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La historia de "CAJONES BULLANGUEROS"
(English version here.)Mi primer puesto cuando empecé este blog fue un enlace a algunas grabaciones de Yoruba Andabo que las llamo colectivamente "Cajones Bullangueros". Unos pocos años antes, un amigo...
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The Story of "Cajones Bullangueros"
(Versión en español aquí.)My very first post when I started this blog was a link to some recordings by Yoruba Andabo I call "Cajones Bullangueros." A friend gave me a cassette copy of the recordings a...
View ArticleIbbae: Jesus Alfonso Miró
I guess by now everyone has heard the sad news, so I will just post this here for the record, along with a video showing the man and his art at its best.Comunicado:A las 6 y 45 minutos del día de hoy,...
View ArticleConjunto Folklórico Nacional: Début Program on Scribd.com
Just wanted to let you know that the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional début program we posted in July of 2007 is now available for viewing and downloading through...
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Viva Amalia, viva Italia
Amalia e,Yo soy de AmaliaAmalia, Amalia eI've often wondered about the words Amalia, and Amaliano, and why they come up so often in rumba lyrics.Amalia, este su nombreQué lindo nombre de mujer...As the...
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Saludando: Raúl González Brito "Lali"
"Lali" in Madrid, June 2009(photo: Barry Cox)On a recent trip to Spain we had the great fortune to meet Raúl de la Caridad González Brito, known as "Lali" to his friends and legions of students around...
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Martha Galarraga about to be expelled from France by the French State: an...
Martha Galarraga is no ordinary artist: she's the daughter of Lázaro Galarraga, one of Cuba's greatest akpwones, reknowned as a major artist in the USA.Considering her career and talent, Martha is one...
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María la O, ¿quién es?
Rumba lyrics are filled with allusions to colorful and evocative characters, mostly anonymous: Pregoneros, gossips, chinos, la china con diente de oro, to name just a few.Then there are some who have...
View Article"Son Rumbe'ao" and "Changó ta vení"
A fascinating characteristic of rumba is that songs of many different styles can easily be arranged as a guaguancó. Mexican Rancheras, American Pop tunes, Argentine Tangos, Brazilan Sambas, even...
View ArticleRecent academic research on rumba
Happy New Year! Now that the holiday festivities are over you may be ready to dig in to some recent research on rumba, especially as it relates to the diaspora and New York's Central Park.Berta...
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Ibae: Manuel Martínez Olivera, "El Llanero"
Manuel Martínez Olivera, “El Llanero”January 1, 1930 - January 29, 2010Photo courtesy Berta Jottar"El Llanero," a beloved and revered figure in New York's Central Park rumba scene, passed away on...
View ArticleEulogio "El Amaliano"
Eulogio El Amaliano is one of those legendary but elusive old-school rumberos that one often hears about but rarely hears.I first heard him mentioned in Yoruba Andabo's 2003 version of Calixto...
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Earliest known folkloric rumba recordings, 1948
Our friend Berta Jottar just alerted us to Zeno Okeanos's site, where he has published sound files of the earliest known recordings of folkloric rumba, check it...
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Ibae: Ricardo Gomez Santa Cruz Ribeiro
Ricardo Gómez Santa Cruzundated photo, collection El GoyoSad news from Havana: Ricardo Gómez Santa Cruz died Friday July 30 of prostate cancer.Born July 26 1932 in Havana, at Santiago 5, between Zanja...
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Carlos Embale: Todavía me queda voz. Egrem LD-4297
This was one of the first Carlos Embale recordings I ever owned. I got it right as I was starting to get into rumba, around 1994.But I never really got into it. The occasional use of son clave...
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Sara Gómez article on rumba: Cuba Vol 3, No. 2 1964
We came across this article by Sara Gómez (1943-1974) in the December 1964 issue of "Cuba," which seems to have been the Cuban equivalent of the USA's "Life" magazine.Sara Gómez is most known today for...
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Update: "Lost" Muñequitos tracks
A while ago we made a request for 7 "lost" Muñequitos tracks that had never been released on CD.We soon found 4 of them.The last three have finally been found.LP Siboney 420 "El guaguancó de...
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Jugando con "Mayeya"
A friend of ours wrote us about a tune in our previous post:"Mayeya on Rapsodia Rumbera sounds like a completely different song than this version. That one is credited to Agustin Pina Flor de Amor, not...
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Los Principales
"Los Principales"(c. 1960?)From left to right: Cesar, Lázaro Massip "El Tao", "El Huevo",Héctor de la Caridad Santos Gobel "El Áspero", "Papito, el Buman",Hipólito Calderón, Francisco Calderón"(Photo...
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The earliest recordings of Cuban rumba: A comprehensive summary
by Barry Cox.Last year, musician, artist and collector Myron Ort posted on his website what we believed were likely to be the first recordings of traditional rumba (that is, rumba with only voice and...
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