Essential Latin Flavours

Charanga 76 opens with a fairly effective latin-soul sound anchored by static, processed conga rhythms, Don Dinero fuses hip-hop naturally with Cuban-sounding chorus and charanga violins. Los Bellagios are another group that succeeds in making their hip-hop swing, while Sargent Garcia sticks to the high road with a convincing latino-reggae mix “Rompe La Cadena”. The entries by Locos Por Juana and the Perez Prado on amphetamines of Senor Coconut and His Orchestra are too hyperactive for their own good. So is Cornman’s “Kinky” and 3 Canal turns what should be an ideal rap vehicle Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va” into an unvariegated high-speed duel. It sounds as if most of these groups could turn out an acceptable groove if they weren’t so intent on parading their influences willy-nilly in short sharp bursts. The UK band Quantum Soul Orchestra’s transformation of Perez Prado’s “Babaratiri” into a funk-it-up rave with wah-wah guitar would have been great if the producers had let the band stretch out a bit. -Lovely village Mr Brock. -What village? -The one we just passed. If prizes for quirkiness were on offer Essential Latin Flavas would be in the running. Tropipunksters Los De Abajo perform a traditional Mexican bolero, which is great. But it doesn’t fit in…especially when you consider that the band does so much that would.

Flamenco is also given the treatment with Spain’s Ojos De Brujo keeping the minor key intensity of the acoustic guitar intact, while Germany’s Truby Trio invite cajon and vocals from Spain for a flamenco-pop-funk rave up. Another German group Gotan Project fuse contemporary beats and electronics with tango and Argentinean musicians on their “Santa Maria”, an unholy combination that works brilliantly. Calexico follow the journey deeper into clubland while fusing tex-mex with surf music. Japanese outfit United Future Organisation’s transmogrify their “Suite Espagnole” into mutant salsa with drums and bass and finally we have DJ Marky & XRS, all the way from Brazil in a disembodied conversation with samba-funk legend Jorge Ben. I know that the collection didn’t deserve a group by group analysis…But what the hell? I was busting to take my new Japanese sonic-boom-busting rocket-car for a burn through Europe and Latin America. International Latin music was never restricted to Spanish speaking countries or Spanish speakers for that matter. If we discount the bland Americanised guff that made Latin influenced music one of the most economically (though definitely not creatively) viable influences on American pop music before the Cuban revolution, the influence of Cuban, Latin and Brazilian made a big splash among listeners, dancers and jazz musicians in the thirties especially in Europe, although it wasn’t until Dizzy Gillespie fused be-bop with Cuban rhythms and harmonies and the remarkable playing of Cuban conguero Chano Pozo, that the creative dam overflowed.

The greatest New Orleans piano player ever Jelly Roll Morton has often been quoted as saying that jazz had to have “that Spanish tinge” in order for it to swing. He wasn’t referring to Spain incidentally. In addition, countries with their own rhythmic traditions, especially Balkans southward, eagerly jumped on the bandwagon. And let’s not forget the Africans themselves who immediately recognised in the rhythms, the call and response and improvisations a more elemental dance-oriented bond than post-war jazz. The Afro-latino spirit has also been strong throughout the non-Spanish speaking islands of the Caribbean for centuries, playing musical chairs with their own African derived traditions.