The Homeland's Cry: The Buena Vista Social Club and "La Bayamesa"

Today's random tune is by the Buena Vista Social Club. The Buena Vista Social Club was the name of a club in Havana, Cuba where musicians met and performed together in the 1940s at a time when new Latin styles were being created. Juan de Marcos González and Ry Cooder assembled a number of those musicians that had played there and recorded them for a CD in 1997. After the release of the CD, they were invited to play as a full ensemble in Amsterdam where filmmaker Wim Wenders captured the performance on film and interspersed that footage with interviews of the musicians in a documentary called Buena Vista Social Club. The documentary went on to receive an Academy Award nomination, and made stars of the once forgotten musicians as well as reviving interest in Cuban music and Latin music in general. This song, La Bayamesa, is a criolla and patriotic song about a woman from the city of Bayamo who tears up at memories of old traditions and yet answers the call of her homeland when needed. This La Bayamesa is not the national anthem of Cuba, which has the same name. It can be found on the 1997 CD Buena Vista Social Club.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buena_Vista_Social_Club

Like a Cuban Son: Eliades Ochoa and "All Along the Watchtower"

The random tune for today is an awesome cover of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Eliades Ochoa is a Cuban guitarist and singer who came to worldwide fame as a member of the Buena Vista Social Club which was popularized by the movie of the same name. A guitar player from the age of 6, he was invited to join the Cuban group Cuarteto Patria as its leader and he began introducing elements of the son musical style into their music. His main instrument is the tres, a Cuban guitar with three groups of six strings, but he also occasionally plays the cuatro, which adds two additional strings. All Along the Watchtower can be found on the 2014 release From Another World: A Tribute to Bob Dylan.

Fixes Your Wagon: Buena Vista Social Club and "El Carretero"

The random tune for today is from Cuba - appropriate given our newfound relations with that country. El Carretero is by the Buena Vista Social Club. The Buena Vista Social Club was the name of a club in Havana where musicians met and performed together in the 1940s at a time when new Latin styles were being created. Juan de Marcos González and Ry Cooder assembled a number of those musicians that had played there and recorded them for a CD in 1997. After the release of the CD, they were invited to play as a full ensemble in Amsterdam where filmmaker Wim Wenders captured the performance on film and interspersed that footage with interviews of the musicians in a documentary called Buena Vista Social Club. The documentary went on to receive an Academy Award nomination, and made stars of the once forgotten musicians as well as reviving interest in Cuban music and Latin music in general. El Carretero is a guajira, and has Eliades Ochoa on lead vocals. The song is about a wagon man who brings the harvest of the plains to the harbor. It can be found on the 1997 CD Buena Vista Social Club. Interesting postscript - Ry Cooder was fined $25,000 by the US government for breaking the Trading with the Enemy Act in regard to the Cuban embargo. I guess that obstacle will soon be coming to an end.

Getting Social: Buena Vista Social Club and "Chan Chan"

The random tune for today is from a breakout recording in the 1990s that brought the world's attention to music in pre-Castro Cuba. Chan Chan is a song from the Buena Vista Social Club, which centered on musicians who met and performed together at a popular club in Havana in the 1940s at a time when new Latin styles were being created. After Juan de Marcos González and Ry Cooder assembled a number of musicians that had played there and recorded them for a CD in 1997, they were invited to play as a full ensemble in Amsterdam where filmmaker Wim Wenders captured the performance on film and interspersed that footage with interviews of the musicians in a documentary called Buena Vista Social Club. The documentary went on to receive an Academy Award nomination, and made stars of the once forgotten musicians as well as reviving interest in Cuban music and Latin music in general. Chan Chan is in a "son" style, and was composed by Compay Segundo with Eliades Ochoa on lead vocals. It can be found on the 1997 CD Buena Vista Social Club. Interesting postscript - Ry Cooder was fined $25,000 by the US government for breaking the Trading with the Enemy Act in regard to the Cuban embargo.