Cuban Snowball
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Every few years, it seems, this country gets caught up in the “exotic” music of some foreign land–as in the African music explosion ushered in by Paul Simon’s Graceland, the Irish music deluge that resulted from Riverdance, or the current fascination with Brazilian tropicalia stoked by David Byrne. Now, thanks to Cooder, it’s Cuba’s turn. What’s different about Buena Vista Social Club, however, is that for the most part the musicians are unknown in their own land, and the style of music they play was rapidly dissolving into distant memory before the album caught fire. Acclaimed contemporary Cuban jazz pianist Ernan Lopez-Nussa, who performed here recently, told me that the stars of the record “have gone through their whole lives without fame. Only other musicians knew who they were. I’ve known Ruben Gonzalez since I was a child, but some of the musicians were completely unknown to me until the album came out.”
Quite a few of them once played in famous bands. Ruben Gonzalez, for instance, backed Arsenio Rodriguez. Flutist Richard Egues was in Orquesta Aragon, and Ferrer sang with Beny More. But with the exception of Compay Segundo, who plays a guitar-tres hybrid of his own design called the armonico, none is a bandleader. More significant, their music is the music of prerevolutionary Cuba, when the island was a playground for wealthy American businessmen. When he came to power in 1959, Fidel Castro did his best to eradicate it, pushing instead the patriotic trova tradition, and as the government took over the recording industry many artists fled to the U.S. Communism made (and makes) it difficult for those who stayed behind to get equipment or record.
If this barrage of traditional Cuban music feels like a last-chance bonanza, that may not be not far from the truth. Ferrer is in his 70s, Ruben Gonzalez is 80, and Segundo is in his 90s, so their belated fame is decidedly bittersweet. The most poignant part of Wenders’s film is when, after a gig at Carnegie Hall, the musicians wander around New York as spellbound as Kansas schoolkids on a field trip. But they’re not taking their 15 minutes sitting down–as the latest rush of recordings and tours suggests, they’re making the most of every opportunity to play the music of their lives.
