Juan de Marcos pushes his Afro-Cuban All Stars to top performance. Juan de Marcos Gonzáles, now a dewy 58, is a key figure in Cuban folk world music.
.After the singer/guitarist/bandleader/producer had already instigated a musical Cuban renaissance with his son formation "Sierra Maestra", he gathered forgotten old hands like Ibrahim Ferrer or Ruben Gonzàles and head sonera Omara Portuondo in the mid-nineties, virtually as a youngster, to ensure something like the creative continuity of the tradition with the All-Stars. A year later, in 1996, Ry Cooder came to the sugar island and was thrilled - the rest is already legend, and a bit of Wim Wenders too.
De Marcos continues to preside over an esteemed 18-piece troupe that has made the 2009 album's title, "Breaking the rules & step backwards," its agenda. The Afro-Cuban All Stars, that's also a solidly run family business - with which you already recognize the, well, rule-breaking: On clarinet and saxophone works a very attractive young lady - Laura Lydia Gonzàles. A few high-heeled steps in front of her, sister Gliceria Gonzàles (the one with the very tight fabric over her model body) is working on the keyboard.
And mostly in the background, Gliceria Abreu, the mother of the Gonzáles company in blond dreadlocks, dances the rumba and makes sure that her husband (has the same hairdresser) keeps everything under control. He does, of course, sovereignly. In other words: for a good hour the band, reinforced by veteran singer Evelio Galan, manages the rather classic Buena Vista heritage of Danzon, Son montuno, Mambo and Guaracha with a lot of "Corazòn". Heart, soul, rhythm, "Los Sito' asere" or "Huellas del Pasado" - that's probably how it sounds from all the remaining Son bars in old Havana. After a good hour, however, it gets a little too pomaded for the beardy All-Stars-Commandante: A short basic statement on the subject of freedom ("We are all free, and there is only one life") - then he once shoos everyone from the chairs onto the dance floor and rings in, "Arrriba!", a furious finale with hip-hop, salsa and pop elements that even Gliceria takes off her platform pumps. She's wearing ballerinas now.
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