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A music experience that is like a much needed vacation, February 8, 2003
Nonesuch
Mambo Sinuendo, Ry Cooder's collaboration with Cuban guitar legend Manuel Galbán, hearkens back to a point in the late 1950s when Cuban popular music began to hint at a fusion of American pop-jazz and the futuristic creations of modern Cuban composers (such as Perez Prado)Being a longtime fan of Ry Cooder, I know that any project that he emerges with will be well worth the wait and result in something special. From the beginning project with 1997's Grammy winning "Buena Vista Social Club" project, the world has come to know the richness of Cuba's almost forgotten music. Each musician has come to record a solo project from these sessions. This new project, "Mambo Sinuendo" features a small combo sound, a sound that was alive in the late '50's, early '60's. This setting does not showcase the big Buena Vista Social Club brass or vocals. This project is a stripped-down, seductive twangy guitar sound, featuring the guitar work of Manuel Galban up front & center. Manuel Galban is a masterful Cuban guitarist, whose style is like American guitarist Duane Eddy, one of Ry Cooder's influences. Ry Cooder plays the harmony guitar parts, weaving dreamlike rhythms and occasional hawaiin steel guitar and organ throughout, adding texture. The drums &...
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| Topic Title | Summary | Views | |
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| Being a longtime fan of Ry Cooder, I know that any project that he emerges with will be well worth the wait and result in something special. From the beginning project with 1997's Grammy winning "Buena Vista Social Club" project, the world has come to know the richness of Cuba's almost forgotten music. Each musician has come to record a solo project from these sessions. This new project, "Mambo Sinuendo" features a small combo sound, a sound that was alive in the late '50's, early '60's. This setting does not showcase the big Buena Vista Social Club brass or vocals. This project is a stripped-down, seductive twangy guitar sound, featuring the guitar work of Manuel Galban up front & center. Manuel Galban is a masterful Cuban guitarist, whose style is like American guitarist Duane Eddy, one of Ry Cooder's influences. Ry Cooder plays the harmony guitar parts, weaving dreamlike rhythms and occasional hawaiin steel guitar and organ throughout, adding texture. The drums &... | 41 | ||
| Often when Western musicians pair up with "world music" artists, the results sound like the Western person is almost completely submerged within the musical identity of the "world" person. That happened with Henry Kaiser & David Lindley's Norway & Madagascar albums, and with various things Michael Brook has done. Not here. Ry Cooder's rootsy guitar is just as much a character in this music as Manuel Galaban and the different Cuban musicians he worked with on Mambo Sinuendo. The tunes all have a Latin flavor, but filtered through various American mid-20th Century styles. I was reminded of Esquivel as well as some of the Los Lobos side projects like the Latin Playboys and Los Super Seven. The album is a real pleasure to listen to. I probably would have enjoyed it even more if there were a few more cuts with vocals. The female background vocals on the chorus of the title track are real cool. | 42 | ||
| Has any musician, dead or alive, appeared in a wider variety of musical settings than Ry Cooder? None comes to mind. The amazing thing about his cross-culturalism is how effectively he picks up the basic vibe of the music he's exploring while still putting his own stamp on the proceedings, all the while maintaining a deep (yet not slavish) respect as he playfully deconstructs and reassembles it. | 36 | ||
