Singing the Body Eclectic
A SALON CRITICS' GUIDE TO WORLD MUSIC

Introduction
By Cynthia Joyce

Back to Africa:
By Banning Eyre
Four artists mark their place on the musical map

Folk fidelity
By Hans Eisenbeis
Hungary's Muzsikás and Great Britain's baritone bodhisattva, June Tabor

Cuban vacation:
By Milo Miles
Anthologies from behind the sugarcane curtain

Political vibrations:
By J. Poet
Musical movements from Madagascar to New Mexico

Reels and Jigs:
By Kevin Vance
Green Linnet records gets your Irish up

Passing the torch:
By Will Hermes
World music modernity

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Sound Salvation
By Sarah Vowell
VH-1's "Pop-Up Video" is Duchamp's genius on TV
(10/03/97)

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Table Talk
DJ Battles: Milo Miles argues with readers who object to rap.

BY MILO MILES

VARIOUS ARTISTS
"I AM TIME" AND "BRAZIL: A CENTURY OF SONG"
BLUE JACKEL

Everyone knows that wave after wave of dance crazes flowed up from Cuba into the United States during the '30s, '40s and '50s. The names, and even the steps, are familiar -- mambo, cha-cha-cha, rumba -- even if they seem like echoes of a gone world. What is the source of Cuba's power? With its very potent music mix of Spanish, French, African and more, Cuban tunes are more rhythmic than any others that are more melodic, and more melodic than any others that are more rhythmic. A pretty thing that makes you wiggle your hips, the Cuban invitation is so easy to accept. And the offering of Cuban music here, probably richer and more carefully collected now than in the pre-Castro era, has never been better.

This is particularly true of anthologies. Although narrower in scope than many recent Cuban assortments, "El Mambo me Priva!" ("The Mambo Sends Me") on Qubadisc should delight even hard-core fans of Havana pop because it consists entirely of material from the grimmest, most sealed-off years of the Cold War era between Cuba and America. Many tracks are in charanga, mode (deft string sections and flute leads), and a number show celebrated bands like Orquesta Aragon, Chappottin y Sus Estrellas and Estrellas du Chocolate in the latter days of their creative peaks -- a sadly unheard black hole before now.

The upbeat sense of change affecting popular music elsewhere did manage to seep through to Cuba, and the clever selection of tracks here gives the program a dancing-in-the-streets lilt. All the cuts, from Orquestra Melodias del 40's "Abre" to Orquestra Ideal's "A Soltar el Gallo" fly on clear, sleek melodic lines. As Puerto Rican influence grew in the New York salsa scene, these superb tunes offered alternatives that were not given a chance to play. Perhaps "El Mambo me Priva!" is not narrow after all, but simply a fine oldies lineup with a unified spirit of time and place.

Every overview anthology makes compromises. This is particularly true of one that aspires to cover the diverse, deep and prolific past 30 years of Cuban music. But the budget-priced Music Club label apparently has the best of intentions with its survey series: to produce collections that are both easy and pleasurable to get through and yet offer tunes of the highest sophistication. Their presentation of the late Pakistani master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, called "Rapture," is the finest one-volume introduction available. "Made in Havana" comes close to that standard as a single-CD intro to recent Cuban styles.

The triumph of the Music Club method is flow. The neotraditional lyricism of Sierra Maestra slides right into the artfully modified hip-hop slam of Panchito Alonso just as the showcase for cha-cha and mambo yields to the hot salsa-fusion jams of NG la Banda and Orquesta America. On "Made in Havana," rhythms nestled within rhythms are echoed by styles that fold into one another until straight enjoyment takes over any studious tone. The one fumble: The liner notes are quite evocative of post-revolution Cuban ambiance, but minimally informative about the history of the musicians and silent about who plays on the tracks and when they were recorded.

For those who want fewer shortcuts and who are willing to do some enjoyable read-and-study sessions, the hefty four CDs of "I Am Time" (Blue Jackel) is mandatory. Blue Jackel, like Music Club, shows some flair for surveys. A couple years ago, Blue Jackel released another four-CD set called "Brazil: A Century of Song." Though it was solid and thoughtful and still remains a worthy single-volume introduction to the music of that country, it was not anywhere near as spectacular as "I Am Time."

The 112-page booklet that accompanies the "I Am Time" set offers almost too much information, but the divisions of musical styles are so sensible and well-executed that, given the limitations of such an ambitious project, it's hard to imagine a superior overview. The abundance of "I Am Time" defies encapsulation. Since a basic grasp of the rhythms underlying all Cuban music is essential, the first disc, "Cuban Invocations," is devoted to drums and folkloric modes. Most such introductions founder with cuts that are too long and too relentlessly percussive, turning off all but beat nuts. "Cuban Invocations" makes sure that in the crucial first few tracks, the voices are as vivid and penetrating as the various polyrhythms, and that at least some horns and strings arrive soon.

With similar aplomb, the last two discs, "Bailiar Con Cuba" (dance bands) and "Cubano Jazz," do a marvelously clear job of showing how the drive and pop concision of, say, Los Van Van differs from the unbounded but still propulsive execution of the group Irakere. Canny veteran bassist and bandleader Israel "Cachao" Lopez appears on both discs, and you can hear him think, "hot boogie" and then, "jam session." The cigar-box packaging is a shade corny, and it's too bad there's not even a hint as to when the tracks were recorded. Otherwise, "I Am Time" belongs on the Christmas list of anyone with even a slight interest in world music.
SALON | Oct. 3, 1997

Milo Miles is a regular contributor to Salon. His music commentary can be heard on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air."

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HEAR IT:
"Guajira Guantanamera"
from "Made in Havana"
Abelardo Barroso

NEXT: Political vibrations