http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKyp4yh7o1A
I was pleasantly surprised to find the name of a band reflecting precisely the nature of the band: this is a group of musicians who once performed at a famous social club in Havana, who recorded an album of standards together. The music is at once heavily dated and timeless: it felt as natural to sit and listen to it in the park at 72nd St. and B'Way as it would have in Cuba; it defies my American genres. It is Son Cubano and bolero and Guajira and Salsa. It is predictable and charming, yet captivating. It is easy listening, and there is meaning beneath the surface. It is, in short, perfectly crafted for what it is.
If this is music which existed before the group, before the record, it is unblemished. It existed to be performed, not to be recorded: it is music that exists in the present tense, and it is music that is designed to leave an impression, rather than a memory. I couldn't repeat the riffs of the song I just listened to, much less the lyrics, but it is of a mood: in this sense, it is an utter triumph.
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