Havana, Cuba. - Music is indisputably one of the most fertile, rich and prolific expressions of the culture created in Cuba throughout the years. It is not surprising, therefore, that any editorial catalog that analyzes, studies and assesses its scope and significance is vast and diverse.
In that extensive bibliography, a book deals with the subject from a perspective seldom approached on the island. In the pages of this work, the author delves into Cuban music scene from the angle of records, as an essential asset to treasure the memory of this expression of national culture.
In “Musica cubana: la aguja en el surco” (Ediciones Cubanas-ARTEX, 2015, 224 pp), Jose Reyes-Fortun made a documented approach to the development of phonographic records in Cuba - from mid XIX century to the present day - and to singers, soloists and groups that left the testimony of their art in those records.
Lectures, reviews, commentaries and notes are gathered within two chapters. All these texts offer the reader, through a suggestive and substantial reflexive discourse, an interesting look at the almost unknown world of records, which unquestionably contains valuable information.
The researcher thus approaches subjects such as Cuban record industry from 1944 to 1959; the inclusion of jazz in national discography from 1898 to 1950; songs and singers in Cuban musical discography between 1900 and the 1920’s; and the presence of Rita Montaner (“La Unica”) .
One of the anthologized texts is “El curso de la aguja en tiempo de son”, whose original version appeared in 2004, in Cubadisco newspaper. Herein follows a fragment of that review:
“The impact of Son in Cuba’s musical spectrum distinctly managed to capture the popular taste. It stepped into the path so-far freely trodden by Danzon, Criolla, rumba and bolero. Its innovative and rich rhythmic designs were supported by timbres that unquestionably revolutionized the styles of playing music, dancing and even singing it.
Popular musicians achieved greater fame when they assimilated and included in their repertoires this way of making music, thus inspiring the wish to dance. This popularity also stirred growing interest from US record companies.
The voices of Juan Cruz, Floro Zorrilla, Miguel Zaballa, Pablito Armiñan, Manuel Luna, Bienvenido Leon, until then exponents of the refined troubadour songs, became duos, trios and quartets that played Son. They heralded, in some cases, the fusion crystallized shortly after by Miguel Matamoros with the bolero-Son “Lagrimas Negras.”
Jose Reyes-Fortun (1946) is a musicologist, specialized in phonography, at the National Museum of Music. His active work of research and promotion of Cuban music has earned him the Juan Marinello 2001 and 2005 Annual Research Award and Cubadisco 2011 Honor Prize.
He collaborates systematically with local and overseas periodical publications and is the author, among other books-albums, of “Ofrenda Criolla: aproximacion a la discografia de Benny More”; “El gran tesoro de la musica cubana”, bio-bibliography of Odilio Urfe; “El Conjunto Casino”: los campeones del ritmo” and “El arte de Benny More.”
Researcher Ricardo Roberto Oropesa said in his foreword to “Musica cubana: la aguja en el surco”: “Reading and learning from these writings, is like attending and enjoying a concert with pleasure and good taste. That is what Jose Reyes-Fortun invites us do: to listen to music of all times.”
With this book, Jose Reyes-Fortun will not disappoint the lovers of the best Cuban music. It is easy to realize that this researcher handles with skill and dexterity resources that allow him to stir the curiosity and interest of those who read these pages.
Translated by Pedro A. Fanego
