1987

0xx0 xxx0 xx0x 0xxx 3-2 rumba clave
xxx0 0x0x 0x0x 0x0x bass tumbao
xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx0 piano enters on anticipation
x000 0000 x000 0000
x000 0000 0000 0000 piano tumbao

The second montuno of Azúcar a granel is quite different and in live performance was often extended for several minutes or longer. This was another important innovation in which Ritmo Oriental had a central role -- the idea of multiple montuno sections with different tumbaos and chord progressions. The early genres of son and danzón involved adding clave rhythms to European songforms and instrumental dance music. Later, the arrangements were expanded to add the African idea of call and response vocals. When these sections became longer and were combined with repeating horn figures, the genres became son-montuno and danzón-mambo, respectively. Now, in the 80s, we start to encounter forms that could be described as son-montuno 1-montuno 2, and by the time we reach the late 90s we'll sometimes find three different montuno sections -- each with unique piano and bass tumbaos, and each with multiple coros and mambos.

The second track, Bailadores, is a brilliant Perera arrangement of a song by Buena Vista Social Club figure Remberto Bécquer, who was already in his 70s at that point. Tony Calá is in his absolute prime in a coro section that creates so much rhythmic tension that it finally has to resolve into a folkloric groove. Next comes a conga solo from Juan Claro Bravo against a motivo figure, followed by a Polo Tamayo flute solo played over what could be thought of as the "title coro", "sé que tú quieres guarachar, yo sé que tú quieres guarachar". The same coro returns on the last track, Baila, si vas a bailar.

Before leaving Bailadores we should mention the "mystery version" that made it into Victor Barrientos' hands on an old cassette. The audio is distorted, but the performance is longer and more adrenaline charged, varying most from the released version in the final sections [write EGREM]. And before arriving at the grand finale, we should also mention Por eso voy a dejarlo -- a Cuban anti-smoking song! You have to visit there to fully appreciate the irony. It was apparently mandated by the government when Fidel himself was kicking the habit.

Baila si vas a bailar starts with a very clever paraphrase of Beny Moré's Elige tú [source], which timba fans will recognize from Michel Maza's version [source]. The song says, basically, "you choose - I can sing anything", but Tony sings it from a dancer's perspective, changing the words accordingly.

The track is packed with highlights, including a rare drum solo from the great Daniel Díaz and the afore-mentioned reference to the "guarachar" coro, but the pièce de resistance is the last montuno section -- with Tony soaring over one of the band's most euphoric grooves, leading up to perhaps the most beautiful and audicious example of "clave license" in Cuban music. In midst of a throbbing 2-3 tumbao, Tony sings "para bailar el son, son, son, son, son". The band stops on a dime and makes a bloque out of "son son son son son". The rhythm? 3-2 rumba clave! After laying out for the space of one more clave, they re-enter in 2-3. During the intervening silence, Tony sings "la clave se lleva en el corazón" ("the clave is carried in the heart"). There could no more poetic way to explain, demonstrate, and vindicate "clave license", and to make it even more perfect, it's almost certain that the band was completely oblivious to any of this. They just played it like they heard it and it was so great that they repeated it at the end of the track, which was also the end of the album, and, as the reverbation of the closing bloque fades away like the coda of a symphony, we come to the end of the second great era of la Ritmo Oriental. When Tony Calá recorded again, it would be with NG La Banda.