Monday, April 12, 2010

Video: Cuba - Conj. Nasako "Ochun"


Conjunto Nasako
Luis Santamaria (Mongo Santamaria's cousin) singing.
Agustín Gutiérrez playing Chekere.
Jesús Pérez playing el Hierro (guataca).
And Sonia Calero dancing.
(3 drums made by Candido Requena)

"Ochun"

Posted by Fidels Eyeglasses on Monday, April 12, 2010
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2 comments:

patricio said...

Hey Mark I wonder where you got this one!!
I took many lessons with two guys in Cuba who both studied with Luis Santamaría for ten years, and one says this is not Luis Santamaría… and Luis Santamaría was supposed to be blind. Anyway, the voice is truly the same than in Mongo's "Bembé" album. There may have been two Luis Santamaría… another polémica!
In this vid they are playing a strange adaptation of a Iyesá (or Iyesá moddú from Matanzas) without sticks and with chekerés OR a binary güiro part with extra drumparts. The sound was clearly recorded apart (and before, which means they could have made a record!), and they are re-acting in playback (a strong coro with female voices can be heard).
In the left corner is Agustín Guttiérez 'el Bongocero', who obviously doesn't know how to play a chekeré (how funny!).
On the opposite side is Jesús Pérez with the agogó, and near him (can hardly be seen) Nicolas Mauro with the tall drum on the right. Another guy with the small bigote is obviously the same guy than in the famous Alberto Zayas picture (from the El Vive Bien original LP) but I (we) (still) don't know his name.
This is characteristic of the 1950's era when white dancers could do whatever they wanted with groups that were supposed to play in cabarets… and some of these so-called 'rumberas' had much less clothes on!! This kind of things is to blame regarding authenticity and the main purpose was obviously money, in those hard times for black musicians. But this piece is one of the nicest I've ever seen in this kind of pseudo-traditional style. So thanks once again…
Pat

April 13, 2010 at 8:53 AM
Fidels Eyeglasses said...

I have the movie "Yambao" on video with Luis Santamaria singing in several scenes, I'll post it and you can compare the two. (In color)

Yes, Agustín Guttiérez and the guy from the cover of the Guaguancó Afro-Cubano LP are in this video.

April 19, 2010 at 9:21 PM

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