Latin

Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that explores the many new styles that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s as Jazz, Funk, Brazilian Tropicalia and even Disco mixed together with Latin and Salsa on the island as Cuban artists experimented with new musical forms created in the unique socialist state of Cuba.

The album comes as a heavyweight 3xLP and deluxe 2xCD set, complete with extensive sleeve notes, and is jam-packed with heavy bass lines, synth and Wah-Wah guitar funk combined with the heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all-encompassing Latin rhythms of Cuban music known throughout the world.

The album is released to coincide with the massive new deluxe large format book Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90, published in November, which is also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records), and which features the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.

The music on this album features legendary Cuban groups such as Irakere, Los Van Van and Pablo Milanés as well as a host of lesser known artists such as the radical Grupo De Experimentación, Juan Pablo Torres and Algo Nuevo, Grupo Monumental and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, groups whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba owing to the now 60-year old US trade embargo which remains in place today and which prevents trade with Cuba – and thus most Cuban records were only ever available in Cuba or in ex-Soviet Union states.

The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s – who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music - and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album have never been heard outside of Cuba.

Both Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have been involved in Cuban music for more than two decades – Gilles Peterson with his many Havana Cultura projects for his Brownswood label and Stuart Baker with a number of Soul Jazz Records albums recorded in Cuba. This Soul Jazz Records album is released in conjunction with Egrem, the Cuban state record company, and has been put together after the many crate-digging trips that both compilers have made on the streets of Havana and beyond in Cuba stretching over a 20-year period, searching out rare and elusive original Cuban vinyl records.

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REVIEWS:

"It may only be January, but we already have a strong contender for 'compilation of the year'. Put together by devout crate-diggers and Cuban music enthusiasts Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (founder of Soul Jazz Records)" JUNO

"It's abundantly clear that these compilers are at the very top of their game. Everything here was previously unheard outside of Cuba, making this a feast for the curious" Vinyl District

"Priceless comp goes beyond Buena Vista" UNCUT

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*Please note the vinyl sticker of this album says "+download code" but it's a mistake! There is no download with this particular album due to legal reasons. Sorry for this error!

This is the second collection of music from Venezuela in the 1970s and beyond to be released on Soul Jazz Records. The album once again features innovative figures in the history of underground Venezuelan music, mostly unknown outside of their home country – their music a blending of progressive rock, jazz, experimental electronics and disco –created mainly in the 1970s – during a time when the country was both a cultural and economic powerhouse in Latin America.

While much of 1960s Venezuelan rock music emulated British and USA styles, and salsa dominated the dancefloors of Latin America, the 1970s saw the evolution of a new generation of creative local artists such as Vytas Brenner, Daniel Grau, Aldemaro Romero, Un Dos Tres Y Fuera who all explored the possibilities of mixing together rock with elements of electronica, funk, jazz, latin rhythms simultaneously exploring their links with Venezuelan roots music, creating a new sound which blended a multitude of new and old world influences, uniquely Venezuelan.

Most of these artists featured on Venezuela 70 remain practically unknown outside of Venezuela’s borders and yet their progressive forward-thinking music is some of the most sophisticated in the world – a stunning ‘melting pot’ mix of sounds from the cosmic and psychedelic rock of Vytas Brenner to the Moroder-esque disco experimentation of Daniel Grau, and the tropical funk of Un Dos Tres Y Fuera and beyond.

Aside from the relatively known Vytas Brenner and Daniel Grau, most of the music on this album is incredibly rare (even in Venezuela)! The album is released as heavy double gatefold vinyl with full colour inners, exclusive text on artwork, CD with slipcase and large booklet, and digital album.

This unique box-set edition is only available as a one-off pressing seven-inch box set which brings together a stunning five-single/ ten track selection of mind-blowingly groovy selection of African, Latin, Jazz and Funk music from the Congo.

Absolutely killer and essential tracks (mostly unknown) from the masters of the vibrant Congo scene in the 1960s – featuring the groups Franco & OK Jazz, Rock-A-Mambo, African Jazz, African Fiesta and more.

Roots African meets Cal Tjader, James Brown, Ray Barretto & more. The bomb!

Soul Jazz Records’ new Venezuela 70 is the first-ever album of its kind to take a look at the groundbreaking experimental rock music made in Venezuela and created in the 1970s – during a time when the country was both a modern cultural and economic powerhouse in Latin America on account of wealth from its vast oil supplies. 

Venezuela lies at the northern part of South America, with neighbouring Colombia to its west and Brazil to its south. The north coast borders the Caribbean.

Whilst much of 1960s Venezuelan rock music emulated British and USA styles, the 1970s saw the evolution of a new generation of creative artists such as Vytas Brenner, Angel Rada, Pablo Schneider and Miguel Angel Fuster, who all explored the possibilities of mixing together rock with elements of electronica, funk, jazz, latin rhythms simultaneously exploring their links with Venezuelan roots music, creating a new sound which blended a multitude of new and old world influences, uniquely Venezuelan.

These Venezuelan artists looked to the future while exploring their country’s own musical heritage to create a new cultural identity. Similarities can be drawn with then contemporary movements around the world such as the Trópicalia and post-Trópicalia 1970s scene in Brazil of Os Mutantes, Novos Baianos, Secos e Molhados (all of which feature on Soul Jazz Records’ earlier Brazil 70).

A similar parallel can be made in Europe with the experimental German groups of the 1970s (Can, Amon Duul, Harmonia, Neu all featured on Soul Jazz Records’ Deutsche Electronische Musik) who deconstructed and reconstructed the links between rock music and electronics to define a new German cultural identity.

Most of these artists featured on Venezuela 70 remain practically unknown outside of Venezuela’s borders and yet their progressive forward-thinking music is some of the most sophisticated in the world – a stunning ‘melting pot’ mix of underground rock, synthetic electronics, funk, jazz and Latin American rhythms all of which explored new sounds and broke down musical boundaries to create a distinct and unique Venezuelan music and cultural identity.

This is the 20th anniversary expanded edition of one of Soul Jazz Records earliest definitive releases: ‘Nu Yorica : Culture Clash In New York City – Experiments in Latin Music 1970-77’, a stunning and ground-breaking collection of music bringing together Latin, Soul, Jazz, Funk and more from the melting pot of New York City in the 1970s.

Out-of-print for more than ten years this new edition has been fully digitally remastered with new tracks, additional photography and is released as a deluxe 2CD pack + large outsize booklet, as well as a new edition of two super-loud super-heavy separate volumes of double vinyl. The album is also available for the first time as a worldwide digital release.

Nu Yorica! is one of Soul Jazz Records most critically acclaimed albums of all time.

The album features seminal Latin artists such as Eddie Palmieri, Joe Bataan, Machito, Ocho, Grupo Folklorico, Cortijo, Ricardo Marrero, Cachao and many more.

Reviews:

"Latin music never sounded so good. Ever.

Some compilations are so influential and universally loved that they become classic albums in their own right – Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music, for example. And just as Smith cemented forever the underground sound of the US between the wars, so did the then young Soul Jazz imprint immortalise the Latin music emerging from 70s New York with Nu Yorica!, originally released 20 years ago." Record Collector

“A brilliant introduction to some of the most energising & misunderstood music ever” Wire

“A truly inspired selection. If ever a CD was worth buying, this is it” The Guardian (CD of the week)

“A percussive colossus. Mighty and frightening.” Q

“If you buy one CD this week buy Nu Yorica!” The Observer

“Soul Jazz go beyond dancefloor trends and explore the political agendas’ of their musical idols with this brave and diverse album” Maxim

“From gritty funk to free-form experimentation, Soul Jazz’s selection of Latin-influenced dance music is sterling” The Face

“A challenging and revelatory compilation of pure quality” Music Week

“Positively throbs with energy.” NME

“This music has influenced everything from Salsoul Disco to the Masters at Work”DJ

“An excellent document of a key phase in musical history. Every single one of these tracks is superb. An absolute f***ing blinder” Echoes

“Genre defying madness” Select

“An utterly brilliant and well documented snapshot of the musical culture clash in 70’s New York” Muzik

“Miraculous” Time Out, New York

Tracklisting: CD1/LPA: Tracks 1-9, CD2/LPB: Tracks 10-18

CONGA DE LOS HOYOS, founded in 1902, is one of the oldest and best-known carnival groups in Santiago, Cuba today. Group members are exclusively from the Los Hoyos neighbourhood of Santiago and feature over 50 percussionists and singers who play everything from car brake drums, hubcaps and frying pans to the distinctive Chinese trumpet – a sound unique to eastern Cuba’s carnival groups. This CD comes with accompanying text, booklet and exclusive photography.

New album of heavyweight Afro-Cuban rhythms recorded in Havana, Cuba by Soul Jazz Records.

Comes with extensive sleeve-notes. This album features the many Afro-Cuban rhythms associated with the various religious cults existing in Cuba today. These drums are used to bring spirits and gods (Orishas) into the body of worshippers who are then possessed.

The music originally came from Africa and spread into the new world through the movement of slaves; Soul Jazz Records have recorded and released similar projects in Haiti (Voodoo Drums, Spirits of Life) and Brazil and these new recordings from Cuba feature heavyweight complex rhythms played by some of Cuba’s finest master drummers, all of whom are initiated in the cults including members of the secret Masonic-type Abakua faith.

Featuring an array of instrumentation – Bata Drums, Conga drums, Bongo, Eribo – many of which are sacred in themselves and only used for religious ceremonies. The music and dance of the Abakuá (or ñáñigo) secret societies are considered by many the most original not least because the history of the societies themselves, the most complex and impassioned of all the organizations of African origin established in Cuba and linked to key political and social events. For anyone interested in Latin music this is a fascinating guide into the roots of Afro-Cuban music and features extensive sleeve-notes giving the music a cultural and social context.

Recorded at the Cuban state-owned ICAIC studios, these are high quality recordings and the vinyl comes on super-loud heavyweight vinyl for all DJs!

Tumba Francesa la Caridad de Oriente is a 140-year old institution in Cuba.

The music of Tumba Francesa is a unique combination of African drums and French patois vocals alive in Cuba today.

This is the first in a series of albums reflecting Afro-Cuban culture newly recorded by Soul Jazz Records in Cuba. The Tumba Francesa La Caridad de Oriente won Cuba’s National Award for Community Culture and, in 2003, the title of UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, the first such award to be bestowed on Cuba. This music was recorded in EGREM studios, the state owned studio in Santiago, eastern Cuba.

Tumba Francesa la Caridad de Oriente is situated in the economically poor Los Hoyos district of the city, a vibrant epi-centre of Afro-Cuban culture. In the 19th century there were hundreds of Tumba Francesa throughout Cuba. Now only two remain; Tumba Francesa of Santiago de Oriente and nearby Tumba Francesa de Guantanamo.

Originally mutual aid societies for the ex-slaves who fled the neighbouring Haitian Revolution, Tumba Francesas would put on elaborate shows during carnival dressed in ballroom costumes of 18th century France playing purely African music. Tumba Francesa La Caridad de Oriente continue this tradition today. The music of Tumba Francesa la Caridad de Oriente is at once both modern and traditional, both an important aspect of contemporary Cuba and coming with a vast cultural legacy.

The CD / LP comes complete with extensive sleevenotes and spoken introduction by the Afro-Cuban poet and writer Pedro Perez-Sarduy and photography by the New York writer, musician and broadcaster Ned Sublette (author of Cuba and It's Music).