Cuban Dreams

They Say...

Review by Paula Edelstein, All Music Guide

Cuban Dreams is a stunning feast for the senses and invites you to step further into the world of Luis Conte, the brilliant, innovative percussionist, composer, and arranger. Ten tracks capture the moods, sounds, and source of Luis Conte's musical heritage and enjoyment. Cuban Dreams chronicles Luis Conte's childhood experiences in Santiago de Cuba, through a myriad of rhythms and firsthand historical perspectives from the artist and his family members who serve as orators and participants. The recording represents all aspects of Cuban music, especially the percussive elements in traditional, ceremonial, and original compositions inspired by the pre-Revolutionary era. The impact of the Conte experience is felt from the opening introduction as the sound of waves crashing against the shore and the transistorized sound of a Radio Cuba broadcast introduce his extraordinary recollections. "Drume Negrita," a traditional Afro-Cuban lullaby, portrays remembrances of a Cuban child being rocked to sleep, while "Isla Linda" is a son with bongos, tres, acoustic bass, maracas, and trumpet from the Orient region that celebrates the artist's love of the beautiful island. The song later breaks into a lively coro, with the addition of congas and piano. Orators open Conte's six-part medley "Walk to Carnival Medley," the centerpiece of Cuban Dreams. The medley represents the atmosphere around the city streets of Santiago de Cuba during carnival time. Within the medley, the listener will hear "Doña Teresa," a yambu-styled piece with cajones being played in a yard where people play music, followed by an exciting "Rumba Vocal" that features singers using an a cappella scat style that simulates the salidor, tres golpe, quinto, claves, guagua, and asheré, which are the percussion parts of a guaguanco. A changui is heard next on "Monte Adentro" as the music continues to depict the crowd walking through the streets. Conte uses the conga drums to relay another street rhythm called La Columbia, a rhythm that originates from the western part of Cuba on "Rumba Columbia." The impromptu jam session "En la Esquina" and "El Chancleteo" symbolize people partying at a local corner bar and the rhythmic groove created by people wearing chancletas dragging their feet on the pavement or dancing down and through the street in the main carnival parade. They aptly portray the art Conte has used to blend and describe this diversity of styles. On "El Real de Hielo," a danzon is used in the setting of a sweet 16 party where the timbales and pailas cultivate the musical senses. Conte's use of these vivid musical forms and rhythms, captured by his varied percussion instruments, bata drums, timbales, asheré, and claves, seduce and fascinate you into discovering what makes the rhythms of this region so captivating. Everything is different about them: from their origins to the traditions that have made them symbols of a lifestyle. The more you know about them, the more you will appreciate their uniqueness and Conte's indomitable portrait of a people and their music.