Bleep

Press Release

‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2’ is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that takes off in exactly the same vein as the much-acclaimed ‘Vol. 1’, exploring the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as Latin and Salsa mixed with heavy doses of Jazz, Funk and Disco to create some of the most dancefloor-friendly music ever made. The album comes as a deluxe 2CD / heavyweight 3LP set, complete with extensive sleeve notes, and is jam-packed with heavy basslines, synth and Wah-Wah guitar funk combined with the heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all- encompassing Latin rhythms of Cuban music known throughout the world. Much of the music on this album is featured in the deluxe large format book ‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90’, released by Soul Jazz Books and also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, featuring the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution. The music on this new album features a host of rarities from legendary Cuban artists such as Los Van Van, alongside Grupo De Experimentación, Farah Maria, Ricardo Eddy Martinez, Juan Pablo Torres, Grupo Sintesis and Orquesta Riverside, most of whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba but have long been favourite club tracks and secret-weapons in Gilles Peterson’s record boxes. The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s - all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms reflecting both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album has never been heard outside of Cuba. Both Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have been involved in Cuban music for more than two decades - Gilles Peterson with his many Havana Cultura projects for his Brownswood label and Stuart Baker with a number of Soul Jazz Records albums recorded in Cuba. This Soul Jazz Records album is released in conjunction with Egrem, the Cuban state record company, and has been put together after the many crate-digging trips that both compilers have made on the streets of Havana and beyond in Cuba stretching over a 20-year period, searching out rare and elusive original Cuban vinyl records.