Cuba

REPERTOIRE

Adventure! As has always been a preference of Piranha Records and the swarm behind it: We really get interested when the going get’s a little more adventurous! Musically, too. When borders are crossed. Genres mixed. Ideas exchanged. Melodies and Grooves interwoven. Hearts intertwined.

Artistically as well as spritually - as was the case in the NYC Central Park Bigup of masterdrummers Eddie Bobè (Puerto Rico) and Orlando “Puntilla” Rios” (Cuba) from 1999 or Piranha recording artist Maurice el Medioni’s 2006 Piranha production "Descarga Oriental", his collaboration with Cuban-American drummer Roberto Juan Rodríguez infusing Medioni's trademark Algerian PianOriental with a shot of Cuban rhythm and style – commonly hailed for ist musical virtuosity and aplomb accordingly by music critics the world over.

Being especially keen on playing with the Cuban heritage in an innovative style like that doesn’t mean we don’t support, promote and enjoy the regular Cuban stuff with equal commitment, though – we did so from very early on at Piranha. Started out with "Pinareno - The original Sound from the Tobacco Road of Cuba", a sampler of field recordings from Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province in 1992, Piranha Records year # 5.

Orquesta Cumbre de Pinar del Rio and the late great legendary Mario Bauza played "HeimatKlänge – Carnevale Caribe" on stage in Berlin’s Tiergarten the same year and appeared on the subsequent Piranha souvenir release with original festival recordings. "HeimatKlänge 1997 – CubaniSimo" and the associated recording the following year were dedicated to Cuba altogether. "HeimatKlänge – Humboldt’s Travels" 1999, preceded by their Piranha release "House of Drums" the year before, sported yet another Cuban outfit – Sin Palabras.

By then, with a little help from Ry Cooder, Wim Wenders and their epochal Buena Vista Social Club project, AfroCuban music had long become a household name and household kind of music around the world. Not that it had been missing from the international musical landscape – Cuban music had its impact on everything groovy under the sun long before Buena Vista Social Club. Habanera! AfroCuban Jazz! Salsa! How funky, how lively, how cool, easy going and irresistible can popular music get!?

And while we're at it with asking: Is son the father of Salsa? How many Rumba styles are there? Did the French bring Danzón to Cuba? How bubbly and vital is the AfroCuban musical tradition today? You can learn all you ever wanted to know and some stuff you never wanted to ask on the side with Piranha libro con cedé "From Afrocuban Music to Salsa" by Dr. Olavo Alén Rodríguez.

And then – let's see how Cuban music will further develop from there, now that Piranha Arts Consultancy is involved with the main Actores Cubanos of the music sector to stage each September Primera Linea - the Havana Internationl Music Forum, with showcases and conferences to complete the world’s cubanization, at least musically wise.

Piranha enjoys to be part of it!

Please wait! Loading in progress...please wait! upload in progress... it can take a while - depending on your internet connection