“Thirty years on from Buena Vista Social Club, vintage Cuban music still fascinates. This two CD release has three self-explanatory parts: From Danzón, Bolero And Mambo To Cha Cha Chá, The Golden Age Of Cha Cha Chá, and Cha Cha Chá – World Music, the latter taking up all of the second disc and looking at the impact of Cuban music internationally (mainly in America) following Cuba’s 1959 revolution. In the UK, strict-tempo ballroom dancing has perhaps prevented the music from being taken too seriously, but listen to the Beny Moré/ Pérez Prado opener, the percussion-heavy ‘¿Que Te Parece Cholito?’, combining older Danzón and the new mambo; by Celia Cruz’s ‘Cha Chá Güere’, things are getting really hot! Some readers may recognise the riff of ‘El Loco Cha Chá’, recorded by Havana-born René Touzet in 1956 and later appropriated for ‘Louie Louie’; also, ‘Chanchullo’ by Antonio Arcaño Y Sus Maravillas is the foundation for Santana’s much later ‘Oye Como Va’. Puerto Rican American Tito Puente’s 1962 version (an example of the international side), the direct inspiration, closes this attractive set.”
By Norman DARWEN - RnR
