HOLY HAVANA!

Los Caneyes: Suspirando por el Chikichaka
From Si Para Usted Vol 2: The Funky Beats Of Revolutionary Cuba (Waxing Deep, 2009)

Cuba has such a rich and proud cultural diversity. As shown on the latest installment of Si Para Usted, there are such varied styles of music. It was interesting to read the liner notes and learning about how the music industry was run by the state. Record sales meant virtually nothing, and there was no rhyme or reason as to music distribution around the country.

Some bands are more well-documented than others. Los Caneyes, a band of which little is known, displays an uncanny ability to mix it up in “Suspirando por el Chikichaka.” What starts out as a nice polyrhythm and a fuzzy guitar coming in and out of the mix stirred in with building horns turns into a bed for a smooth-voiced singer and those two elements fall out completely before being brought back in about 20 seconds later and then dropping out again. It's an exercise in building up tension and then releasing it. Before you know it, that fuzz guitar is back midway through the song and leads into a repetitive chant by the rest of the band exclaming, “Chikichaka!” Meanwhile, the rhythm section is just going to town. And who is that guy on bongos/congas?

Orquesta Cubaan de Musica Moderna turns in a rousing cover of Ides of March's “Vehicle,” flipping it on its head with a Latin arrangement. The vocals are replaced by an organist who is playing like his life depends on it (and who knows, it may have?), and again, we are treated to a nice fuzz guitar solo. At the end, the organist returns, and if you were to start it right at this part, it almost sounds like an episode of Church For Shut-Ins before a hi-hat chimes in and the horn section bops you over the head and exits out of the jam. This is one of the few times that we get to hear a song with American ties; typically, the government repressed such a recording.

Juan Pablo Torres' has a quasi-disco, quasi-jazz record called “Y Aparecio el Trombon” that sounds in part like “Think Twice” by Donald Byrd in the first 45 seconds. The song, believe it or not, appeared on a record that was intended for aerobics classes. If that's what they played at my local YMCA during classes, I'd be tempted to sign up.

For a country that held such tight control of its music industry, the government also gave their musicians a surprising bit of latitude, although it had the final say of what was recorded and released. This compilation is an excellent starting point for the world to catch up on what was going on in Cuba in the '70s. The revolution may not have been televised, but it was certainly captured on wax for the rest of us to listen in.