Chan… Chan… Charanga!
--Charanga Habanera
Review by Jacira Castro

 

For many years I've been listening to the Charanga Habanera in all of its incarnations. I have followed their evolution through the years, with their corresponding growth and maturity of style. 

This is a group that has been considered "avante guarde," as the French say, for many years... They have been leaders, always among the best. This latest CD will not disappoint their faithful fans and it may even surprise them with their daring exploration of other styles like hip hop or rap.... always anchored with the phenomenal piano, balanced out by trumpets (which are their trademark), accentuated by sensual voices that seduce the listener with their harmonies, sometimes sweet, sometimes hard and gast, just like we like it! ... and that Timba which makes folks move their hips in rhythm to the music... AYYYYY, PAPI! It's true! Your Charanga is on fire!

If their last live recording from Peru was pure Timba, then this one is too, with a few exceptions, most notably the first track where there is a voice singing chorus in a "strange" accent. Is this a wink toward the world wide fascination with Timba? Is this an invitation from behind the musical curtain to the foreign community that has, for so many years, been excluded from the latest goings on with Cuban music?

Whatever the reason, this song is so much fun that it is inevitable that you get up and dance to it! Indisputably, Timba is uniquely CUBAN!

But Timba is also very contagious... those who are traditionalists of the Son style reject it categorically.  They are like the old folks who think all this new music is nothing more than "noise", but the truth be known, they haven't really listened to it!  When they do, they, too will move their hips in rhythm to the Bongó, the choruses and the "tumba'o of the piano.

...and just when you think they have completely abandoned tradition, they come back with a great mambo, a cowbell, a trumpet, claves and timbales. I have no doubt in telling you that song number 7, "Mambo #Cuba" will turn into one of the classic Charanga hits .... it says:

“Yo traigo un ritmo que cura la cintura y le da al cuerpo tremenda suavezura...Este es un ritmo con mucha vitamina ... si tu lo bailas, con él lo contaminas...A la gordita la suele a adelgazar y a la flaquita la pone a güarachar, y los viejitos lo bailan suavecito... 
Si tu bailas, de mí te acordarás, con este ritmo jamás te enfermerás.. ya todo mundo se pregunta, ¿Qué tiene el mambo? ¿Qué tiene este mambo?
...y no me pidas que te toque moña, porque te mando p’al extranjero!
Mambo, salsa, bolero, ¡Sí!”

If you are looking for a romantic song, look no further, because track number 8 was written by the great singer/songwriter, Kike Santander (a.k.a. "Samson" for challenging "Goliath"!). Imagine a voice singing “Llegó la banda regando flores, viene curando mi mal de amores!”  All the while it is singing this, it is whispering to you, gently licking you, nibbling on you... and it gives you goosebumps because it takes you out of that depression you've been in, ...you've found a new lover!

The next to last track is called, "A mí, ¿qué?" and it gets back to it's roots... this is pure charanga... with an old style piano and a virtuoso on the keyboards... with a charanga style flute and the choruses...

And to close,  "Chan Chan!" ...But wait a minute! It has an echo of the traditional... this version combines the "tres", the harmonies of the original version, combined with a saxophone which gives it a modern touch... and then here come those choruses... timba and elements of a Latin jazz piano, along with that lead voice, guiding us into the 21st century! 

Buy this CD... because you will enjoy it thoroughly!

Tracks:

1. GOZANDO Y A LO CUBANO
2. PILA CERRA
3. LA VECINA
4. TIENE DE CUBA
5. ELLA ES COMO ES
6. MUÉVETE
7. MAMBO #CUBA
8. MI VIDA SIN TU AMOR
9. EL ABUELO CARMELO
10. ¿A MÍ QUÉ?
11. CHAN CHAN

Músicos:

Bass: Randolph Chacón
Piano: Helder Rojas
Timbales: Pavel Rodríguez
Congas: Orlando Mengual
Bongó: Lázaro Mengual
Keyboards, Flauta y Saxo: Osmany Collado
Trumpet: Carmelo Andrés
Trumpet: Juan M. Jiménez
Trumpet: Junio Romero
Voices: Dante Cardoso, Aned Motta, Noel Díaz, Leonid Torres
Special Guests: Roberto Carlos (keyboard), Lázaro L. Díaz (Voice), Jorge Leliebre (Flute)

This page last updated on 04-Mar-2005

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