Musical History: the Cuban Dance's Roots

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2003 by Rudy Mangual

Envidia Records Special DVD and CD package

This special DVD and CD package, produced by Luis A. Dominguez (President of Envidia Records of Barcelona, Spain), summarizes in video and digital audio sound the efforts by this label to capture the roots of Cuban dance music through re-recordings of numerous bands and veteran, artists still active on the island as well as of newcomers on the scene today.

Dominguez's original concept was that of writing a book about the history of Cuban music with the aid of Cuban musicologist Lidia Becquer back in 1995, at which time he was living and working in Cuba. But the project was dropped in 1997 when Dominguez promptly had to depart the island and return to Barcelona. A year later, Dominguez found his way back to Cuba with the intention of completing his previous work on the book, but after meeting with Becquer, she persuaded him to re-direct the task to create a new catalog of recordings of the many orchestras that for various reasons had fallen into oblivion. Envidia Records was born with the goal of producing a catalog of about 50 recordings that would document the roots of Cuban dance music. Some of the first orchestras to be recorded by the label include Orquesta América, Sonora Gloria Matancera, Orquesta Sublime, Maravillas de Florida, and Conjunto Chappottín y Sus Estrellas. Many of these orchestras had not recorded an album in over seventeen years.

This special DVD and CD package Musical History: The Cuban Dance's Roots is a compilation sampler of Envidia Records' accomplishments thus far. The DVD features 14 videos from different orchestras and artists on the label, plus interviews of the artists and scenic passages of Havana, Cuba. There is an option for English and Spanish sub-titles (or none) on the interviews and dialogue segments of the videos. For a more relaxing audio experience, a CD featuring all fourteen selections is also included in the package. Video and audio highlights include Conjunto Chappottín y sus Estrellas performing Canallón, Pello El Afrokán Jr. on La Pillé, J.J. Oliveros on Poco Pelo, Marianao Social Club on Ja Ja, Bibí, Enrique Lazaga y La Ritmo Oriental on Mi Socio Manolo, Los Bocucos on ¡Ay Candela!, and Estrellas Cubanas on Los Tamalitos de Olga. A bilingual booklet with short bios on the featured artists and photographs completes this multi-media historical package.