Charanga del Norte perform at Grimsby Town Hall on Friday 30 July as part of North East Lincolnshire Arts Forum Festival

Dance class from our dancer Guillermo at 6.30pm

Band on at 8pm

Venue: Grimsby Town Hall, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire DN31 1HX

Tickets from Tourist Information 01472 323111

Ticket Prices £10 (£8 in advance) £7 OAPs and £5 for children

Estrellas Cubanas performed the Danzon Amalia Batista by Rodrigo Prats at the Danzon Festival in Havana in 2007 – do contact me if you’re interested in promoting an exchange project between Estrellas Cubanas and Charanga del Norte. I have worked with members of Estrellas Cubanas and am particularly interested in getting the singers and percussionists to perform with Charanga del Norte in Havana and also on tour. As these veteran Charanga players are over sixty it would be nice to do a collaborative project sooner rather than later!

Pancho Terry, Sue Miller, ?, Guillermo Rubalcaba, Polo Tamayo

I guested with various veteran bands such as Charanga de Oro, Orquesta Sublime and Estrellas Cubanas as part of the International Danzón Festival. I also gave an invited lecture in Spanish on the history of Charanga de Norte and on my research into Cuban Charanga at the International Conference on Danzón organised by UNEAC. My performance with Orquesta Sublime on 6 April in the Cabaret Nacional was filmed for Cuban Television and video extracts are available on this site.

Performances in Havana as Guest Flautist 2006 & 2007:

Charanga de Oro, ‘Teatro America’, Havana matinee                     25 March 2007

Charanga de Oro. Santa Cruz del Norte, evening                              25 March 2007

Estrellas Cubanas, ‘Union Fraternal’, Habana Vieja                       22 March 2007

Orquesta Sublime, ‘Cabaret Nacional’, Havana                                 9 April 2007

Orquesta Barbarito Diez, Bejucal                                                           14 April 2007

Estrellas Cubanas in ‘Casa de la Cultura’, Vibora’, Habana           17 Feb 2006

La Sublime in ‘Associacion Artistica Gallega’, Habana Vieja        5 March 2006

Performance in New York as Guest Flautist 2007:

Orquesta Broadway, Mamoncillo Festival                                              15 July 2007

Salsa Performance 2010:

The Wardrobe, Leeds: A Tribute to Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta    5 February 2010

Charanga del Norte 2010

Seven Arts Centre, Seven Jazz, Leeds                                                       13 May 2010

Charanga del Norte 2009

Lakes Alive Festival, Carlisle                                                                        24 May 2009

Victoria Park with Orquesta Aragon & Changui de Guantanamo   21 June 2009

Barbican, London                                                                                              28 June 2009

Barnsley Civic Theatre                                                                                        7 November 2009

Charanga del Norte 2008

Marsden Mechanics                                                                                         1 March 2008

John Leggott College Scunthorpe                                                            26 April 2008

York World Music Fiesta                                                                             5 May 2008

Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield                                                3 August 2008

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                               23 August 2008

Charanga del Norte 2006/2007

Leeds Metropolitan University                                                             13  September 2006

Sheffield University Concert Series                                                     17  October 2006

College of St Johns, York 12^th Night Salsa Extravaganza             5 January 2007

Instituto Cervantes, Manchester                                                          21  February 2007

Instituto Cervantes, Leeds                                                                      22  February  2007

Richmond, Yorkshire                                                                               24 August 2007

The New Picket, Liverpool                                                                     13 October 2007

Charanga del Norte 2005/2006

Otley Courthouse Arts Centre                                                               3 Dec 2005

Leeds Hi-Fi Club                                                                                       24 April 2006

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                          24 June 2006

Park Lane College, Leeds                                                                       6 July 2006

Hull Jazz Festival                                                                                    29 July 2006

Darlington Arts Centre                                                                        29 July 2006

Charanga del Norte Summer Tour 2005:

Darlington Arts Centre                                                                         28 May

Helmsley Arts Centre                                                                            4 June

The Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, Fife                                   11 June

Sunderland Kite Festival (organised by Sage Gateshead)     3 July

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                        9 July

North Cornwall Arts, Bodmin Moor festival                              22 July

Trowbridge festival                                                                              23 July

2003 Charanga del Norte UK Tour:

Wiltshire Music Centre                                                                                  14 June

Queens Gardens, Hull                                                                                    21 June

Bar Rumba, London                                                                                       24 June

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                                 28 June

The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (supporting Eliades Ochoa)     2 July

Fiddlers, Bristol                                                                                                  4 July

Cheltenham Town Hall                                                                                     8 July

The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen                                                                          11 July

The Y Theatre, Leicester                                                                               18 July

Brampton Live Festival                                                                                 19 July

Harrogate International Festival                                                               20 July

Trowbridge Festival                                                                                      27 July

Sidmouth Festival                                                                                          1 August

Chapel Allerton Arts Festival, Leeds                                                    27 August

Musicport Festival, Whitby                                                                      25 October

2001 Charanga del Norte UK Tour:

Manchester Streets Ahead Festival                                                       13 May

Whitby Musicport (Pre-Festival)                                                            28 May

Woodhouse Millennium Festival, Leeds                                               3 June

The Vale Centre, Todmorden                                                                   10 June

Heeley Festival, Sheffield                                                                          24 June

Kirkstall Festival, Leeds                                                                              8 July

The Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth                                                        28 July

The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (‘Hola Mundo’ Festival)         3 August

Talking Heads, Southampton                                                                  25 August

Colchester Arts Centre                                                                             26 August

The Tower Arts Centre, Winchester                                                    8 September

The Castle, Wellingborough                                                                 22 September

The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge                                                       23 September

Whitby Musicport Festival                                                                  30 September

1999 and 2000 Charanga del Norte performances included:

Casa Latina Leeds, Colchester Arts Centre, The Bridgewater Hall ‘Hola Cuba’ Festival, Hull Jazz Festival, Exeter Salsa Club, Westward Ho! Salsa Event, Window on the World Festival (North Shields), The Castle Arts Centre (Wellingborough), Hebden Bridge Trades Club and The Lawrence Batley Theatre (Huddersfield).

TEACHERS:

Richard Egües: Cuban Flute Improvisation (Havana)

Dr Luke Windsor: Supervisor for PhD, University of Leeds

Bill Kinghorn: Improvisation, Functional Harmony and Analysis (LCM)

Dharambir Singh: Indian Music (LCM)

Lis Parry: Classical Flute (LCM)

Nikki Iles: Jazz Piano (LCM)

Performances as Director of the 30-piece ‘Cuban Music Ensemble’: (Education Work)

Harrogate Festival (concerts in Kettlesing and Kirby Malzeard),      July 2003

Brudenell Social Club  (for Women’s Aid)                                               12 December 2003

Briggate, Leeds (for Refugee Week)                                                            13 June 2004

HQ Club, Chapel Allerton Leeds  (for Leeds Asylum Seekers)        17 June 2004

The Irish Centre, Leeds (for LGI and St James Infirmary staff)      20 December 2004

Brudenell Social Club (Leeds Cuba Solidarity ‘Moncada Rocks’)    3 June 2006

The Venue, Leeds College of Music                                                           24 November 2006

Headingley Parish Hall (Cuban Descarga night)                                  10 December 2006

Leeds United Football Club (for Women’s Aid)                                  22 November 2007

Seven Arts Centre, Leeds                                                                                6 June 2008

The Venue, Leeds College of Music                                                           6 May 2009

Seven Arts Centre, Leeds                                                                              12 July 2009

Recent CD Reviews of Cuban and Salsa music by Sue Miller are available on www.gondwanasound.co.uk

Amadito Valdes

Bajando Gervasio

[Review] Resistencia

You can  click the links below to see a further selection of these:

Review of The Rough Guide to Cuban Music

Review of Amadito Valdes Bajando Gervasio

Review of Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall

Review of Madera Limpia La Corona

Review of Omara Potuondo Gracias

Review of an Eliades Ochoa Concert

Review of Putumayo  presents Salsa

Review of Buena Vista Social Club live in Harrogate

Review of Putumayo Presents – Cafe Cubano

Review of La-33 Gozalo

Review of Marco Toro Oido al Tambor

Melquides Fundora

The following interview took place in Havana in 2001.

SM: Interview:
MF: My name is Melquiades Fundora Dina. I was born in Nueva Paz, a village just outside Havana, on 20 March 1926. My first teachers were my parents. My mother played the double bass and my father the trumpet. I learnt to read and write music and play by ear through listening and playing. It was difficult to study music formally if you lived in the countryside before the revolution so I went to Havana and asked for tips from maestros like Arcaño. I learnt a lot from Orquesta América, José Fajardo y sus Estrellas and Aragón.

SM: I love the names of these Charangas: ‘Arcaño y sus Maravillas’ (Arcaño and his Marvels). Fajardo y sus Estrellas (Fajardo and his Stars), Orquesta Sensación. (Sensational Orchestra) and La Sublime (the Sublime)! No false modesty there! At present you play with Orquesta Sublime – could you tell us a little about the history of this group?
MF: Orquesta Sublime began on 21 January 1956. We were a group of young men who at that time had no intention of making a living from music – we just wanted to enjoy ourselves. Our first recording was of ‘El Peletero’ (the cobbler) and ‘El Cartero’ (the postman), two chachachas. ‘El Peletero’ was written by Iladio Alisa and ‘El Cartero’ by Victor Lay. From the moment we recorded these numbers we became a hit with the public and we went on to record ‘Union Cienfueguera’, a danzón by Enrique Jorrín, and ‘Seis Perlas Cubanas’. In less than four months, the band became a national name.
More recordings followed. At that time, there were three record companies in Cuba, including Panart and Puchito records. We were signed to Panart and were busy recording and playing at dances. At the end of 1959 we played at the ‘Breyford Pie’ in Miami where we met with huge success. At this time, Orquesta Aragón was also recording and playing dances. We were younger than Aragón’s musicians but we always got on well together. In fact, in 1956 we played ‘Pare Cochero’ and ‘Cachita’ with Aragón at a concert. Later on, we began to compose our own numbers.

SM: Has Sublime toured abroad much?
MF: We spent six months touring Mexico. In 2002 and 2003, we’re touring the Cayman Islands, Spain and Germany. Envidia records launched our new CD, Que Viva la charanga, in January so we’re touring Germany after it comes out.

SM: La Sublime is best known for playing pachangas, isn’t it?
MF: Yes, we are known as the ‘Pachanguera’ of Cuba. Let me tell you a little about the development of the Charanga. To begin with, you had Charangas like those led by Chapotín, ‘el Chocolate’, then Arcaño, then América, Aragón and la Sublime. These days, modem Cuban bands all sound like each other – there’s nothing to distinguish between them. We in the charangas however all had our own sound: you could listen and say, ‘Oh, that’s Aragón’ or, ‘Oh, that’s Ia Sublime’.

Melquides Fundora
Melquides Fundora

SM: Yes, the flute playing of Richard Egües is unmistakeable. His sound and improvisation are so distinctive.
MF: Also, the 5-key wooden flute is very powerful and very difficult to play. You have to battle with it to get the right sound. Friends often ask me, ‘How do you get the sound you want with that flute?’ It is difficult to stretch and cover the holes, as there are only five keys. The problem now is that younger musicians are too scared to learn the 5-key flute. They are no longer being manufactured and it’s not taught any more at music colleges. There’s only a handful of 5-key flute players in Cuba at present.

SM: Were there a lot of Charangas in the 1940s?
MF: Oh yes: Fajardo, Siglo XX, La Mélodia 40, Arcaño, Orquesta Union, Orquesta Joseito Femandez, Orquesta Paulin Alvarez. The most famous flautists were Fajardo, Arcaño, Juan Pablo Miranda. Richard Egües has been my main inspiration.

SM: Can you tell us more about the Cuban flute style?
MF: Yes, I’m often asked about this. A flute player from the US came to see me, wanting to jam, and he confused jazz with the Cuban style of playing. In jazz, you improvise on a theme; but it’s different in Cuban music. For us, music is much more of a rhythm thing – we play to lift our spirits, while we walk, talk, smile… we feel the syncopation and play from the heart. Jazz is freer, in that there is less structure to the arrangements. Cuban music has sections such as the mambo and the estribillo. All the instruments (violins, congas, piano, bass and so on) have a specific function. The piano keeps the montuno going, the percussion maintains the rhythm, the flute improvises… In Cuban music, you have to know the particular sections of an arrangement and when to play an ‘efecto’ (break) together, for example.

SM: Does Cuban music generally have more sophisticated arrangements than jazz?
MF: Yes, but it is spontaneous too; there is a lot of improvisation. In rehearsal, musicians read the music (except the percussionists), rather than learning arrangements by ear. All danzones, chachachas and son styles have written arrangements.

SM: Can you tell us about the particular styles of music associated with charanga?
MF: Over the years, charanga has undergone many changes. Arcaño and Romero played danzones, then there was the new rhythm movement. Then Orquesta América entered into musical life, and when they went to Mexico, Aragón came to the fore with the chachacha craze and we followed on with the pachanga. We played a lot of pachangas: a faster kind of chachacha. But we played lots of others styles too, like bolero, son, guaracha and afro. The charanga sound is created by the line-up itself – one flute, two or three violins, güiro, congas, timbales, singers.

SM: What hopes do you have for the future?
MF: To play music, music and more music!
© Sue Miller, Leeds, March 2003

Melquiades Fundora flute player and founder of Orquesta Sublime

The following article was written for the British Flute Society Magazine – PAN: March 2003.

Some people confuse the Cuban style of music with Jazz. In fact, the Charanga is quite different. Sue Miller examines the Charanga flute styles of Richard Egües, Eduardo Rubio (both from Orquesta Aragón) and Melquiades Fundora (from Orquesta Sublime). You will find unfamiliar terms in the GLOSSARY.

The Cuban Charanga developed in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century, replacing the brass-led Orquesta Típicas, which played habaneras, danzonetes and danzones. The Charanga line-up consists of a flute (originally a 5-key wooden flute, but the Boehm system is also used), violins, piano, bass, timbales, güiro, congas and vocals. The Charanga has at its heart the warm sound of the acoustic violins, over which the flute improvises in the high register and above the range to E.

Most Charanga compositions are in the keys of D, G, C, A and E (majors and minors) and occasionally F. These are the keys that suit the strings best; salsa arrangements tend to use flat keys as they are more suitable for Bb and Eb instruments.

Many characteristics of the flute style derive from the ornamentation used on the 5-key wooden flute – these turns and mordents have in turn been incorporated into the modern Charanga flute vocabulary on the Boehm flute. The Cuban flute style developed from improvisation within the danzón and the chachachá and is diatonic and classical in nature. Compared to jazz, Cuban flute improvisation entails more arpeggiated figures and is less chromatic in nature. It is virtuosic in a different way. The rhythmic nature of Cuban music requires phrasing to be well placed – in fact, the Cuban solo style could be described as ‘dancing with the rhythm’. The flute sound is clear, high and assertively articulated. The notes in general are short and tongued.

Well-known exponents of the Cuban flute style are Richard Egües, Eduardo Rubio (’Chen’), Melquiades Fundora, Joaquín Oliveros (Orquesta Rubalcaba, Frank Emilio Flynn, Oliveros y su All Stars), Polo Tamayo (Cachaito), Manuel Wanbrug (Orquesta América) and Maraca Valle (his styles ranging from charanga to jazz to rumba).

The article after this is an interview with Melquiades Fundora, 5-key wooden flute player from Orquesta Sublime, and I have also included transcriptions of solos by Melquiades, Richard Egües and Eduardo Rubio. By examining their solos, I hope to demonstrate the characteristics of the Cuban flute style. In fact, you may like to have a go at playing them yourselves, remembering of course that they are all played an octave up, with notes reaching up to top E above the range.

Of the above list of names, Melquiades, Joaquín, Polo and Wanbrug play the 5-key wooden flute exclusively. Richard Egües, the virtuosic flute player and composer (who with bandleader Rafael Lay made the group Orquesta Aragón famous in the 1950s [see article]), learnt on the Boehm flute, transferred to the 5-key flute and finally returned to the Boehm flute. Whichever flute he uses, however, he has his own distinctive sound and soloing style. If you look at the transcription of a short solo of Richard’s in the danzón ‘La Reina Isabel’ over the chord progression I, V7 in D minor you can see that he uses the note common to both chords, the A, as an axis for his phrases. The rising motif at bars 80 and 81 is typical of Richard’s style – a motif developed from the outset in this compact little solo.

Eduardo Rubio, as Richard’s successor in Aragón, has assimilated Richard’s style while maintaining his own sound. In his solo on Yaye Boy over the chord progression I, V, V, I in A minor he transposes the main motif at bar 82 in various places (with subtle variations) and again uses rising motifs to build his solo. While diatonic in nature, Chen’s solos tend to use more chromatic motifs than Richard’s (e.g. bars 149 and 150). Phrases typical of the Cuban flute style in general occur in bars 108 to 109, and 161 to 163 in this solo.

Octave leap motifs on the dominant are very common – see the flute solo by Melquiades on Sabroso como el Guarapo (composer: Marcos Perdomo). This solo is a pretty busy one, heavily articulated and in the top register. Melquiades is still playing away in the top register like this today at the age of 76 so all that diaphragm work must be good for you! However, constant exposure to these high frequencies can be pretty damaging to one’s hearing so short notes rather than sustained long ones at the top are to be recommended.

If you would like to know more about Cuban music and play it yourself I run Cuban music workshops in the form of a Cuban Music Big Band at Yorkshire College of Music in Headingley, Leeds. Masterclasses by visiting Cuban musicians and salsa specialists are held once a term. More information is available on the website.

© Sue Miller, Leeds, March 2003

The Cuban Charanga

by Sue Miller

Written for the British Flute Society Journal PAN December 2000 edition

The sweetest and most elegant of all Cuban dance music is made by groups called Charangas. The Charanga orchestra is made up of a flute (traditionally one made of wood with five keys, but the Boehm system flute is also used), violins, piano, double bass, timbales and güiro. The Charanga can also include singers and congas. The Charangas are indigenous to Cuba. Traditional Charangas mainly play the styles of danzón, chachachá and mambo.

In the Charanga the violins play riffs (or tumbaos) that lock into the rhythm section and give the music a real driving nature; in fact all the instruments have their own typical patterns based around the two bar clave pattern which all lock in to form one big melodic rhythm section and above which the flute improvises. Most of the improvised solos are taken by the flute and the piano. Charanga has its roots in European art house music, Spanish vernacular musics and African musics. The danzón, for example, has elements of operatic music and Cuban Son. It is derived from the Habanera and the English Country Dance (the Contradanza, a precursor to the Habanera and danzón, is so called because of a ‘mis-pronunciation’ of country dance).

Structurally similar to the Habaneras of European composers such as Albeniz, Ravel and Bizet, the danzón also incorporates the African Call and Response elements from the Cuban Son genre. In fact the roots of “Salsa” are to be found in the danzón and the Son forms of Cuban music. In the 1950s a new section was added to the danzón, giving rise to the styles of Mambo (a hard-driving fast section based over a dominant seventh figure) and the Chachachá.

Charanga music is composed and carefully arranged music with a strong rhythmic emphasis (the African and Spanish influence) which also incorporates improvisation within its structure; it is thus both a highly structured and spontaneous music form.

The flute plays in the upper register, often playing above the range up to E. It has set composed sections and rhythmic breaks to play but in the main the flute’s function is to improvise. The improvisation is very diatonic and much sparser than most jazz improvisations. Richard Egües is one of the founding fathers of the Cuban Charanga vocabulary which subsequent Cuban flautists have taken as the basis for their improvisations.

In 1998 I went to a Festival of Charanga in Palma Soriano, near the city of Santiago de Cuba where the Charanga groups Las Maravillas de Florida, La Charanga de Guantanamo and Las Estrellas de la Charanga amongst other groups were playing. In April 2000 I returned to Cuba to study charanga flute with the Cuban flute legend, Richard Egües, flautist with Orquesta Aragón from 1953 to 1984. I am totally in love with Cuban Charanga and above all with the music of Orquesta Aragón. After hearing Richard Egües improvising on an old Aragón record Danzónes de Ayer y de Hoy I was inspired to set up my own Charanga in England: Charanga del Norte. In this article I hope to explain what charanga music is, describe its distinctive musical styles (danzón, chachacha, mambo etc.) and introduce you to the most famous charanga orquestas and musicians of today and yesteryear.

Cuba has many musical genres and styles such as rumba (guaguanco, yambu, columbia), charanga (danzón, chachacha, mambo, pachanga), son, trova, nueva trova, feeling, changui, timba, bolero, amongst others and following the success of the Buena Vista Social Club musicians, the European public is beginning to  get to hear the variety of Cuban music not hitherto explored here.

Firstly one must define Charanga as being a specific line-up, led by the flute and violins which evolved at the beginning of the last century. The original charangas played danzas and danzones and the first danzón Las Alturas de Simpson was performed in 1879 by an Orquesta Típica, the precursor to the Charanga. Orquesta Típicas featured brass rather than violins and flute but the Charangas took over in popularity early on in the 20th Century.

The golden age of Cuban Charanga was in the 30s, 40s and early 50s when there were three famous Orquestas: Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Orquesta America and Orquesta Aragón (America and Aragón are still going today). Orestes Lopez, cellist with Arcaño y sus Maravillas contributed greatly to the development of the danzón by adding a new section to it influenced by musical elements from the Cuban Son called ‘el section del nuevo ritmo’ and in 1938 composed the first mambo, featured on his brother Israel Lopez Cachao’s CD Master Sessions Vol 1. Orestes Lopez was the father of the mambo, the danzón with nuevo ritmo. At the same time the violinist with Orquesta América, Enrique Jorrin created the new dance form chachachá, which was also part of the danzón belonging to the Nuevo Ritmo section.

One could say that there were two main phases in the history of Charanga – the first wave of Charangas in the early years of the twentieth century with their danzas and danzones, with groups such as Antonio Maria Romeu (founded in 1911), Ia Orquesta Ideal and La Orquesta Torroella and the second wave of Charangas in the 40s and 50s like Arcaño, Aragón and América that played the Danzones del nuevo ritmo, the mambo, the pachanga and the chachacha. In both phases there were always sections of an arrangement dedicated to flute extemporisations, sections dedicated to virtuosic piano displays and melodic violin sections.

Orquesta América was the first charanga to play the chachachá and Orquesta Aragón became the main innovator of this style, doing the most to popularise it. Founded in 1939 in Cienfuegos, Orquesta Aragón is still going today, sixty years on, with some members sons of the original musicians. The history of charanga lies with this band:

‘For more than forty years Cubans have made Monday lunchtime their regular listening slot with the Orquesta Aragón on Radio Progreso. Whatever happens, if it’s Monday, then the airwaves from the island’s western-most point Cap San Antonio, to Punta Maisi in the east vibrate to the sound of the Aragón violins. The Aragón is one of those things that has been there forever as far as the Cubans are concerned. The group got today’s grandparents dancing to the danzón, today’s parents to the chacha, their children to the cha-onda.’ (Xavier Gomez, 1999 sleeve notes from La Charanga Etema, Aragón, Lusafrica 1999)

One of the most important charanga musicians of all time is Richard Egües, Aragón’s flute player of great virtuosity and improvisatory prowess. Egües and Rafael Lay senior were the creative driving force behind Aragón’s worldwide success. Egües’s composition ‘El Bodeguero,’ performed at the height of the chachachá craze, propelled the band to fame and the name of Aragón became synonymous with chachachá.

Aragón toured the world extensively (see the interview with Richard Egües, below) and had a profound influence on West African musicians such as Papa Seck, Youssou N’Dour, Papa Wemba, Baaba Maal, Salif Keita and Boncana Maiga. Whilst touring Africa Aragón’s Tomas Valdes created the Chaonda style, a rhythm inspired by Guinean music. Conversely the number Yaye Boy by Papa Seck and popularised by Africando is now played by the modern Aragón. This cross fertilisation continues today, proof of which Papa Wemba has recently recorded with the new Aragón (No quiero Llanto on La Charanga Eterna CD).

Charanga still flourishes today in Cuba in all its forms, from the traditional to the Candido Fabré/Los Van Van variety and if you visit Havana check out the Plaza de la Universidad in Vedado on a Monday afternoon, where the traditional charanga band swings, the vats of special brew provide for the many and where the danzón is danced both beautifully and flirtatiously by incorrigible OAPs!

There are many other great charanga groups and musicians not yet mentioned here, such as Charanga Rubalcaba, led by the pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, the violinist Pupy Lagarreta and the pianist Frank Emilio Flynn. There are also a huge number of beautiful danzón compositions by composers such as Romeu, Urfé, Felix Reina, Coralia and Orestes Lopez, Electo Rosell and Abelardo Valdes. A wonderful introduction to their masterpieces can be found on the CD Cuba the Charanga by Rotterdam Conservatory Charanga Orchestra (Nimbus 1997). A good cross section of Orquesta Aragón ’s repertoire can be found on their 60th anniversary CD La Charanga Eterna (Lusafrica 1999). For the West African Charanga and Charanga influenced Salsa check out Africando’s releases on the Stern label. If intrigued by the aforementioned Dutch Charanga you may be tempted to sample England’s home-grown variety with Charanga del Norte’s recordings Ay Mama!, Danzones and Libélula.
© Sue Miller, Leeds, June 2000