Cubanocast

Sometimes I play music for the kids at school. Picking songs whose titles are the same as the names of my students usually gets a chuckle.

Well, there's a girl named "Lolita" in my class. I fired up the Media Center today and searched for "Lola." Here's what I found:

Whatever Lola Wants from Damn Yankees. The title is a killer hook in the song. It lulls in between. I like this better than the more laid back Sarah Vaughn version.

Damn Yankees (1955 Original Broadway Cast)

Damn Yankees

**Information interlude**

"Lola" is short for "Dolores," which is one of the appellations given to the Blessed Mother, "dolores" being Latin for "pain"; it's translated into English as "sorrows," as in "Our Lady of Sorrows."

Detail of altar dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows in Santa Maria dei Servi, Siena, Italy.

The fact that the name Lolita has come to mean an unchaste young lady is ironic, then. Yet, understandable. Lolita is a popular name amongst Latin ladies and Americans began to associate their southern neighbors with lustiness early after first contact.

OK. Back to music.

Arabs mention Mary in the Koran, although not as the Mother of God. This is from an Egyptian movie called Whatever Lola Wants:

Caramel

Aldemaro Romero has a nice mambo version It's the podcast.

Almendra by Aldemaro Romero
The album has my favorite cover of all time. I used it when I made CDs for my friends.

The great Antonio Machin:

1935 Cuarteto & Septeto by D. J Machin

Antonio's songs have a genuine depth about them. Above, Machin loves his friend, but he takes the love of his life Lola, I think. Ambiguous, in an interesting way.

Carlos Argentino with the Sonora Matancera, again, sings Ave Maria Lola.

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One of the difficulties about posting music also happens to be one of its more satisfying aspects: As soon as I intend to enrich the internet culture one song at a time, I start finding connections to historical events; ideas; and other songs, stylistically or thematically.

So it was with "Choucone" by Celia Cruz. With its excellent singing and gentle, rangy melody, I've always loved this song ("always" meaning "Choucoune" was on one of the first Cuban cds I bought). I knew the language was French and thought that it was probably a collaboration with a French singer when Cuban music was popular in Europe, during the fifties and before. I never investigated.

By and by, it pops up on random play a couple of days ago before I go to sleep and decide to post it in the morning.

"It'd take a few minutes," I thought.

I wake up and sit down in front of my laptop.

"Ahh, what the heck, let me look it up."

Wikipedia powers activate.

It turns out that "Choucone" is a composition by Michel Mauleart Monton based on a Haitian poem by Oswald Durand's (below).

Celia Cruz' is the only version I have with the original lyrics, in French, based on the poem. It's the podcast.

Azucar!

"Choucoune" is the first Haitian-flavored song with which I've been acquainted. Of the Caribbean countries, Haiti seems to have had the least musical impact: Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and even some of the tiny islands all have internationally recognizable music. Haiti doesn't. I tend to think that this is due to Haiti's isolation from European influence which has added melody and modern instrumentation to African rhythms.

Other versions include the Hawaiian-flavored "Yellow Bird" by Arthur Lyman, The Mills Brothers, and Chris Isaak, most recently; and Harry Belafonte's "Don't Ever Love Me."

The Very Best of Arthur Lyman

"Harry Belafonte - All Time Greatest Hits, Vol. 1"

Baja Sessions

The Mills Brothers: The Anthology (1931-1968)

"Choucone's" theme is a common one in Caribbean music: an undistinguished yet dignified woman and her everyday sorrows and triumphs, the significance of which rarely reach beyond a mile radius of her home, but repeated thousands or millions of times by thousands and millions of women has significant anthropological value: the mundane as social commentary.

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

A Colombian example is "La Zenaida" by Armando Hernandez. It's an odd video in that it celebrates the black Colombian yet features obviously non-black dancers, saying, in essence, that black women make a more poignant subject, but white women are the ones we want to see dance.

La Zenaida

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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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Mercedes Sosa died a couple of weeks ago. I'm OK-knowledgeable with Latin-American music and had heard of her before I read about her death, but wasn't familiar with her music. Neither was my Mexican wife.

(For an analogy, I'm sure many of you know that Tom Waits and Frank Zappa are musicians, but can't name one of their tunes. Mercedes has something in common with them, as you'll see.)

I fired up Rhapsody (great service) and played some Sosa. Her music is similar to that of the Nueva Trova trend in Cuban music in that it lacks those essential elements that make music popular such as easily recognizable "hooks." The music is minimalist, similar from song, and "atmospheric," meaning that it's similar from song to song and somewhat nondescript. And it needn't be "descript," as it's designed to serve as background politically-tinged, high-concept lyrics which I think is this music's main attraction. Sometimes the lyrics aren't obviously political, but cryptic, which appeals to the same crowd.

Better to hear for yourself from what I learned was her most famous song, "Gracias a la Vida" (above).

Now, whatever you think of the song, there's no denying that Sra. Sosa is a talented singer. In fact, when that voice encounters good material, the effect can be quite spectacular.

Mercedes recorded Ariel Ramirez' post-conciliar masterwork "Misa Criolla." She does a very fine job.

(You can listen to Jose Carreras sing it here.)

Kyrie:

Gloria:

Credo:

Sanctus:

Agnus Dei:

The Sotomayor special continues. Part one is here.

It's amazing how many famous Puerto Rican musicians collaborated with Rafael Hernandez: Myrta Silva, Daniel Santos, Pedro Florez, and Bobby Capo, amongst others.

Bobby Capo was one of the best Puerto Rican singers and song writers of the golden era of Caribbean music (excellent article here), the forties through the early sixties. He wrote and performed his own songs:

"Juguete," which Capo called his favorite, according to the article. It's the podcast.

"El Bardo" is about his marriage to Miss Puerto Rico 1948, Irma Nydia Vázquez, which her father protested for the common reasons that fathers protest marriages.

Perhaps Papa Vasquez had a point. Capo stayed married for 25 years, but strayed from the marriage many times. Latino double standard:

"Como Duele una Traicion"

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In honor of the first Puerto Rican nominee to the Supreme Court,** I thought I'd spend the next few days talking about Puerto Rican music.

You can get the basics at Wikipedia here. Many Puerto Rican music forms are similar to those of its neighbor, Cuba, which isn't surprising considering their similar histories and demographics, but many, like Bomba and Plena are unique to Puerto Rico.

The greatest figure in Puerto Rican music is Rafael Hernandez. He performed his own music early in his career, but he's mostly known now for having composed some of the greatest Latin American music of all time, his universal appeal proven by the selection below: singers from Brazil, United States, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, and, of course, Puerto Rico.

"Preciosa" is a beautiful ode to his home island. I like this light-jazzy version by Puerto Rican band Impacto Crea.

Cobarde

Marc Anthony does a fine version. I saw him perform years ago at Universal studios with Celia Cruz and Oscar D'Leon. Nice show.

Desde un Principio: From the Beginning

"Ahora Seremos Feliz" by unknown mustachioed dude:

My favorite Hernandez song is "El Cumbanchero." Judging only by the amount of times it's been remade, it's one of the most popular Puerto Rican songs of all time. Listening to it, one can understand how successive generations can fall in love with its insistent beat and sharp melody. The video below explains that when Rafael Hernandez met President John Kennedy, that Kennedy addressed him as Mr. Cumbanchero.

Celia Cruz does a lovely version:

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Zoe Saldana, very pretty, likable actress.

As I was reading up on Star Trek's super-sexy Zoe Saldana, I noticed that she's parts Dominican and Puerto Rican and that she's in a Merengue video with Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra.

I'll discuss Juan Luis Guerra more later, as he's an interesting guy and I like a number of his songs. Today, we'll play, "La Llave De Mi Corazon," the song in which Lt. Nyota Uhura...I mean Zoe Saldana, dances.

It's OK. It sounds more Mambo than Merengue, which fits better with the retro theme.

Grandes Exitos de Juan Luis Guerra Y 4.40 by Rudy Mangual

La Llave De Mi Corazon