Gilles PETERSON / STUART BAKER / VARIOUS CUBA. Music & Revolution Culture Clash In Havana Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol 2.

Label: Soul Jazz Records
Series: Cuba: Music And Revolution – Vol. 2
Format: 3 x Black Vinyl LP, Compilation.
Country: UK
Released: Oct 29, 2021


This review was taken the Pan African Music site.

Following an acclaimed first volume, the two Soul Jazz Records explorers return with Culture Clash In Havana Cuba – Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2.

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 Brownswood and Stuart Baker through recording a number of Soul Jazz Records albums in the country. With this second compilation, following Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1., both dive back into the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as part of a soup made from Latin, Salsa, heavy doses of Jazz, Funk, and Disco … an environment that gave birth to some of the most joyous and danceable sounds ever made.

The music on this album highlights the most cutting-edge Cuban groups that were recording in the 1970s and 1980s, all searching for new musical forms and a revamped Cuban identity reflecting the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of the nation that gave birth to Latin music. Most of the tracks featured on this album have never been heard outside of Cuba. Juan Pablo Torres Y Algo Nuevo’s “Y Que Bien,” the first single of the compilation, exemplifies the level of creativity Cuban artists were wielding during this era.

Y que bien (Remasterizado)

Artists featured on this project include legendary Cuban musicians such as Los Van Van, alongside Grupo De Experimentación, Farah Maria, Ricardo Eddy Martinez, Juan Pablo Torres, Grupo Sintesis and Orquesta Riverside. Mostly names that remain largely unknown outside of Cuba, their music is jam-packed with heavy bass lines, synth and Wah-Wah guitar funk, combined with heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all-encompassing Cuban-Latin rhythms that are known and loved throughout the world.

Much of the music on this album also features in the deluxe large-format book Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90, released by Soul Jazz Books and also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker. This accompanying document showcases Cuban music and record designs from the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.

Culture Clash In Havana Cuba – Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2.