Olga Guillot

Artist: Olga Guillot

LP: La Mejor Voz Cancioonera de Cuba

Song: "Vivir De Los Recuerdos"

[ listen ]

Song: "Sin Mi"

[ listen ]

Song: "Estamos En Paz"

  [ listen ]  
 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think "I-Tunes" is the alternate title of this 1950s Olga Guillot LP, on which the lovely and talented Cuban songstress is accompanied by the Orchestra Hermanos Castro. 

As a music critic, the previous owner of this record sure was a tough nut to crack, finding just one five-star song in the bunch. As you can see, they somehow managed to enjoy one other track enough to assign it a three-star rating, but all of Olga's other tunes earned only one lone star apiece. To be honest, I can't tell the difference. I've included "Vivir De Los Recuerdos," the five-star number, here, along with two of my favorite one-star Olga Guillot songs. See what you think. 

Born in Santiago de Cuba in the autumn of 1922, Olga traveled to Mexico in 1948 and hit the big time there with her recording of "Mienteme" a few years later. She went on to travel the world, once performing in Cannes with the legendary Edith Piaf. In 1964, Guillot became the first Latin artist ever to sing at New York's Carnegie Hall. You can read more about Olga Guillot on Wikipedia here, and LP liner notes in Spanish and English are included below.

 [ Olga Guillot: October 9, 1922 — July 12, 2010 ]

Facundo Rivero and His Quartet

Artist: Facundo Rivero and His Quartet

LP: Cha-Cha-Cha: The New Exciting Dance Rhythm From Cuba — double 7" EP

Song: "Negra Mi Cha-Cha-Cha"

[ listen ]

Here's a blast of cha-cha-cha from the middle of the 1950s, when it was a fresh new set of steps that challenged the mambo as the Latin dance of preference in American ballrooms across the land. There's not much to read about Facundo Rivero on the Internet (although I did unearth a handsome lad by that name who's got a Twitter account), but the musical Cuban Facundo Rivero was evidently a famous pianist and bandleader, born in Santa Clara, Cuba in 1910. According to this short Spanish language biography, Rivero played music in Cuba for a number of years, then went to Mexico in 1950, worked in a variety of countries, then landed in New York City for a while after 1959. He then alternated between New York and Miami, ultimately retiring to the warm climate of the Florida city. I find no mention of Facundo's death, so I can only assume he's still lazing around in the Miami sunshine and will be celebrating his 109th birthday at some point this year. 

Rivero is just one of the talented Cuban musicians springing the latest Latin dance craze on unsuspecting Americans in this double 7" EP that contains eight tracks simply bursting with cha-cha. Noro Morales, Ernesto Duarte, Tito Rodriguez and Al Castellanos are among some of the others. The ad on the back of the cover informs us that "EPs are the answer to 'The Music you want when you want it.'" I couldn't agree more. EPs are like the Spotify of 1955!

[ Facundo Rivero ]

Silvestre Mendez, El Rey del Canto Afro-Cubano y Su Orquesta

Artist: Silvestre Mendez, El Rey del Canto Afro Cubano y Su Orquesta

LP: Oriza (Afro-Cuban Rhythms)

Song: "Nueva Oriza"

 [ listen ] 

Song: "Laye Laye"
[ listen ]
Song: "Malambo"
[ listen ]

The other day after work I was in serious need of some vinyl retail therapy, so I stopped by Daybreak Records on my way home. This spectacular collection of Afro-Cuban rhythms from Silvestre (Mendez), the King of Afro-Cuban Singers (or Rhythms, or both!) and His Orchestra is one of the things I found. According to the online Seeco Album Discography, this LP (catalog #CELP-426/4260) was the label's final release of 1959. I've got the stereo version, which turned out kinda' crappy on my rinky-dink mp3 converter turntable. The horns and Sylvestre's lead vocals shine, but the backing vocals and cowbell (on "Laye Laye") aren't done justice here. You'll just have to come over to listen on my Gemini turntable instead. According to what I've found here, Silvestre Mednez was born in the Jesús Maria neighborhood of Havana in 1921. He left Cuba for Mexico in 1945 and never went back.

 [ Silvestre Mendez: December 31, 1921 — 1997 ]

Alejandro Barrios Martinez / Conjunto Casino

Artist: Conjunto Casino

LP: Via Cuba

Song: "Si No Eres Tu (If You Aren't There)" 
[ listen ]

That mass shooting at the gay dance club in Orlando two weeks ago is still weighing on my mind. I bought a copy of People magazine at the grocery store the other day because it features profiles on those who died at the club that night. 

I don't normally read this magazine, and I swear I'll never read it again. It took me a while to even find the Orlando story as I leafed through the magazine's seemingly endless pages of trashy pop-culture reporting. I finally located their headlining article covering the mass murder of 49 club-goers sandwiched between a Trend Report on statement sleeves...

...and a detailed interview with Kim Kardashian about how she got her body back. 

The fact that the featured article about all the people who were massacred was buried beneath so much mind-numbing shit-fluff struck me as callous and offensive. Still, I read through the mini-biographies that People had gathered, half surprised that they didn't include a report on what each of the victims had been wearing at their time of death. The magazine's layout of incredibly brief biographical sketches on the victims concluded with this unsettling footnote: 

I felt terrible for Alejandro Barrios Martinez's grieving friends and relatives who might also have picked up a copy of People at the grocery store. And, of course, I wondered who this guy was. Why had People magazine not been able to find any information about him? Who knows.

Anyhow, according to his friend Sarai Torres who spoke with the Orlando Sentinel, Alejandro Barrios Martinez was a friendly and upbeat young man who came to the USA from Cuba just a few years ago. He was still learning to speak English and he always had a smile on his face. A report in the Bradenton Herald tells us that Alejandro expressed his fear of dying and also swore his everlasting love in the heartbreaking final messages he sent to his partner from the club. 

Alejandro's mother, who lives in Cuba, was swiftly granted a visa so she would be able to come to the U.S. to bury her son. 

The New York Times features detailed profiles, along with recollections by friends and family, of all 49 people who died at the club in Orlando; you can find those here. Conjunto Casino's "Si No Eres Tu (If You Aren't There)" from their 1957 "Via Cuba" LP is my meager tribute to Alejandro and the others who were killed in Orlando, and all those who were injured too, who I'm sure will be haunted by the memory. So pointless, so infuriating and so sad. 

[ Alejandro Barrios Martinez ]

Cuban Dance Orchestra

Artist: Cuban Dance Orchestra

LP: Cha Cha

Song: "Negrita" 
[ listen ]

Happy Black Friday! I don't usually go shopping on Black Friday, but the Goodwill near my place was having a 40%-off sale on everything in the store (except yellow tag items) so I stopped by to rummage through their records. This scratchy Cuban jazz LP is one of the things I found. There aren't any liner notes on the back of the sleeve (Plymouth stuck their entire catalog listing there instead), and it's impossible to find info online for a group called simply "Cuban Dance Orchestra." What we do know is that a talented bunch of musicians got together about 60 years ago (this album was probably released in 1956) and made some terrific Cuban dance music! Someone recorded it, Plymouth released it, someone bought it, then they died (probably) and it was my good fortune to find it at Goodwill (for .60¢; regularly $1!). Plus we know that this record was also available in red.

Elena Madera

Artist: Elena Madera

LP: Elena Madera

Song: "El Pollo Se Me Escapo"

[ listen ]

Song: "Tu Seras"

[ listen ]

Song: "Canto Karabali"

[ listen ]

It hasn't even been one week since I posted Elena Madera's self-titled LP here on the blog...and now here's another one! When I located a copy of this other record by Ms. Madera online, I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough to place my order. The record was in California, but for some reason the merchant's bank was in France. When I tried to buy it, fraud protection shut down two of my credit cards before PayPal finally came to the rescue. My order was placed, the money was paid, and "¡Que Buena Está... Elena!! The Torrid Voice of Elena Madera" arrived at my workplace this afternoon! I was hoping the record's liner notes would shed new light on this amazingly talented woman whose life and career remain shrouded in darkness and mystery. They don't. Still, there's a nice photo of Elena on the back of the record—pictured with Lou Perez, who leads the orchestra here. Unfortunately, Lou won't be able to give us the lowdown on Elena, since he died when he was hit by a car in Manhattan eight years ago. In any case, I couldn't help but post a trio of songs from this fantastic, cotton-candy-colored album in order to demonstrate the many facets of Elena's intriguing personality. The non-revealing LP liner notes are included below, in both English and Spanish. If you want your own copy of this record, you can get it on sale here. 

[ Elena Madera w/ Lou Perez ]

Elena Madera

 Artist: Elena Madera

LP: Elena Madera

Song: "Pepito"

[ listen ]

Song: "El Chipi Chipi"

[ listen ]

There was nothing "Chipi Chipi" about this old record I picked up last month; it cost more than 1,200 pennies! There isn't much info about Elena Madera on the web (she doesn't even have a page on Wikipedia!), but according to the LP liner notes, she was born in Havana, Cuba of a Cuban-born mother who was a professional dancer, and a father, born in the USA, who was a band-leader in the Philadelphia area. Elena came to the United States of America at age two, began singing at age three, and the rest, as they don't usually say, isn't history. Or at least it isn't history that anyone has posted on the internet so that it's easy to find. What we do know is that Elena sang with musicians like Tito Puente and Duke Ellington, that she had an international hit with the song "Pepito," and, after listening to her music, we know that she is amazing! We also know that "Elena Madera" (Decca #DL 8976) was probably released sometime around 1958 (Caterina Valente's 1957 "Olé Caterina" LP is Decca #DL 8436) and we know that Elena Madera did not become famous and seems to have faded into obscurity today. I wonder whatever happened to her. While wondering, we can read a little about her in Spanish here, where there's also a neat video of "Pepito" being performed by Los Machucambos, and you can go here to read a brief review of the "Elena Madera" LP by someone named Tony Wilds on allmusic.com.

[ Elena Madera ]

Xiomara Alfaro

Artist: Xiomara Alfaro

LP: Latin Nightingale

Song: "María Escandalosa"

[ listen ]

I've recently met a nice fellow to date, and last Friday night we went to dinner at La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard just a few blocks from my apartment. We'd both heard good things about the place, but neither of us had been there before. It was delicious, and if you're ever in my neighborhood I recommend you give it a try. As we were walking toward dinner, I pointed out several good record stores nearby and warned my date not to let me step inside them. But when we arrived at La Isla we were told that there would be a 25-minute wait for a table, so I suggested we pop over to Bop Street Records while we waited. He said, "okay," which is a really good sign! I think we'll get along just fine. Xiomara Alfaro—whose 1958 "Latin Nightingale" LP is one of the things I discovered at Bop Street before dinner—was born in Havana, Cuba in the spring of 1930. She rose to popularity in the 1950s and came to be called "El Ruiseñor de la Canción (The Nightingale of Song)" for her lovely and inimitable soprano warbling. The guy who wrote "Siboney" claims Xiomara's version of the song to be his favorite; you can find her performing it in a neat-looking old Cuban film by clicking the YouTube link below. Go here to read about Xiomara in Spanish, and for English notes, click here.

Xiomara Alfaro on YouTube:

[ "Siboney" ]

 [ Xiomara Alfaro ]