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Two Cuban songs to start a new bouncing period

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Two Cuban songs to start a new period of posting/bouncing, hopefully intensely.

Enjoy!

The first song, "Danza Ñáñiga", is interpreted by the all-star Cuban group Irakere, famous in the 1970-80's for mixing jazz, rock and Afro-Cuban music. The song is authored by Chucho Valdés, creator/director of Irakere, one of the best-known jazz composer and pianist player in the world, and probably the most influent musician within modern Afro-Cuban jazz. The second song, "Siempre Happy", is interpreted by another Cuban group Habana Abierta, plenty of talented young musicians, that were a hit in Cuba and Spain in early 2000's because of their rebellious lyrics and their fusion of Nueva Trova style (a more less cult Cuban music genre --think of Bob Dylan) with popular/danceable music of very different kinds. The song is authored by Boris Larramendi, perhaps one of the most creative and fresh-minded composers of Cuban music by now. Aha, I was just missing that the pianist in this beautiful arrangement is done by the father of Chucho Valdés (from the previous song), Bebo Valdés, a renowned figure in his own right, tremendously important for Cuban music and one of the contenders for the title of "creator" of Mambo genre. (Go to 1:03 minute.) If you liked this post, I suggest you check out another one on Cuban music genealogy.

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