Cuban songs dedicated to fathers exist.

This first one is only one that can be considered a proper tribute to fatherhood. It's Beny More singing to his father. Beny's father deserves some kind of recognition for fathering Beny and Beny's 17 siblings. You have to buy the Beny box if you want to own it.

Grabaciones Completas 1953-1960

Listen

The next two songs have "papa" in them, but they don't refer to any Earthly father, but a "Papa Boco" some kind of Santeria god that I couldn't find reference to at the time of writing. One is by some guy I don't know, but is on the same album as Celia Cruz. The other is by the great guajiro duo Celina y Reutilio. You must own both albums.

Listen to Celina

Listen to "Celia"

Cantos de Cuba

La Irresistible: 15 Top Hits 1946-1950

Introducing, for the first time of Cubanocast, El Gran Combo. Excuse the oversight. They're a great Puerto Rican band. Me lo Conto' tu Papa has somebody's father telling somebody something he shouldn't have-oh you'll figure it out. I'll add more Gran Combo another day. I promise.

Listen Me lo Conto' Tu Papa

30 Aniversario

Here we have two ancient songs. One by Maria Teresa Vera and the other by Conjunto Tipico. A Cuban teacher colleague of mine said that when he was sick, Teresa Vera went to visit a group of patients in the hospital, including him, of course. Her acoustic style and wonderfully simple musicianship and solid songwriting deserve a listen despite the pre-historic sound.

Listen to Maria Vera

Listen ot Conjunto Tipico Habanera

Legendario Duo de la Trov

Cuban Counterpoint: History of the Son Montuno

That's it. Love your fathers!