Out of Cuba
Latin American Music Takes Africa by Storm
(Topic Records TSCD927)

Another collection of oldies, this time with a unique approach. Call me a moldy fig, if you must, but this is a great album. It was compiled by Janet Topp Fargion of the British Library Sound Archive, and provides a wonderful spectrum of the range of His Master's Voice GV series from the early 1928 Trio Matamoros' son recordings to the sambas and guajiras of the 1950s. Much has been made about the influence of the GV series of 78s on African popular music and the African imagination. Countless albums mention the importance of Trio Matamoros' recording of "El Manisero" (GV3); I even did a two-hour radio special tracing the influence of this song on African pop music. HMV released a couple of hundred GV records with the distinctive magenta labels. The initials stood for Gramophone and Victor which were the two catalogues mined by HMV for these releases. The series started in 1933 at the height of the depression and HMV was inspired by the runaway success of Moises Simon's "El Manicero" to start promoting Latin music in other markets. The reason the 78 was so successful in Africa was that the playing apparatus would stand alone and didn't require electricity. Plus the shellac discs could hold up in the heat and humidity. You can hear how Rico's "Lamento Esclavo" would strike a chord with its lyrics about Congo libre. Written in 1932 by Eliseo Grenet, it says, "Black I am, and black is my luck. Poor me! I am Lucumi, a slave. I can't live in captivity but let's dance, Panch my black beauty, for one day the Congos will be free." Rico's Creole Band also turns in a song in French Creole, "Mon aime, doudou moin," complete with sprightly clarinet, which sounds Martiniquan.

I learn from CUBANS IN PARIS 1930-38 that flute-, sax- and clarinet-player Rico took over a band from a Martiniquan drummer at La Coupole. The band had Cuban and Antillean members and was occasionally joined by Moises Simon for recording, as well as a Brasilian, Linda da Costa. From the Congo to the conga, we get a romping rendition of "Alegra Conga" from Hermanos Castro with Eddy Urquia on vocals. Machin turns in another Moises Simon song, "Cachumbambé" which demonstrates the talent of this composer in a love song. The CD gets stronger as it goes on. Puerto Rico's Canario turns in a great bolero-son "Alla va," recorded in New York in 1933. This is followed by a plena rife with double entendre called "Menealo que se empelota (Stir it up or she'll get annoyed)," probably also the work of Canario and songwriter Rafael Hernandez, using the pseudonym Orquesta Victor Antillana. Xavier Cugat takes a hymn to Chango and turns it into a Looney Tunes soundtrack. You can almost see the cartoon cannibals dancing around the cauldron of boiling missionaries during his silly nonsensical "rap." By 1952 the GV series included the new expanded sound of the 8-piece conjunto. As demonstration we get the best of the best: Arsenio Rodriguez doing "Dundumbanza." The recording is not great but Lili Martinez's piano solo is breathtaking, and Chocolate Armenteros goes off on trumpet throughout. (Interestingly, the British Library says this was recorded in New York on 9 September 1952, but according to the Tumbao CD [DUNDUNBANZA 1946-51 TCD-043], it was recorded in Cuba on 12 January 1949. I think Tumbao is right: I don't believe the band went with him to New York.) This is a tough act to follow. Trio Yara is new to me and they provide a smoking conga callejera or street conga: "Babae" with the unforgettable chorus, "Zum, zum, zum baba-eh." To show the variety of stuff that Cuban bands would play on the dancefloor we return to Rico and his Creoles for a samba and, to close, a genuine Brasilian, Luis Gonzaga, ties the ribbon into a bow with a love song played on accordion. - Alastair Johnston