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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A musical tribute to recent events, Cuban fruit songs.

First up is the foundational Cuban Son singer, Arsenio Rodriguez with his much covered song, "Frutas del Caney." It's the podcast.

Duo Los Compadres, one of whom, Francisco Repilado (Compay Segundo), you know from his later work in the Buena Vista Social Club; has a version which uses the more leisurely pace common in most remakes.

Trio Matamoros, above.

Celia Cruz has a wonderful song called "Frutas y Mi Son Cubano." It's one of the many Cuban songs with a patriotic theme.

A pregon is a street vendor's cry, musicalized. Enrique Byron with "El Frutero."

Lyrics/Letras below:

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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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Classic Cuban music didn't exist in a vacuum. Just like the pre and immediate post-war world loved Cuban music, Cubans loved foreign music. Brazilian, Mexican, and Argentine music was popular, but American music probably left the biggest impression: Frank Sinatra inspired Cuban imitators in a music Cubans called "Filin" or "el Feeling." Jazz was huge, of course. Some of the influences are subtle, and some are quite obvious. Here are some of the easy ones:

One "lady" who sure did get around was Minnie the Moocher. On her way to Sweden, she must have stopped by Havana to catch a show by Miguelito Valdes. Miguelito Valdes' Minnie turn is above. Cab Calloway is below.

King of Hi-De-Ho: 1934-1947

Celia Cruz has a song called "Rock and Roll." It's funny that they only considered Rock a "new rhythm," or one of many and apparently had no idea that it would become the dominant force in popular music.

Cuban Queen

One of the most popular songs from the immediate post-revolution Cuba is Los Zafiros. They mixed Cuban rhythms with American Rock and Roll, especially Doo Wop. This one's called "Puchunguita Ven." You can probably hear several American songs in there.

Bossa Cubana

According to this interesting book, Olga Guillot was one of the leading Cuban singers of the Filin movement. Here she sings "La Noche de Anoche." You can tell why the style became popular. Filin is a good match for the melodramatic Latin sensibility.

Los 15 Grandes Exitos

Wait! I happen to have all of the singers mentioned in the book. And, they're all on one superb collection that I purchased a few years ago. It's called 100 Canciones del Milenio and you can buy it below.

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I was listening to "Quimbombo" by Machito, remembering that a few other songs had "quim" in it, and realizing that I had no idea what it meant. I looked it up. According to the Reverso dictionary, "quim" means "coño," which, if you hear it and it's directed at you, means that you've pissed off some Cuban or Spanish dude (or a very unladylike Spanish or Cuban woman).

"Quimba" is "sandal," in parts of the Caribbean and "debt" in the Andes.

The definition that makes most sense in an Afro-Latin musical context, however, is as part of the name of an Afro-Brazilian religion called "Quimbanda".

OK. On to the music. The podcast is "Quimbara" by Celia Cruz. It's one of her best sixties, post-Sonora Matancera songs. It takes a while to get going, but really sizzles once the chorus pushes her into an improvisational, son style.

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