The Team Cuba de la Rumba project started only a few years ago to being together different rumba groups and proponents of the rumba across Cuba and has show the genre's ability to constantly reinvent itself without losing its essence.
The project promoters Guillermo Amores (original idea and overall production) and the experienced Germán Velazco (musical direction) together with a large group of rumberos aroun'd the country have managed to produce under the EGREM label one double album titled Team Cuba of Rumba: The Solution' which came out earlier this year. The album is the union of several of the most brilliant exponents of the genre with the aim of promoting what is happening in rumba on the island on a large scale, while honouring all those who have dedicated their life to the rumba, especially those who are gone.
The album offers a sample of the variety of styles and trends that move within the rumba: guaguancó, columbia and yambú, with some songs arranged and fused with other genres of Cuban music.
It is a record of tradition, knowledge and contributions made ​​by a number of rumberos, including some with the most traditional views, ensuring the project is well rooted in the cultural heritage of the nation.
It also presents the styles of rumba in different regions of the country, especially in the traditional strongholds of Havana and Matanzas, allowing the listener to get, for example, an idea of ​​how much the rumba is influenced by the environment in which its interpreters operate.
An interesting element in the way Team Cuba de la Rumba works is the variability of their lineup; It is not a fixed format , which gives each performance or recording new nuances unlike the previous one.
The project involved members of Clave Guaguancó, one of the most distinguished groups of rumba in the country led by Amado Dedeu, a key player in the project; Los Papines, who also received a tribute for his more than five decades of work; Muñequitos de Matanzas and Yoruba Andabo Afrocuba, Rumbatá, Guaguancó Matancero, Los Chinitos Korea, The Aspirin, the 6 The sun and the National Folkloric Ensemble.
But the list is thickened with very special guests that could not resist the attractiveness of the project, and with their instruments or voices imprinted exceptional uniqueness on the recordings. Also appearing are Frank Fernández, César "Pupy" Pedroso, Lazarito Valdes and Manolito Simonet, the treseros Pancho Amat and Papi Oviedo, the singer Isaac Delgado, Mayito Rivera, Mandy Cantero and Pedro Lugo "El Nene". Plus bassist Jorge Reyes, the young pianist Rolando Luna, drummer Oliver Valdés, singer Melvis Santa and Eloy Machado "The Ambia", promoter of popular rock of the UNEAC.
Thanks to this "all star"cast the album shows excellent workmanship such as Rumba three pianos, with the assistance of the triad Pupy, Simonet and Lazarito Valdes, and the voices of Adonis Panter, Freddy Ernesto Valdes and Dedeu resulting in a monumental guaguancó.
Following guaguancó tributes to Rita Montaner, Ricardo Tasca Tasca Papin Abreu, one of the great successes of the Papines first recorded in 1965 appears; the drummer Francisco Hernández Mora "Pancho Quinto," and the teacher Juan Formell.
The double album The Solution is linked with a DVD, directed by the director Maira Maria Garcia, it contains a documentary that shows the creative process of the rumba from an anthropological perspective to reflect the characteristics of the places from where each of the different styles came and its followers from interviews conducted at different locations.
The audiovisual collects images of shows in their natural centres, Havana and Matanzas from which came the big solar rumba of Cuba and where today the tradition is kept alive which makes unique rumba music part of the identity of the nation.
The DVD, also released in English and French, includes the promotional video clip Juntemonos, Let's get together, a song written by Raul de la Caridad Gonzalez "Laly" percussionist, singer and composer of several themes incorporated into the repertoire of different rumba groups, and for those involved in the project highlights the spirit of the union of several musicians who cultivate different manifestations of the same genre.
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