Raúl Planas y Orq. Kubavana -LP late 50's

"Que Tienes Titina?"
Raúl Planas singing with Carlos Barberias Orq. Kubavana
Panart LP late 1950's

Planas is amazing, at the time of this recording, still a young man.
Barberia's big band "Orq. Kubavana" kills with swinging arrangements! (including the boleros)
The 'Peñalver' brothers in the Sax section.

1. A la quimbamba (Samba-Guaracha)

2. Cosas del alma (Bolero)
3. Nagüe (Rumba-Afro)
4. No lo digas (Bolero)
5. Yo soy cagueiran (Son Montuno)
6. No me pidas (Bolero)
7. Que tienes titina (Guaracha)
8. La cancion de dinero (Bolero)
9. Se acerca la comparsa (Guaracha-Comparsa)
10. Mi corazon tiene derecho (Bolero-Cha-cha-chá)
11. Bayamo y el Cha-cha-chá (Cha-cha-chá)
12. Despierta guajira (Guajiro-Mambo)

The original transfer from vinyl LP was a mess... now it sounds fabulous.
I spent an hour cleaning and trimming this with GoldWave v5.23
Comments? Comentarios? Commentaires? Kommentare? Reacties? Commenti? Комментарии? コメント?

Orq. Kubavana De Carlos Barberia "Ritmo Y Metales" 1958-'59 and "Congas y Comparsas"

The "original" Cuban vinyl LP cover on Panart.

Carlos Barberia

The CD "semi" reissue on the Caney label from Spain.(missing 3 songs from the original LP)

Orq. Kubavana under the direction of the great Cuban arranger 'Carlos Barberia'.
Above is the original LP on the Cuban Panart label titled "Ritmo Y Metales" front and back cover.
The 'Caney' label from Spain reissued it on a remastered CD, but left out 3 songs from the original LP. What they did on the CD was "add" several songs from Carlos Barberia LP.

Killer sessions featuring the arrangements of 'Carlos Barberia' and the best studio session players in Havana at that time. (1958-1959)

Trumpets: Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, Alejandro "El Negro" Vivar, Miguel Hernández.
Trombone: Tomás Hernández.
Saxofones: Wilfrido "Mosquito" Gelaver, Tomas Vazquez, Homero Bentancourt, Geraldo Maldonado, Pedro Ruiz.
Piano: Raul Reyes.
Acoustic Bass: Reinaldo Mereier.
Timbales & Drum set: Guillermo "Barretico" Barreto & Ana Gomez.
Tumbadoras: Oliveiro Valdez.
Bongoes: Clemente "Chicho" Piquero (bongocero for the Benny Moré Orchestra)
Vocals by Raul Planas, Carlos Embale, Rudy Calzado & "El Fantasmita".
1958-1959

Yo soy Cagueiran

Vocal: Raúl Planas

Ven pa' la loma
Vocal: Carlos Embale

 A toda Cuba le gusta
Vocal: El Fantasmita

No Me Niegues Tu Cariño

Vocal: Rudy Calzado

Everything including the 3 songs from the LP that were missing from the remastered CD.
Ripped@320

"Congas y Comparsas"
Orq. Kubavana De Carlos Barberia
CD reissue

Carlos Diaz 2 LPs - with Casino De La Playa, Carlos Barberia Y Kubavana, Yoyo Casteleiro & Estivil - 1950's Cuba

Two LP's featuring singer Carlos Diaz.

The first is Carlos Diaz singing on a 1959 LP with Orq.Casino De La Playa.
Orq.Casino De La Playa, while considered a Havana "society band" that didn't have the soulful sound of bands like Arsenio's, Chappottin's or Estrellas De Chocolate, but they definitely had a great swing all their own.
(Personally, I prefer the earlier 1940's recordings when Miguelito Valdés was the singer.)  
On this LP, "Recuerdos De La Habana" the "ensemble playing" of the band swings with all superb musicians.

"Recuerdos de La Habana"
Carlos Diaz con Orq.Casino De La Playa.
Panart - 1959

The second LP "Horas Intimas" features Carlos Diaz singing with three different bands:
Eulogio "Yoyo" Casteleiro y Su Conjunto.
("Yoyo" was a pianist)
Carlos Barberia y Kubavana.
And the Orchestra of Conductor Osvaldo Estivill.(in my opinion, the better of the two LPs)

Estivill was an arranger/composer/orchestra conductor. The songs Carlos Diaz sings with Estvill on here are all beautifully arranged "lush" boleros.
The songs he sings with Conjunto "Yoyo" Casteleiro and Carlos Barberia y Kubavana are very "tasty" Son Montunos and Guarachas, with great coros and several swinging tres guitar solos by "El Niño" Rivera.

"Horas Intimas"
Carlos Diaz
Panart LP - mid to late 1950's

With Conj. "Yoyo" Casteleiro ,
Orq. Kubavana de Carlos Barberia,
y Orq. de Osvaldo Estivill

6. Cabeza Dura
(Andrés "Niño" Rivera Echevarria: tres solo)

9. Oye Mi Son Montuno
Niño Rivera tres guitar.
Alejandro 'El Negro' Vivar: trumpet solo

11. A Bailar La Bamba

Eulogio 'Yoyo' Casteleiro
Osvaldo Estivill
Carlos Barberia

Live radio broadcasts radio CMQ - Vivo La Habana, Cuba 1953-1958

Radio CMQ
La Habana, Cuba 1953-1958

"Fefita"
Fajardo y sus Estrellas
Elio Valdés' violin solo, Tata Güines, tumbadoras

"Tiene Sabor"
Abelardo Barroso with Orq. Sensacion
Juan Pablo Miranda: flute

"Pare Cochero"


"Cosas Del Alma"
'Raúl Planas' with Orq. Kubavana, two boleros:

"No Me Pidas"

Celio Gonzales with Sonora Matancera,
killer timbalito solo in the middle, by
José Rosario Chávez "Manteca"

'José Rosario Chávez' ("Manteca")
(playing timbalito)

"A La Loma De Belén" Fidels Eyeglasses 22 version compilation

"A La Loma De Belén"

22 versions.

A Fidel's Eyeglasses compilation

1. Sexteto Habanero 1925
2. Septeto Nacional en Madrid Spain 1929

3. Septeto Habanero 1960's
4. Septeto Habanero 1970's
5. Septeto Habanero 2010
6. Cuarteto Caney con Miguelito Valdés
7. Cheo Belén Puig
8. Grupo Sierra Maestra
9. Carlos Barberia y Su Orq. Kubavana
10. Israel "Cachao" Lopéz
11. Neno Gonzaléz
12. Sonero Classico De Caribe
13. Vieja Trova Santiaguera
14. Roberto Borrell y Conj. Tipico Cubano
15. Maravilla Yunqueña
16. El Gran Combo de P.R. 1963
17. Sol y Son de Santiago de Cuba
18. Miguel Quintana y Son Habanero
19. Felo Bergaza
20. Pedrito Martinez
21. Pedro Celestino-Fariñas
22. Manuel Martinez Olivera 'El Llanero'

'Eduardo Davidson' - "La Pachanga" 1959 Panart LP

'Eduardo Davidson' - "La Pachanga"
Panart vinyl LP-2048
(the drum in the photo made by 'Vergara')

'Eduardo Davidson', best known for his composition "La Pachanga" which became a major international hit for Jose Fajardo before Fajardo left Cuba.

'Eduardo Davidson' wrote dozens of other great songs,12 of them that 'Panart' released on this 1959 LP as a compilation of 'Eduardo Davidson's' work.
Many became very popular hits for the bands that recorded them, including the bands on this record: 'Orquesta Sublime', 'Roberto Faz' y su conjunto, 'Julio Valdez' y su Orq., 'Carlos Diaz' singing with 'Carlos Barberia' y Kubavana & "Yoyo" Casteleiro and two great 'Eduardo Davidson' compositions "Elegua Inkió" & "Ochun Del Cobre" with 'Gina Martin' singing with the 'Obdulio Morales' Orq., with 'Jesús Peréz' y sus tambores Bata.

This Panart LP with these particular 12 of 'Eduardo Davidson's' collective works has never been reissued.
Although many of these songs can be found on the individual bands LP's and CD's.

Drums made by Candido Requena in La Habana, Cuba 1950's 10½ inch oak

Candido Requena made bongoes and tumbadoras, he was the bongocero who played with Orq. Casino De La Playa in the late 1930's, he also played with Conjunto Kubavana.
( before Armando Peraza)
Candido Requena was one of two Cubans said to be the first to create and add a "metal tunable system" to the bongoes. (the other is said to be the bongocero "Severino")

Two drums originally made in La Habana, Cuba in the 1950's by Candido Requena.
Both drums have been beautifully restored and have an elegant "classic Cuban" shape.
One is owned by 'James' in Berkeley, California.
The other is owned by 'Juan Ramirez' in Covina, California.

A 10½ inch oak Candido Requena drum.
Hecho en los 1950's, en La Habana, Cuba.
Owned and restored by 'James' in
Berkeley, California.

Photos: 'James'.

A 10½ inch Ceder (Cedro) Candido Requena drum.
Hecho en los 1950's, en La Habana, Cuba.
Owned by 'Juan Ramirez' in Southern California.
Restoration by Matthew Smith in PA.
Hardware re-chromed in California.

Before

Crown before and after re-chromed.

Plates & hardware before and after re-chromed.

Photos: 'Juan Ramirez'.
The excellent re-chroming job was done by
'Universal Metal Plating' in Azusa, California.

The now classic 1950's LP cover by
"Los Mejores Musicos De Cuba",
with a drum made by Candido Requena
on the cover.