Los Fakires

Amazon.com
Unlike the faux-mythical Buena Vista Social Club, Los Fakires is a Cuban band that actually existed before the band members walked into the studio. Formed in 1962, these veterans of Cuba's hotel circuit are a spare-sounding quintet that specializes in the same son, guaracha, and bolero traditionals as their more famous Cuban musical brethren. But Los Fakires have a more festive edge, where the members sing, shout, and cackle on the upbeat tracks. Saxophonist-leader Juan Jose Bringues often jabs away playfully on the 14 tracks with catchy lines that recall the calypso and jazz elements in Skatalites saxophonist Tommy McCook. Proving that this band can also play for the slow dancers, Martin Chavez's hoarse tobacco and rum vocals and Rafael Valdes's smooth-toned delivery add a sensual beauty to the ballads. This is about as authentic a traditional Afro-Cuban band as one is going to find today. --Tad Hendrickson

Tracks:

Suavecito
Mata Siguaraya
Fuerza De Voluntad
Dulce Desengano
El Cafetal
Pico Y Pico
A Mi Manera
La Timba
Chan Chan
Mira El Bodeguero
El Reloj De Pastora
Qualquiera Resbala Y Cae
El Bobo De La Yuca
Guitarra, Tabaco & Ron

Amazon.com

Unlike the faux-mythical Buena Vista Social Club, Los Fakires is a Cuban band that actually existed before the band members walked into the studio. Formed in 1962, these veterans of Cuba's hotel circuit are a spare-sounding quintet that specializes in the same son, guaracha, and bolero traditionals as their more famous Cuban musical brethren. But Los Fakires have a more festive edge, where the members sing, shout, and cackle on the upbeat tracks. Saxophonist-leader Juan Jose Bringues often jabs away playfully on the 14 tracks with catchy lines that recall the calypso and jazz elements in Skatalites saxophonist Tommy McCook. Proving that this band can also play for the slow dancers, Martin Chavez's hoarse tobacco and rum vocals and Rafael Valdes's smooth-toned delivery add a sensual beauty to the ballads. This is about as authentic a traditional Afro-Cuban band as one is going to find today. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful, Unique Sound.......2002-07-29

The music of Los Fakires is playful, lyrical and gorgeously executed by a quintet from Santa Clara that's been together for more than 40 years. They bring Cuban classics to life in a style that's different enough from Buena Vista Social Club to warrant buying this CD. The vocals of Cascarita and Rafael Valdes and José Bringues' alto sax flow seamlessly with the accompanying guitar, bongos, guiro and cowbell. I love this CD!!

Beautiful and Unique.......2002-07-26

From the New York Times 12/11/01:

Los Fakires are from Santa Clara, a town in central Cuba. In songs by pioneering Cuban composers like Ignacio Piñeiro and Ernesto Lecuona, they gave the old sones and guarachas their own breezy lilt, a poised regional accent that's different from the Havana- based revival of the Buena Vista Social Club.

All of Los Fakires's instruments - alto saxophone, guitar, bongos, guiro and cowbell - were acoustic and portable, as if the band could pick up and play tableside at a cafe. The songs were pure transparent counterpoint. José Remie often used his guitar simply to pluck bass lines, not chords. The group's lead singer, Cascarita (the nickname of Martín Chavez), has a sweet, poised tenor, with the kind of delivery that made its way into West African rumba.

As Cascarita portrayed the amiable suitor, celebrated tropical indolence or defined the essentials of the son ("guitar, tobacco and rum"), José Bringues played teasing little saxophone lines, sometimes tossing in an odd quote - like "Jingle Bells" - or switching to dissonant whole- tone scales. Rafael Valdés, on maracas, sang close harmony with Cascarita and took over a few lead vocals, with a broader, more extroverted tenor that could turn mock-operatic.

From [web address]:
These unique musical time travellers are straight out of the 1940's and the early 1950's, their style reflecting a repertoire culled mostly from the preceding three decades. This is a Cuban "retro" music performed as if it was written yesterday- and yesterday was 1952.

Son de Cuba
Average customer rating:
Son de Cuba
Los Fakires
Manufacturer: Caribe
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Latin Music | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000EQIP8Y
Release Date: 2006-02-28