Cuba: Music And Revolution: Culture Clash In Havana: Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2

UK名門 SOUL JAZZ とジャイルス・ピーターソンが監修する1970年代に録音された知られざるキューバ産ジャズ、ファンク、ディスコ、サイケ音源コンピに第 2弾が登場!

SOUL JAZZ のオーナーであるステュアート・ベイカーとジャイルス・ピーターソンがキューバ政府の全面協力のもと長年かけてリサーチを続けた成果として出版した、キューバ国内でリリースされたレコードのスリーヴを集めたアートワーク・ブック『CUBA: MUSIC AND REVOLUTION: ORIGINAL ALBUM COVER ART OF CUBAN MUSIC』。そのアートワーク集と連動してリリースされ、大ヒットとなったコンピレーション・アルバム作『CUBA: MUSIC AND REVOLUTION: CULTURE CLASH IN HAVANA: EXPERIMENTS IN LATIN MUSIC 1975-85』に第2弾が登場!

アフロ・キューバンの文化的遺産を反映させた自分たちの音楽を模索し、オリジナリティあふれる新たなラテン音楽を掲示、新しいキューバのアイデンティティを獲得することに成功した当時のキューバの音楽家たちだが、米国との国交断絶の影響もあり、これらのレコードはキューバ国内そして旧ソビエト圏諸国の間でのみで楽しまれ、今日に至るまでキューバ以外の国ではほとんど知られてこなかった。前作となる VOL.1 でも驚くようなレア・トラックからDJ達の間では密かに親しまれていたようなキラーチューンまでがバランスよく混在していたが、本作でもロス・パピネスなどルンバ系楽団によるデスカルガ、さらには知られざる女性歌手によるソウル系トラックまでを収録。かと思えばバン・バンのような老舗楽団、さらにはグルーポ・ロス・ジョージ (GRUPO LOS YOYI) など、この時期のキューバらしいぶっ飛んだアレンジと超絶的なアンサンブルが合致したトラックまで、初心者から百戦錬磨の DJまでもが楽しめるコンピレーションになっている。

Ten months after the initial volume of CUBA: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85, Englands Soul Jazz Records continues its excavation of material from Havanas EGREM Studios and Areito Records with another double-disc. This volume, also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, picks up where the first left off. Both are soundtracks for the coffee table book Cuba: Original Album Cover Art of Cuban Music. After the revolution, musicians were state-employed and labels were subsidized. Music was made in a vacuum where artists could create, but performing outlets were restricted to block parties and state-sanctioned festivals; nightclubs were closed. This climate proved fertile ground for experimentation; it led many artists to innovate on traditional styles -- son, songo, rhumba, mambo, guaguanco, etc. -- aided by effects pedals and electronic keyboards. The renaissance of Cuban jazz during the period is reflected on these releases, as are integrations with disco, funk, soul, tropicalia, and MPB. Check opener "Y Que Bien" by Juan Pablo Torres y Algo Nuevo. A funky salsa vamp offered by jagged synths and distorted electric guitars is framed by fingerpopping brass, fretless bass, and many layers of percussion. Interlocking circular vamps emerge in place of a melody until the middle, when Torres begins scatting near the end. The historic Los Van Van and Juan Formell are represented by a gloriously remastered "Por Que lo Haces?" juxtaposing rumbling son with strings, horns, wah-wah guitars, and bass. The multi-part vocal harmonies, swirling choruses, and Afrobeat guitars frame frenetic timbales, congas, and claves. The combined effect sounds like Mandrill jamming with Irakere. Los Papines offers "Solo de Tumba y Bongo." It simmers with son alongside jazz, spidery funk, and Colombian cumbia in a steamy mix. Disc one closes with Grupo Raices Nuevas wooly "Baila Mi Guaguanco," where guaguanco meets salsa, jazz fusion, and disco, led by killer zig-zagging synths. Disc two offers Orquesta Riversides "En Casa del Trompo No Bailes." It begins as a darkly tinged disco exercise in drum funk before erupting into an orgy of hard-swinging big-band salsa. Los Britos "El 4-5-6" bubbles with dueling male and female vocal choruses atop rumbling, syncopated, salsa-fied jazz. Grupo Los Yoyi contributes "Tu No Me Puedes Conquistar," an experiment in psychedelic jazz with wonky fuzz guitars and organs leading the way over deep, rumbling percussion. Speaking of psychedelia, Grupo de Experimentacion Sonora del ICAICs "Cuba Va" weds distorted acoustic and electric guitars atop a shuffling rock beat; later, it morphs into danzon over a folk-pop melody. Closer "Finalizo un Amor" by Los Reyes 73 swaggers across funk, rock, jazz, and son with layered strings, spacy organ, rippling guitar, and a rubbery bassline under a loopy vocal. The booklet is annotated with copious, authoritative liner notes, discographical info, and rare photos. Like its predecessor, CUBA: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85, Vol. 2 is essential listening for fans of Afro-Latin music. ~ Thom Jurek