The perfect souvenirs of this luxury holidays in Cuba
You can not end your Cuba Holidays without buying the LECUONA TOCA A LECUONA (Volume I) (Lecuona Plays Lecuona). This is quite a gift for piano music lovers and for those who keep tabs of Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona's works. This CD culls an excellent selection of anthological pieces played by Lecuona himself. As many critics have long said in the cases of Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov, Lecuona combined his piano virtuosity with a flair for song writing and composition that eventually churned out several of the best Cuban dances ever created, a genre that had been commenced by Ignacio Cervantes, "Cuba's most celebrated musician of the 19th century," as famous Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier once wrote. As you can see this will be the perfect souvenir to take home on this musical Cuba Holidays.
The sixteen cuts are La Comparsa; Danza Negra; Danza Lucumi; A la Antigua; En Tres por Cuatro; Canto del Guajiro; La Habanera; Damisela Encantadora; Crisantemo; Romantico; Malaguena; Andalusia; Estas en mi Corazon; Maria la O; Siboney and Noche Azul. While listening to any of this songs seating at home all the memories of the best Cuba Holidays you ever had will come to your mind.Fortunately for those who love his music and for scholars who study his work, maestro Lecuona recorded several LPs that have now evolved into cherished treasures and the underpinnings of this effort that record label EGREM is doing to spread his music.
There is another gift waiting for you on this Cuba Holidays and this is LECUONA TOCA A LECUONA (Volume II) (Lecuona Plays Lecuona). Any of these two Volumes will be the perfect gift for your best friend, who is waiting anxiously for you to return of your Caribbean Holidays in Cuba on your home land. The same record label (EGREM) is now putting out Lecuona Plays Lecuona (Volume II). A new breed of listeners and Cuba Holidays makers is increasingly interested in knowing the maestro's piano compositions, and a good deal of pianists from the turf and around the world are putting more and more Lecuona hits in their repertoires, a sign that his musical legacy is alive and kicking. This CD includes 14 cuts: Poetico; Ahi Viene el Chino; Por Que te Vas; Estudiantina; Cordova; Gitanerias; Aragon; Valencia Mora; Al Fin te Vi; Palomitas Blancas; Music box; Mazurca en Glisado; Polichinela and Rosa la China. In all, this is a production of top-flight technical and artistic level in which Lecuona's melodic inspiration and the presence of a rich inheritance are laid bare to the bone.
Once you finished your holidays in Cuba you have not to say good bye to the Cuban Music by taking home those volumes which are examples of the best of the music of this beloved island. There you will hear the influence of Spanish music, African rhythms and Caribbean beats. Forty one years after his death, the work of Ernesto Lecuona is rooted in Cuba's national heritage more than ever before. His compositions are indispensable to really cotton on to the history of Cuban, Hispanic, American and universal music.
That Thin Voice like the Wind
That is how Roberto Fernandez Retamar defined Benny More, an icon of Cuba's popular music who became a larger-than-life crooner at age 44 when he passed away in Havana nearly 44 years ago. When you are talking about Cuban Music you must mention Benny More as well as when you are enjoying of this musical Cuba Holidays you must to listen to his songs.
The man who was born in Santa Isabel de las Lajas, a small town in the province of Cienfuegos, on August 24, 1919, and nearly died onstage on February 19, 1963, is now coming back as the star of a new movie, The Benny, led by young talented director Jorge Luis Sanchez. This is a film that you can see as part of your all inclusive holidays in Cuba. It recreates the history of this famous Cuban musician as well as personal Life. The movie is full of dances and above all full of its extraordinary music. So far, the flick has brought down the house in movie theatres across Cuba and set new box-office highs with half a million goers in a just a few weeks following its premiere. In an effort to celebrate the anniversary of his demise, record label EGREM launched Benny Sings Boleros earlier this year, a two-volume album that culls 30 masterpieces sung by the legendary act. This will be the perfect souvenir of these perfect Caribbean holidays in Cuba.
Benny More: the best voice of the Cuban Music.
During your summer holidays in Cuba you will find out that Bartolome Maximiliano More Benitez –that was his real name- learned to play guitar at an early age, and this instrument was with him in parties and serenades in his hometown. He moved to Havana in 1940 and for a number of years he was nothing but a walking troubadour who used to belt out tunes in cafes, parks and in the streets.
Five years later, he travelled to Mexico as part of Miguel Matamoros' well-known band and made several presentations in Mexican nightclubs before joining the orchestra of Damaso Perez Prado, the King of Mambo. Knowing the origin and history of this legendary glory of the Cuban music will be an unforgettable experience of your Cuba Holidays. Benny More was in Mexico where he recorded albums acted in films and successfully performed in theatres and cabarets. He returned to Cuba and stayed on the island for a while, eventually joining Merceron, Marianao's eastern band.
A few months later, he trekked back to Mexico to resume a successful musical career. He returned to Cuba in 1953 and performed with the Bebo Valdes' orchestra before coming up with his own group: The Benny More Giant Band. This orchestra landed with a personal style of its own and with it he put on a streak of shows on the radio, on TV, in theatres and cabarets. That is how he climbed the stardom of music in Cuba, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and captured the heart of his people. And his music will surely capture your heart too on this amazing Cuba Holidays.
El Barbaro del Ritmo: an autodidactic musician.
Only during your all inclusive holidays in Cuba you will learn that El Barbaro del Ritmo, as he was nicknamed, built a style of his own unseen up to that moment. His rhythmic gait and his way of singing were unique, with pitches and tones that stamped the undisputed seal of his musical creation –despite the fact that he had never studied music in any school.
Benny More was tall and slender, donning a wide-brimmed hat and blandishing a cane, he climbed onstage in Cuba and elsewhere in the region with his charismatic personality –too often controversial and overreacting- that whipped the legend into shape. His wide-brimmed hat and his cane has become symbols of this Cuban celebrity.Your Cuba Holidays are not going to be the same if you do not visit "El Ali Bar"; it was the place that Benny More likes the most in Havana. There he made his favourite performances and there is where all the history of this famous Cuban musician is gathered.
"Santa Isabel de las Lajas querida..."
On this Cuba Holidays you have to visit Cienfuegos which is Benny More's home city. On the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas you can find a museum that used to be his house. There you will see personal belongings of this famous Cuban Musician as well as part of the history and origin of el Barbaro del Ritmo. Even young people of this location still sing his famous song of "Santa Isabel de las Lajas querida..." (Beloved Santa Isabel de las Lajas). On the main walkway of the city of Cienfuegos you can also admire on this all inclusive holidays in Cuba, a full size statue of this marvellous man of the Cuban Music. He seems to be there walking inside the multitude of people of the city that he likes the most. Benny More has passed away however his spirit is still walking on the streets of Cienfuegos and his talented voice sounds in every Cuban young musician that starts its career with effort and sacrifices as he once did. While visiting Cienfuegos as part of this all inclusive holidays in Cuba you can ask anyone about who Benny More was, from the old lady to the child everyone will ask you the same he was el Barbaro del Ritmo.
During your Cuba Holidays, you will find yourself singing in perfectly Spanish "Cienfuegos es la ciudad que mas me gusta a mi..."
Uttering phrases and shouts, and taking his own dance steps, his performances were those of an extraordinary showman. Today, his music and many anecdotes about his fleeting life are handed down from one generation to the next, shaping up the collective memory of the Cuban people and of his fans in other lands of the Americas. We are sure that after listening to his Music you are going to be his fan too and you will discover yourself singing in perfectly Spanish "Cienfuegos es la Ciudad que mas me gusta a Mi"(Cienfuegos is the city that I Like the most).
After enjoying this full of music Cuba Holidays we are sure that you are going to jump to the conclusion that the music is one of the most valuable treasures that Cuba has kept for the visitors that chose this island for spending their Caribbean Holidays. From the classical to the popular, there are a lot of rhythms that while dancing them you will feel that your summer holidays in Cuba are going to be memorable. While dancing, rumba with The Munequitos de Matanzas, guaguanco with Tata Guines, boleros or son with Benny More you will wish that your Cuba Holidays never end. As well as , while listening to the best jazz of Cuba by Chucho Valdes and the best of the Cuban classical music in a piano concert by Frank Fernandez, a guitar one by Leo Brower you will finally think that the best event that takes place in your life was this musical Cuba Holidays.
