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Art & Soul   |   September 2009 SI, PARA USTED

The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Vol. 2 (Waxing Deep)

The liner notes of this second edition of Castro-era Cuban music is worth the purchase alone. Compiler Dan Zacks explains the comi-tragic situation of musicians during the 1970s, subsidized by a government that relentlessly instilled a fear of censorship. National arts were promoted to some extent, though according to Zacks it was a low priority affair—many records were never released as the state-run record label, EGREM, had to fight for cardboard with a state-sponsored clothing company. Zacks invaded those rich vaults of Cuban LPs for both editions, and like the first, numero dos is a goldmine. The budding beat and entrancing hook of Los Caneyes’s “Suspirando por el Chikichaka,” with its building kick drum, rivals any great Cuban dance number. Keyboards and guitars truly get funky on Los Rápidos’s “Safari Salvaje,” while you can still make out the flute-drenched vinyl crackling on Sonopop’s bass-heavy “Vanguardia y Juventud.” A great idea gets greater.

Issue: September 2009  |  Section: Art & Soul  |  Tags: Music
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