The Missing Links: Cuban Music, Rock, Soul and Jazz

Why is it that so many North Americans and Europeans, raised on rock, soul and jazz -- in many cases unable to understand a word of Spanish -- become so utterly obsessed with Cuban music? The answer is that over the the last 500 years, Cuban music has provided a huge part of the underpinning of these, and most other English-language genres. As Ned Sublette points out, the ubiquitous rock anthem, Louie Louie, is based almost entirely on René Touzet's El loco cha cha; ragtime's basic rhythm cell is based on contradanza; and the early R&B hits of Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino were based on Cuban basslines. It goes on and on - The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, James Brown, The Doors, even Irish rocker Van Morrison. Here's a link to a great Ned Sublette radio show with non-stop revelations over a perfectly-paced soundtrack. For more info, click here.

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Saturday, 22 January 2011, 01:59 AM

Gabriel of Yemayá's Verse has returned from nearly two months in the promised land and has a mountain of great posts, including this report on Havana d'Primera in the studio with Tony Rodríguez on piano.

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Tuesday, 21 December 2010, 03:27 AM

Yemayá's Verse - currently being updated from Havana almost daily - is opinionated as hell, but she pulls no punches, and for giving you the ambience of being there, nothing comes close - unless of course you want to dig up one of Bill Wolfer's Hunter S. Thompson-calibre rants from the early 2000s. The takeaway? Watch out for a new Los Que Son Son singer named Dayán. And on a related opinionated subject, the San Francisco brain trust (myself included) have come to the unanimous conclusion that the hottest bass player we've seen in years is Pupy's Daymar Calvario.

And CUBAN WOODSTOCK? If this thing happens, I'll definitely be on a plane for Miami.

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Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 02:55 AM

Yeni Valdés has arrived. She's developed an effortless command over her powerful, perfectly in-tune voice and a personal charisma that knocked everyone out each of the 8 sets at Yoshi's. I got major chills on two separate occasions.