El Rincon Latino

chango spasiuk
Chango Spasiuk, a virtuoso Argentinian accordion player of Ukrainian lineage is credited with extending the tradition of "chamame", the ebullient dance music of the northern province of Misiones, la tierra colorada (the red land) sandwiched between Brazil and Paraguay. Chamame reflects the influences of its place, the Polish and Ukrainian immigrants who settled there in the 19th century, Spanish and Indian sounds and Afro-Brazilian elements. Chango takes all these traditional strands and expands them with a world view that encompasses a consciousness of classical and jazz music but without straying too far from the soulful richness of the original style. His brilliant release, "Tarefero de mis Pagos" has just won the BBC World Music Album of the Year.

El Rincon Latino Intro

Many music lovers have been thumbing their nose at the cultural censorship imposed on them by the US to buy what was initially a small stream of Cuban music records. Now that stream is a raging torrent. Cuban music has swiftly reasserted itself as head of the tropical music pack in any good record store you care to enter, flooding the desert that reigned throughout the 90's.

This is hardly surprising as the international salsa style is really an independent development based almost entirely on the son cubano by Puerto Rican and Cuban musicians resident in the US after the 1962 embargo blocked the flow of musical ideas between the two countries. From then until now that isolation has been largely one-sided as Cuban music continued to develop creative styles that further fused jazz, rock, reggae, funk, blues, other Latin musics and the vast panoply of its own unique African heritage.

No artificial grafting though, because all these elements were firmly in place even before the revolution. Recalling an interview which I conducted for the magazine way back, I was informed by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, founder of the Afro-Cuban All-Stars and prime-mover behind the Buena Vista concept that Cuba possesses over 60 distinct styles of popular music…..on an island with half the population of Australia…gimme a break! He was humble enough to add that in 1950 there were only 30. Richard Jasiutowicz - Music Editor

NEW RELEASES
Search our entire LATIN CATALOGUE. More LATINO reviews 1 2 3 4 5 6

	Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez - Descarga Oriental (Piranha) Rai pioneer and grandmaster of the PianOriental, Maurice El Medioni from Oran, Algeria. Latin super-drummer Roberto Rodriguez from Havana, Cuba, has played with everyone from Miami Sound Machine to Lester Bowie and “Cachao”, via Joe Jackson and John Zorn. On the invitation of Piranha Musik they met in New York for a recording session, dreaming of roots that never were. An instant classic, outstanding and full of surprises.


	chango spasiuk - tarefero de mis pagos (Piranha) Chango is a master musician of the absolute first rank and if a comparison could be made it could be to the Nuevo Tango genius Astor Piazzolla. This release has just won the BBC World Music Album of the Year...


	Afro-Cuban allstars & juan de marcos - step forward (World Circuit) It’s amazing to think that this is really only the third record released under the aegis of The Afro-Cuban All-Stars. Of course prime mover, producer-arranger-trecero Juan de Marcos Gonzalez is a man of many hats. The first ACA release in 1997, the masterpiece “A Toda Cuba Le Gusta” preceded a plethora of World Circuit releases spiralling out from the phenomenal success of the Buena Vista Social Club...


	Ricardo lemvo - ay valeria! This is Ricardo’s 4th release. There is a lot of hype disseminated about this or that latin star that makes inroads in the commercial charts, fusing reggae or commercial pop/rock or whatever to produce something that is hailed as the next short-lived, profitable craze. Then there is Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca. On the basis of this release and his previous ones I would rank the singer/composer as one of a select few non-Cubans who understands how the son cubano really works on an emotional and rhythmic level.


	Hecho en cuba - various (MRA) Central Station are a DJ/dance specialist store and label in Sydney Australia, so it comes as a surprise to see them releasing a compilation of classic Cuban dance music. Especially one as superb as this. There is a good transcription of lyrics on the sleeve but no liner notes either here or on the web. It’s a pity because they could really boost the sales with a bit of information, instead of leaving it to the reviewer to try and fill in the gaps. The 13 selections could date anywhere from the 60’s to the 80’s and have probably been lifted from the Egrem catalogue.


	Latina Cafe 4 - various The latino compilations just keep on getting groovier and groovier. This one, divided into el restaurante and el club with plenty of swinging swapping between the two sits on the cusp of funky, cool Brazilian, updated boogaloo, Cuban rumba and cha cha cha, soul, mambo, jazz and remixed sounds with a couple of classics like Tito’s Hit The Bongo thrown in for good measure.


	Luis Frank - Soneros de Verdad Luis is a sweet voiced singer completely at home in any style of Cuban music who brings his distinctive style to over half the numbers here. My favourites are possibly La Sitiera, a superbly sung bolero which accelerates into a cha cha cha son and the introspective Longina, a lovely vocal duet between Luis and Juan de Marcos that features sensitive tres playing from the latter.


	rough guide to astor piazolla (World Music Network) There is no other musical genre so completely dominated by one individual. Singer Carlos Gardel dominated Argentinian tango in the 20’s and 30’s and for many continues to embody it today. But reality is a different kettle of fish. I’m referring to bandoneonist and composer Astor Piazzolla.


	rey crespo y su conga loca Since the Cuban explosion of the late 90’s there is a tendency snap up everything that comes from the island assuming that everything that is Cuban is bound to be great. This mid-priced set from composer/ arranger/bassist Rey Cresco was recorded at Egrem studios in 1986 with his local dance band that consisted of 3 piece brass section, three percussionists, male and female vocalists, pianist and Rey himself…the year before he emigrated to England.


	guaco - equilibrio Guaco are an intergenerational group and have been around for more than 30 years. They started out as a folkloric group performing on the streets of Maracaibo. Since then the band has evolved into the one of the greatest tropical orchestras of all time.

Search our
catalogues