Madre Rumba, Padre Son
By
Edgardo & Candela
on Pan Caliente Records

CD Reviewed by

Salsa, Fresh and Hot - With a Message!

Just between you and me, sometimes I get a little weary of the most recent trend in salsa.  That 'clankety-clank' pop stuff, is a lot of fun, but some of it has so many other types of music mixed in (reggae, rap, hip-hop, house - take your pick), that pretty soon we won't be able to call it salsa. Then there's the ever-present 'romantic salsa', which I love to listen, sing and dance to, but there's only so much "I love you - you left me - my life is over", one can bear.

So it's a welcome change to hear more uplifting and intelligent lyrics set to some really nice dance tunes. Edgardo y Candela's "Madre Rumba, Padre Son" has plenty of both, and stays musically faithful to the roots of salsa, with just enough contemporary jazz and Cuban timba to give it a fresh sound.

Edgardo Cambón and his group Candela have been firing up the dance floors in the San Francisco Bay Area for well over a decade. Now they have let the rest of us in on the party with this, their first U.S. release.

More than a few of the songs on this CD are good hit material. There's a kind of "live band" quality to many of the tracks that make them just plain fun to dance to. But it's also salsa for listening, with many of the songs conveying a message, or telling a story. I would bet my left dancing shoe that the great salsa poet, Rubén Blades, has been a major inspiration to this singer-songwriter-percussionist.

You can take a salsa history lesson while you're dancing to the first (and title) cut, and go from Africa to Cuba to New York, where it all came together. It's a great opening song that really gets swinging in the chorus, when you're introduced to the band's smooth and jazzy trombone sound that is carried through the rest of the CD.

Another element of this band's style that's repeated in many of their songs, is a break in the middle, where Edgardo speaks to his dancing audience, and his words either finish the story with enthusiasm and humor, or just exhort everybody to enjoy life. In "Buscando Felicidad" ("looking for happiness"), this part is quite long, and if you don't understand Spanish, it's OK - just keep on dancing - the music is happy enough to give you the same message.

"Vidas Ajenas" reminds us that life is too short to waste by trying to live other's lives for them. It's much better to let go and have fun with your life - as does John Gove with his trombone solo here. The short ending chorus, "Oye mamá, lo mío olvídate ya" (loosely translated "Hey Lady, leave me alone already") is a catchy phrase that accents the great dancing rhythms in this song.

Besides being blessed with a clear 'sonero' voice, and songwriting talent, Edgardo also plays a mean conga. In "Canta Para El Mundo Entero", he squares off with young Julio Areas on timbales, quien no se queda atrás, and surely has a wonderful future ahead of him. John Calloway 's flute is superb in "Ese Tío y Esa Tía", and Abel Figueroa's trombone solo swings in "No Me Provoques".

"Un Nuevo Día" is a song about a drug addict who has hit bottom, and is reaching out for help. The chorus is upbeat, and Edgardo adds humor to the positive message he brings here. Did you know that the real reason la cucaracha couldn't walk is because "la coca la puso bien loca" (cocaine made her crazy)?

If you listened to the tape I made of "Madre Rumba, Padre Son" for my car (yes, it's an old jalopy with no CD player), you might get a clue that "A Tu Lado" is my favorite song on this CD - it's taped at the beginning and end of each side!

It starts out slow, and you can dance bien suavecito to this happy romantic tune, and then - here comes Edgardo again, this time chanting to a peppy timba beat. He tells all husbands to hold their wives close, and whisper in their ears, over and over, "Siempre estaré a tu lado" (I will always be by your side). Now I'm sure any woman in love with her husband would love this, but I have a better idea. All of you married salseras out there, go buy this CD, invite - no - DRAG your vegetating hubby off the couch and into your favorite dance club, and request that they play this song, if no other. Then YOU whisper the same thing into HIS ear, and you'll surely have him wrapped around your finger - or anyplace else you want him wrapped around - for at least the rest of the evening!

"Pedirte Perdón" is the only slow ballad on the CD. It is beautifully written and arranged, and Cambón sings it with corazón. The tender piano accompaniment by Ben Heveroh, and Jeff Kressman's dreamy trombone remind me of some of the romantic ballads of Tito Rodríguez and Cheo Feliciano.

Then Candela gets you out of dreamland with "Del Caribe Soy", a very fast merengue that would get just about anybody up and dancing. The last track is a salsa version of John Lennon's "Imagine". It's a good attempt, but the original version is so beautiful, and such a favorite of mine, that it's just hard for me to accept it any other way. The simple one word chorus added by Cambón, however, was a really good choice. "Imagínate", an expression used frequently in Spanish to convey so much more than words, is just perfect here.

A final word to our local salsa radio stations here in the Miami area - HELLLOOO! Please consider pushing your silly pop-salsa-house remixes to one side for a few minutes a day, and make some room for some new, genuine, good salsa.

"Madre Rumba, Padre Son" would be a good place to start.

~diane

Musicians: Ben Heveroh, piano; Jeff Cressman, Marty Wehner and John Gove, trombones; Edgardo Cambón, vocals & congas; Eric Rangel, bongo drums & background vocals; David Belove, bass, Julio Areas, timbales & background vocals and Sandy Cressman, vocals.

The CD is produced by Edgardo Cambón, Laura Sefchovich and David Schecter on Pan Caliente Records.

Order the CD online at www.cdbaby.com/edgardo.

Edgardo and Larry Harlow!

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