"Conga Electrica" - Quimbombo

• artist:
  Quimbombo
• country:
  USA
• region:
  Cuba-Puerto Rico
• release year:
  2008
• style(s): Axe Salsa
• formats:
  • audio file
  • CD (Compact Disc)
• record submitted by:
  Quimbombó
• label:
  Testa Dura Records
• publisher:
  Yuca Seca Music
• 
  buy this record

Conga Electrica, the second album from New York-based Quimbombó, a group led by percussionist Nick Herman, brings together musicians from Cuba, Brazil the U. S. and five other countries for a refreshing take on Cuban dance music. While strongly rooted in the traditional son style, this record incorporates non-traditional elements such as electric guitar and a Brazilian-style bateria (drum section) to create an energetic new sound.

ABOUT THE RECORD

Conga Electrica is a diverse album with five new songs and five songs chosen from Cuba's rich musical history. Its textures range from that of an intimate trio playing a "sambafied" bolero (Añorado Encuentro) to a "transient" take on Cuban carnival music with guitar hero Octavio Kotan's pulsating riffs and Brazilian-style call and response drum breaks (the title track). The key innovation on this album is the integration, on four tracks, of "Bloco Quimbombó," a Brazilian-style bateria or drum section. What the bateria does here is to add a dense layer of street drumming to the Cuban groove-beats tailor-made for each song by musical director and producer Nick Herman.

The album features the powerful callejero (streetwise) voice of Grammy-nominated Havana native David Oquendo, full of spontaneity and humor. Oquendo was likewise deeply involved in the band's debut release, Quimbombó. Making his debut recording here as a lead singer is Igor Arias Baró, a young Cuban well known in New York for his energetic imporovising in the hard hitting timba style.

THE SONGS:
In addition to the title track, the CD contains four previously unrecorded songs:
Que Me Importa a Mi-the "hit single" of the album, a funky salsa-timba track featuring singer Igor AriasBaró.
Con El Trapo Rojo--a descarga (salsa jam session) with heavy Brazilian drums playing street beats (including a bit of reggaeton) over the Cuban tumbao (groove).
Llegaron Las Viandas--a mix of pregon (street vendor's song) and Afro-Cuban rumba by Benigno Echemendia, writer of Camina y Prende El Fogón, Yolanda, and many other hits which have been recorded by the likes of Johnny Pacheco and La Sonora Ponceña
El Comelón-- a relaxed homage to a glutton.

Also on the album:
Todavía Me Queda Voz--once recorded by Buena Vista legend Ibrahim Ferrer, this soaring rumba-influenced son is the perfect vehicle for Oquendo's inspired rumbero voice. It is interpreted here with an exciting modern four-horn arrangement by Cuban Oriente Lopez.
¡Ay! Cantando Mi Son-- a descarga that captures the spontaneous energy of the band's live show with a battle between the guitar and tres (a mandolin-like type of Cuban guitar). (videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADSFjgd2Uoo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmY5uzMpJCw)
Cuando Tú Vayas a Oriente-- a traditional son from Oriente (eastern Cuba) given a four horn treatment by the band's trumpeter, salsa veteran Steven Gluzband.
Interludio-- a love song by César Portillo De La Luz, one of the pioneers of the filin movement. Filin (Cuban/Spanglish for "feeling") incorporates lush harmonies to yield a "cool" style; it was created in the intimate Bohemian atmosphere of Havana's after-hours nightclubs of the 1940s and 1950s.

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