Putumayo CARIBBEAN MUSIC

Croatian salsa, Cuban ska, and Oregonian mambo!? These are three of the unlikely gems listeners will find on Afro-Latin Party. What started out as an effort to provide the perfect soundtrack to a Latin dance party became a tribute to the global appreciation and realization of the musical ricochet between Cuba and Africa.
Central to the Afro-Latin phenomenon is Africando, who provide three songs on Afro-Latin Party, each with a different African lead singer. In the 1960s and 1970s, the biggest names in African music—including such heavyweights as Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita—were performing Latin music, thanks to vinyl that came over from abroad. Cultural exchange between Cuba and the socialist governments in Mali and other parts of West Africa was a regular phenomenon. Performers like the Fania All Stars and Celia Cruz toured Africa and became musical icons.

Titles include:
Africando featuring Amadou Balake Betece
Jose Mangual Jr. Ritmo Con Ache
Pepe & The Bottle Blondes Cuentame Que Te Paso
Ska Cubano Babalu
Africando featuring Medoune Diallo Mandali
Cubismo Morenita
Africando featuring Nicholas Menheim Demal
Chico Alvarez Cogele el Gusto
Ronald Rubinel's Salsa Kolor La Grev' Bare Mwen
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca Samba Luku Samba

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The music of Cuba developed from a unique set of historical and social circumstances. African slaves, brought to work on the Spanish sugar plantations, soon outnumbered the European colonists. The attitude of the Spanish political and religious institutions towards African culture, while undeniably oppressive, was more open than in some other colonial societies. Catholic priests did their best to convert the Africans to Christianity, but they overlooked their worship of African deities as long as they gave them Christian names. In fact, santeria, a religion that combines Catholicism with African deities and rituals, is still a key part of Cuban spiritual life.
Most of the songs on this collection are a style called son, (lit. "sound") one of the most popular and influential Cuban musical forms. Son developed around the turn of the century in Oriente, a region in eastern Cuba. Migrating musicians brought son west to Havana in the 1920s, where it exploded in popularity. The fundamental element of the son is a rhythmic pattern called clave (lit. "key"). Played on two wooden sticks, called claves, this repetitive beat is the foundation upon which all of the other musical elements are structured. It gives son the propulsive swing that has endeared it to people around the world. Most contemporary salsa is based on son.

Titles include:
Ibrahim Ferrer Compositor Confundido
Eliades Ochoa Al Vaivén de Mi Carreta
Septeto Nacional El Adios de Este Momento
Afro-Cuban Jazz Project Campina
Orquesta Sublime Sabroso Como El Guarapo
Mi Son Mecánica de Amor
Todos Estrellas Mami Me Gustó
Irakere Boliviana
Sierra Maestra El Relój de Pastora
Los Guaracheros de Oriente Patria Querida

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Putumayo takes listeners on a musical cruise of the French Caribbean with a selection of fun,upbeat zouk,compas, twoubadou, biguine and more. With French Caribbean, Putumayo revisits the French Creole islands of Haiti,Guadeloupe and Martinique which have been experiencing a roots revival in recent years. The French Caribbean is a place where music is imbedded in the landscape: whether it is compas or zouk blaring out of storefront speakers or the variety of sounds that enliven carnival celebrations and street festivals. Acoustic traditional styles like Haitian twoubadou and Martiniquean biguine have recently earned a place on trendy dance floors alongside flashier zouk and compas.

Titles include:
Taxikreol Mandolin'
Ralph Thamar Me Se La
Michel Martelly Pa Manyen Fanm Nan
Kali Parfum des Iles
Haiti Twoubadou Ki Demon Sa-a
Jean-Luc Alger Man Biswenw'
Emeline Michel Moso Manman
Zin Kanpe Sou Yon Bit
Carimi Ayiti
Kassav' Rete

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Putumayo visits Jamaica, the homeland of reggae music and mythical artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru and Toots & the Maytals. With roots in African tradition and influences from American Rhythm & Blues, Motown, soul and other popular music styles, reggae has taken the world by storm with its irresistible beat and powerful messages. Jamaica celebrates the joy of reggae with this collection of classic and new tracks by some of reggae's greatest voices.
One of the most popular and influential music forms of the 20th century, reggae has traveled the world spreading its message of social and spiritual awareness. Reggae's popularity comes partially from its image and the power of its lyrics; but at its heart it is good time music, with a laid-back, funky beat that keeps your feet moving and your head bobbing. Reggae has traveled the world and found proponents in Africa, Europe and beyond, and is one of the most popular music forms anywhere. Putumayo invites you to return to reggae's roots with this collection of tracks by legends and discoveries from the land where reggae began.

Jamaica features informative liner notes written by reggae critic Mark Gorney, enhanced with David Corio's artist photographs and pictures of the Jamaican landscape and architecture provided by Lonely Planet.

Titles include:
Toots & the Maytals Reggae Got Soul
Culture Why Am I a Rastaman
Jimmy Cliff Give the People What They Want
Rico Midnight in Ethiopia
Joe Higgs Upside Down
Israel Vibration Rudeboy Shufflin
Ras Michael None a Jah Jah Children No Cry
The Gladiators Streets of Freedom
Black Uhuru Sponji Reggae
Augustus Pablo Point Blank
Peter Tosh Mystery Babylon

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Putumayo World Music is pleased to present Puerto Rico, a collection of entertaining songs from an island where music is an essential element of daily life. Puerto Rico follows the well-received Putumayo collections Cuba and Republica Dominicana and completes a trilogy of the music of the Spanish Caribbean.
In recent years, Puerto Rican musicians such as Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez have been at the forefront of the Latin pop music boom. These artists would be the first to acknowledge that the traditional music of their homeland is at the core of their radio-friendly crossover hits. All grew up listening to Puerto Rican traditional styles like bomba, plena and musica jibara (country music), not to mention the urban grooves of salsa. Ricky Martin, for example, often ends his shows with a guest appearance from a plena ensemble, and the rhythms and melodies of the Isla del Encanto (Island of Enchantment) are fast becoming part of the mainstream.

Cuba and Puerto Rico are often described as "two wings of the same bird," and this is certainly evident in their music. The songs and rhythms of both islands are irresistible, danceable and soulful and have influenced many forms of contemporary popular music and jazz. While the Cuban son has recently taken flight on a gust of international popularity, Puerto Rican traditional music is an equally important element of the Latin music boom.

Titles include:
Eddie Palmieri Cafe
Andres Jimenez Me Voy Pa'l Campo
Jimmy Bosch Pa' Mantener Tradicion
Ramito Una Mujer En Mi Vida
Modesto Capeda Homenaje A Caridad
Edwin Colon Zayas Seis Nilonguero
Pepe Castillo Nadie Llore
Julius Melendez Caramelo
Atabal Musica Morena
Ismael Miranda La Naturaleza
Plena Libre Bembe de Plena

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Putumayo World Music presents World Reggae, a collection of reggae-influenced tracks performed by artists from around the world. The surprising tracks on World Reggae blend the upbeat and soulful groove of reggae with exotic local influences to create new and appealing variations that will appeal to music lovers everywhere.
If music is the universal language, then reggae is its most widely spoken dialect. The irresistible offbeat shuffle and bouncing bass lines have earned fans around the globe, and there is practically no corner on Earth that has not been influenced by this Jamaican music style. Reggae’s syncopated beat fits well with most other musical styles and countless artists around the world have incorporated it into their music. While reggae has an engaging beat you can dance to, the music alone is not the sole reason for its worldwide popularity. Reggae has also long been a tool for social and political discourse.
Jimmy Cliff was the one of the first reggae artists to achieve worldwide renown.The successful 1972 film The Harder They Come starred Jimmy Cliff and featured his music along with that of other early reggae stars such as Toots and the Maytals and Desmond Dekker. A few years later, when Bob Marley began touring internationally, reggae’s popularity exploded around the world. Indeed, Marley is practically a saint in many quarters of the globe, revered as more than just a gifted musician, but as a messenger of hope and revolution. By the late 1970s, local reggae scenes were going in strong in Brazil, Africa, the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere.
World Reggae features reggae from African artists Alpha Blondy (Ivory Coast), Maria de Barros (Cape Verde), Majek Fashek (Nigeria), Kaïssa (Cameroon) as well as artists from Europe including the French reggae band Kana and British/Spanish fusionists Más y Más. The influence of reggae on music from the Arab world is reflected in the selections by Intik (Algeria) and Gnawa Diffusion (Algeria/France). Brazil’s thriving reggae scene is represented by Alê Muniz, who fuses traditional music from the Brazilian northeast with a reggae swing. There’s even reggae from India by Apache Indian and a track by Bernard Uedre from Pacific Ocean island of New Caledonia, proving the worldwide reach of reggae. Chris Combette from the South American country of French Guiana rounds out the diverse selection with a smooth, zouk-flavored reggae track.
World Reggae features some of Putumayo’s favorite songs which illustrate the powerful impact of reggae on the world’s music.

Titles include:
Kana Pas de Problemes
Apache Indian Om Numah Shivaya
Intik Notre Devoir
Majek Fashek African Unity
Maria de Barros Riberonzinha
Gnawa Diffusion Ya Laymi
Ale Muniz Maguinha do Sa Viana
Mas y Mas Agua
Chris Combette Babylone Buildings
Alpha Blondie Lalogo
Bernard Uedre Rawagu
Kaissa O Si Keka

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