La vida no es tan tan

Manolín has much better luck with his solo intro to this, one of the biggest hits from his 4th CD. The crowd helps him sing and -- lo and behold -- when the band comes in, they're in the same key! This seems to fire up everyone and the band turns in another blazing performance. In addition to being faster and more aggressive than the studio version, there are additional coros, bloques and a great bomba section at the end.

Conguero Tomás Cruz used 3 drums in this concert and they're panned very widely in the mix, calling attention to his creative conga marchas. You'll hear the low drum on the left, the high drum in the center and the middle drum on the right. Also listen to the dramatic change in the melody of the open conga tones when the horns come in. [audio example 7] When the coro returns Tomasito returns to the original marcha.

Tomasito's predecessor, Alexis "Mipa" Cuesta, was no slouch -- in fact, he was chosen as the conguero for the legendary Team Cuba project, but as "El puente" and Paulito FG's "Con la conciencia tranquila" clearly show, Tomasito Cruz is the Rolls Royce of Timba congueros -- no one else can equal his combination of groove, mastery of tradition, and melodic innovation. Mike Racette and I were so blown away by his playing that we convinced him to guide us through the writing of a 3-volume treatise on Timba conga-drumming, soon to be released as "The Tomás Cruz Conga Method" by Mel Bay Publications. In the meantime "El puente", with its conga-friendly mix, should provide ample study material for aspiring Timba congueros.

The many astute political observers among our readers will also no doubt notice the lyric change in this section:

ya lo dijo "no sé quien"
que sabe más que cuatro cosas
[as "I don't know who", (who knows more than a thing or two), said:]
[literally, it's "who knows more than 4 things", an old Cuban saying]
"no le hagas caso a la gente
camina pa' que te conozcan"
[don't worry about what people think...walk proud and let them see who you really are]
[audio example 7]

Hardcore Timberos will deduce the identity of this mysterious gentleman who knows more than four things by simply reading the quote, "camina pa' que te conozcan", which is from the song of the same name, beautifully sung by Roberto Hernández on the album "Ay Dios, ampárame". If that's not enough of a clue for you, you can listen to the original Cuban recording of La vida no es tan tan to discover that "no sé quien" is none other than that despicable communist, Juan Formell! Now let's get this straight: In Cuba, where there is no freedom of speech, the government threatened to ban Manolín from performing in public if he sang "El puente", but he went ahead and did it anyway. But here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, he's chosen to ignore the advice of the Formell quote and censor his own lyrics, just as he chose not to attend Issac Delgado's recent concert at el mismísimo Rancho Gaspar. Perhaps el Médico knows more than cuatro cosas himself.

In any case, Guerra and Cruz, who have lived here a bit longer than their fearless leader, didn't hesitate to exercise their own freedom of speech by simultaneously quoting yet another tyrannical pinko dictator, Paulito FG, although in much more subtle fashion. Here's the bloque Tomasito played with drummer Yoel Páez on Paulito's greatest album, "Con la conciencia tranquila" [audio example 8], and here's the version from "El puente". [audio example 9]

But this song has más que cuatro compases (more than 4 bars), so let's leave politics to the music industry and move on to a great new coro which was added after Manolín's studio recording of this song:

yo tú la cojo como venga
no te detengas
pero suavecito pa' que te mantengas
así la vida me va
así la vida me dura
[audio example 10]

It's not that new. They started using it in Cuba, but after the recording of "Jaque mate". In any case, it's yet another example Manolín's gift for creating catchy coros.