It's hard to be Puerto Rican and not like Salsa. It's all around you and you grow up on it, but just like a lot of musical styles it can hit a dead end. A lot of it starts to sound repetitive. That's why when I first heard this I couldn't believe it. I thought I was fairly well informed when it came to Cuban music but I never thought there would be a crop of Cuban musicians from the 70's that were blending the island's typical Son and Salsa sounds with psychedelic, progressive, middle eastern, avant-garde, and fusion influences creating a funky melting pot. Apparently there was a steady stream of American and European records flowing into the island and these local musicians absorbed all their influences creating some throughly unique recordings that until recently were criminally unavailable to a wider audience. What's even more surprising is that a lot of these bands were government sponsored and on their payroll. Apparently Fidel liked hitting the bong and listening to some good shit.
uff!
ReplyDeletela crema.
ReplyDeleteThis is some brain melting shit right here.
ReplyDeletePrimero que nada, esto no es salsa...not even close.
ReplyDeleteSegundo, no debería ser tan surprising que Fidel les pagaba. En todos lo países Comunistas los artistas tienden a ser empleados del estado...no hay sector privado...si te interesa leete Captive Mind por Czeslaw Milosz. Milosz expresa el dilema del artista dentro de un régimen comunista. Por primera vez tienes un steady paychek, un estómago lleno, y un verdadero propósito social, but at the expense of creative freedom. Nice post...ta funky!
Es salsa/son con otras influencias. Obvio no es una salsa tradicional como Fania o algo asi pero por eso mismo es tan especial. Digo que es surprising por el hecho de que algunas son canciones mas experimentales y en casos como la de Mirtha y Raul no muy accesibles. Eso no es algo que escucharias en la radio boricua. Suena interesante el libro.
ReplyDeleteHola a todos! Y este disco donde se consigue?
ReplyDelete