The Second Case of the Cuban Cache

We are back in the Latin groove this week, listeners, with another chance to hear some of my own travel tales from the original home of these global sounds.

I often reflect that it is somewhat odd for Cuban music to be lumped into my own show (alongside music from Brazil and Africa) as material that is under-exposed in the US. After all, there have been many moments in US musical history when those sounds from Cuba have had broad success in this market. Unlike my other genres, many of the records I play in these sets were released in the US. 

But somehow the masses have lost touch with that knowledge (political isolation has played a major role since the revolution, of course). Even though we still frequently groove to the core rhythms created in Cuba, many Americans cannot name a single musical giant from the island. We are all impressed by the amazing musical success of neighboring Caribbean island Jamaica... but how that success pales in comparison to the musical influence of Cuba! Cuban rhythms are the foundation for almost all popular music throughout Spanish-speaking Latin America, including the salsa music that has been played throughout the world over the past 40 years. American popular music routinely borrows motifs from the Cuban musical library, and this music reached back across the Atlantic to play a huge role in shaping the popular music culture of countries ranging from Spain and France to a huge range of countries in Africa.

Today my set moves firmly away from the rootsy sounds I often favor... we are going full "uptown" for this set. The first hour focuses on cosmopolitan sounds from the Cuban scene in the 50s and 60s. The second hour follows that groove north into the barrios of Nueva Yorica... hear how the bands got bigger and the sound brought in elements of soul and funk. 

We end the show today with 3 tracks from a contemporary group based in New York:  Los Hacheros. I just discovered this gem on vinyl, and I admit that I first mistook this for a band from Cuba that had somehow navigated the incredibly complicated path from the island to an international music contract involving vinyl pressings!! Very rootsy deliciousness indeed.