Havana Cafe

This disc of traditional Cuban music is another of the stellar releases coming in the wake of the best selling Buena Vista Social Club album. Barbarito Torres was the Buena Vista Social Club's laudista: a player of the laud, a 12-stringed instrument related to the Arabic oud. Torres is widely regarded as one of Cuba's greatest lute players, so it was natural that he was selected to play on the Buena Vista Social Club album and to appear at their live dates in Amsterdam and New York. In addition he has accompanied the great Cuban vocalist Celina Gonzalez and he was prominently featured in the recordings of the Afro Cuban All Stars Barbarito Torres has remained true to the musical folklore of his native region, musica guajira, or the "blues" of the Cuban countryside. On this exciting new recording he is joined by a stellar guest list including the Buena Vista vocalists Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and Pio Leyva and the revered musicians Richard Egues on flute and Luis "El Guajiro" Mirabel on trumpet.

A glance at the credits of the Buena Vista Social Club album will reveal the name of Barbarito Torres, who plays a little-known instrument called a laud on several songs. He can also be seen and heard on the film of the same name, doing a bizarre Hendrix-style solo, with the archaic looking instrument behind his back. Since recording with Elio Revé in the 1980s, Torres has been recognized as the master of the laud, which sounds something like a 12-string guitar, although it originally came to Cuba from North Africa via Spain, deriving from the Arabic oud. Torres recorded this, (his first solo album) in 1999, and itıs now getting a wider release. Naturally, having played for so many big names of Cuban music, he was able to call in some favors, so Pio Leyva, Omara Portuondo and Ibrahim Ferrer all contribute guest vocals. Torresı 6-piece group also has four of its own singers, and includes several family members. Some of the more upbeat material ˝ much of it familiar ˝ is given a timba-flavored reading and it pretty much runs the gamut of Cuban styles.

Sometimes a narrow niche is exactly the place to be. The most notable proponent of the Cuban lute-like instrument called the laud, which descends from the Middle Eastern oud (la-oud), Barbarito Torres has found a place among the finest folkloric musicians the island has to offer. Having performed music with regionally known groups in the guajira style for a number of years before international notoriety came his way, Torres was already quite widely recorded and well-seasoned before his debut release in 1999. Havana Cafe features a number of lesser-known heroes of the son genre, including Frank Emilio Flynn, Manuel "El Guajiro" Mirabal, and Oliva Pedro Vargas. Torres' group could rival any performing today for authentic flavor, musicianship, and elegance, including Sierra Maestra, Buena Vista Social Club, or the Afro-Cuban All Stars (Torres has been a member of the latter two). It is difficult at times to find an artist who so gracefully presents the rich string tradition that exists inside the often percussion-piano crazy Cuban scene. Havana Cafe offers a delightful variety of vocalists and song selection. In a scene that is actively scrambling to make good on the doors opened by Buena Vista, there are few bandleaders as deserving of attention or esteem as Barbarito Torres.