The Case of the Old Timey Havana Radio Show

This is a good day to hear some old-timey music from Cuba. Let this music carry you like a cloud through the steps of your summer afternoon. These are songs from the Golden Era of Cuban music... mostly from the 1950s, when the melting pot of musical ideas in Cuba found its fullest flower. 

Yankee dollars were plentiful in Cuba in the 1950s, fueling an arms race as various dance clubs, neighborhoods, and cities competed to entice audiences with the freshest, most exciting new music. Genres came and went in public favor over the course of mere months in this fevered environment. We will hear many forms tonight, starting with more formal genres such as Danzon and Cha Cha Cha; then moving into Pachanga and Descarga; finally ending in the second hour with salsa roots in the form of Son Montuno and Rumba.

Some of my old-timey Latin and Cuban sets focus on rootsy small town sounds such as Guajira and Son, while others delve into urban ethnic sounds from Guaguanco and early rumbas. This set is more of a true reflection of the sort of fare that filled the airwaves and the dancehalls of Havana. 

America is about to rediscover Cuba. Wrap yourself up in this music, and feed the romance.