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Resenas: Vacilón Santiaguero (Circle 9 ...
Grupos: Pupy y los que S... : Discography - 1995- F...
Reportes: From The St... : Cubadisco 2...
Staff: Bill Tilford
Reportes: From The St... : Jazz Plaza ...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : Irakere 50th Annivers...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : Irakere
Resenas: Joey Altruda Presents: El Gran ...
Timbapedia: 09. Interviews -... : Carlos del Pino ...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : 2023 Monterey Jazz Fe...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : 2023 Monterey Jazz Fe...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : 2023 Monterey Jazz Fe...
Fotos: Tom Ehrlich : 2023 Monterey Jazz Fe...
Grupos: Tirso Duarte
Photos of the Day [hide]
SpanishEnglishDiscography - 1990-No se puede tapar el sol con un dedo
1990 - No Se Puede Tapar el Sol was made shortly after "En la Calle". "Porque Tú Sufres por lo que Yo Gozo" is a great Tony Calá vehicle which can also be heard live on the "Musicales" NG video (see below). "Te Confunde Ser esa Mujer" has the distinction of being the first of a mountain of hits written by Giraldo Piloto. He discusses it in his interview with timba.com. In 2000 Klimax recorded a new arrangement of this song, but the original is also gorgeous. Calá’s voice resonates like a Stradavarius; the songwriting is beautiful, and both coros are irresistible. To the person who thought the American release of "En la Calle" was all there was to early NG, this is the second major shock (the first being the aforementioned "Que Viva Changó") and there are other lost gems yet to be covered. "Te Confunde" can be found on two readily available compilations. The next track, "Longina", comes from the more traditional recordings NG made as a backup band for Malena Burke. "Un Tipo Como Yo" is the third of three great Timba arrangements that the early NG created from pop songs by artists of other genres, in this case Sergio Esquivel, a Mexican singer/songwriter. Like "Le Lo Ley", it’s a classic Issac arrangement, starting with a smooth and well-written pop song and building into an infectious Timba groove. At 1:58 the brass transition pre-echoes the dramatic harmonies of "Échale limón". Check out the vocal/bass duet with Arango at 2:45. Feliciano plays double stops for the last 5 notes and then plays a funky fill to bring in the mambo. At 3:10 Piloto waits until Issac has started his guía before playing his fill. And don’t overlook the long bloque at 4:29 that brings the intensity up to full throttle.
Ned Sublette recalls that Tosco said that the arrangement for the famous "Los Sitios entero" was created in the studio, on the spot, in 45 minutes! "Los Sitios" is a barrio in Havana which explains the use of the singular adjective "entero". The arrangement is simple but spectacular, beginning with the inspired orchestration of the opening horn section. Against the hard-driving piano montuno and horns, the bass plays a dramatic line composed of long sustained notes and quick rhythmic figures. Arango gets an incredible tone on his bass. This type of sound came to be used extensively in later Timba and was usually achieved by doubling the bass with a synth. It’s possible that a synth is mixed in here as well, but it seems to be just the bass strings twanging that’s creating the effect. Meanwhile Miguelito’s synth chunks out Beatles-style block chords. The second repetition adds one more timbral masterstroke, a church bell-like countermelody. The vocal portions consist of a single, very catchy coro, based on an old Cuban song (Nací en La Habana, soy habanero, José María Belén, y Los Sitios entero), with several long series of inspired guías from Issac. The first series ends with one of the most classic guías in Timba -- "Los sitios te está esperando, para tocar un rumbón, y cuando suena la clave, me palpita el corazón…te digo, rumbero". Near the end of the phrase Piloto rips off a series of vicious timbal rolls and a brief horn and synth interlude leads up to a single stroke of the church bell and then a long rumba begins, with Issac singing a capella against the percussion and the other singers coming in occasionally with perfectly executed harmonies.
"Te Regalaré Mi Mejor Canción" is a beautiful soft pop song which one could almost imagine appearing on "La Fórmula". After a gorgeous electric piano intro, Issac’s warm voice finds every sweet note and gradually builds to a nice set of guías in which, among other things, he paraphrases Richard Rodgers’ "Blue Moon". A rare earlier live version of the "Te Regalaré" can be found on the Musicales video mentioned below, sung by Victor Valdés before Issac joined the band. "Tú y Yo Somos Uno Mismo" is a very pretty slow merengue, also sung by Issac The mambo at 2:16 uses a melodic theme that would later become the basis for the great "La Película del Sábado" from "La Bruja". "No Se Puede Tapar el Sol", which is also the last track on the QBADisc "En la Calle" compilation, has a great vocal by Tony Calá. The arrangement contrasts rapid-fire jazz-influenced horn sections against a sparse montuno groove with perfectly placed synth chords. The far-reaching extent of NG’s influence on the world of Timba can be hear by comparing the horn mambo at 1:58 to the closing piano montuno of Azúcar Negra’s white-hot "Tratado de Timba y Salsa", recorded a decade later. The melodic material is virtually identical. The material on these seminal albums became a permanent part of the vocabulary of the next generation of musicians.