Picture - Ensemble Vacations Magazine

LIVE EVENTS 2009/2010
Antigua – De Jam Festival, October
Puerto Rico – Le Lo Lai, San Juan, October
Martinique – Carnival, Fort-de-France, February
Trinidad – Carnival, Port of Spain, February
Anguilla – Moonsplash, Rendezvous Bay, March
Cuba – International Benny Moré Festival,
Cienfuegos, March
– International Matamoros Son Festival,
Santiago de Cuba, April
St. Vincent – Vincy Mas, June/July
Dominican Republic – Santo Domingo Merengue
Festival, Santo Domingo, July
Jamaica – Sumfest, Montego Bay, July
Barbados – Crop Over, August
DEFINITIVE
CARIBBEAN ARTISTS
Lord Kitchener,
the Mighty Sparrow (Calypso)
Byron Lee and the
Dragonaires (Soca)
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh,
Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear,
Black Uhuru (Reggae)
Jimmy Cliff, Ken Boothe
(Rocksteady)
Yellowman (Dancehall)
Arsenio Rodriguez (Son)
Skatalites (Ska)
GREAT LISTENING
Soca Gold 2009, Various, VP Records
Reggae Gold 2009, Various, VP Records
Cuba, Various Artists, Putumayo
Caribbean Party, Various, Putumayo
Comin’ In Tough, Freddie McGregor, VP Records
Contagious, Tarrus Riley, Cannon Productions
French Caribbean, Various, Putumayo
Jamaica, Various, Putumayo
returned to that bar every night for
the rest of our stay.
In Cuba, African drum beats back
Spanish guitar and vocals in a style
called son. Instruments usually include
trumpets, guitars, tres (a Cuban six-string
guitar), bongos, bass, maracas and claves.
Often, two or more band members sing.
In the 1940s, Arsenio Rodriguez, a blind
Cuban descendent of Congolese slaves,
added conga drum, piano and trumpet
to the typical son ensemble. “Rodriguez
was a pioneer. His music is soulful,
gritty and awesome, and he influenced
the beginnings of salsa,” explains Jacob
Edgar, president of independent world
music label Cumbancha and researcher
for Putumayo World Music. Putumayo
specializes in global music compilations
and has more than 20 Caribbean titles
that are available in coffee shops such as
Starbucks, at airports and in giftshops.
“Cuba is our all-time best-selling CD,”
confirms Yann Perrigault, Putumayo’s
international promotion manager. Recently
remastered, the 10-year-old disc features
a new track by Nino Torrente and Son
de Hoy. A variety of artists are showcased
including Todos Estrellas, featuring Los
Van Van singer Pedro Calvo, and Eliades
Ochoa, a participant in Buena Vista Social
Club. The liner notes are in English and
Spanish and include a recipe for Cuban
rice and beans. “You can discover the
culture of different islands just by listening
to our recordings,” says Perrigault.
Son’s offshoot, salsa, is popular
among Latino people everywhere. Similar
to a spicy sauce, the music is a picante
pick-me-up intended to make listeners
dance. Call-and-response, solos and
African and Spanish roots characterize
the style, popularized by crossover artists
such as Gloria Estefan. Developed in
the 1960s and ’70s by Puerto Rican and
Cuban immigrants in New York City,
salsa’s pioneers include Tito Puente,
Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto.
Island music is a hot pot of delicious
sounds that are ever-evolving. Puerto
Rico reverberates with reggaeton, a type
of reggae and dancehall mixed with salsa
and hip hop. Guadeloupe, St. Lucia,
Martinique and Haiti are known for zouk,
party music that fuses European, Indian
and African sounds. Haiti has a unique
brand of dancehall called compas and in
the Dominican Republic the official music
is merengue, a feverish Latin American
arrangement of two-four beats.
Music is the lifeblood of the Caribbean.
No matter if it runs fast, slow, hot or cool,
it gets into your system. All I need to do is
put on a CD and I can still feel it coursing
through my veins. nV
ENSEMBLE VACATIONS FALL 2009
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