Having spent a great deal of time working with Puerto Rican musicians and community, I have become fond of the culture, especially the music. Plena is a really great traditional style from Puerto Rico which I love playing. For the instrumental interludes in this song we go back and forth between Plena and Mozambique. For the verses I used the exact same chord progression of the great Jaco Pastorius' "Teen Town" and a couple of sax riffs also quote parts of the original melody. Gilenny again, nailed this not very easy nor conventional melody in just a couple of takes! As we move to the Coro section we start with a funky instrumental interlude which leads to the call response with some burning "soneos" (improvisations) by Manolo. The Mambo section is pretty cool, it has an uneven meter which you can hardly notice. Musicians will catch it quite easily but you can be dancing to it and not be aware that a beat has been skipped. We the return to another breakdown with me doing the soneos as we move to the outro. The very last coro we sing is a quote of an old Plena I heard played by Cortijo.
The song is basically a tribute to Latin music and its immense beauty and diversity.
lyrics
PLENA BLUE (Spanish)
DE LA MUSICA LATINA YO ME HE ENAMORA’O
CADA PUEBLO TIENE SU SABOR Y SU TUMBA’O
FLORES DIFERENTES
QUE HAN NACIDO DE UNA MISMA MATA
CANTOS AL AMOR A LA ESPERANZA Y LA ALEGRIA
CANTOS DE DOLOR DE PENA Y DE MELANCOLIA
MUSICA PARA BAILAR, MUSICA PARA PENSAR
MUSICA REBELDE QUE NOS DA FUERZAS PARA LUCHAR
DESDE LAS TUPIDAS SELVAS A LOS VERDES LLANOS
DESDE LAS CALIDAS PLAYAS AL FRIO ALTIPLANO
UN TORRENTE INTERMINABLE DE COLORES MUSICALES
CANTOS AL AMOR A LA ESPERANZA Y LA ALEGRIA
CANTOS DE DOLOR DE PENA Y DE MELANCOLIA
MUSICA PARA BAILAR, MUSICA PARA PENSAR
MUSICA REBELDE QUE NOS DA FUERZAS PARA LUCHAR
PLENA BLUE (English)
I have fallen in love with Latin music
Each people/town has its own flavor and groove
Different flowers which have been born from the same plant
Songs to love, hope and happiness
Songs of pain, grief and melancholy
Music to dance to, music to think
Rebellious music which gives us strength to fight
From the thick jungles to the green fields
From the heat in the beaches to the cold in the mountains
An endless flow of musical colors
Songs to love, hope and happiness
Songs of pain, grief and melancholy
Music to dance to, music to think
Rebellious music which gives us strength to fight
credits
from MANGO,
track released January 26, 2011
Alex Alvear - Bass, Lead & Bckgnd. Vocals
Rebecca Cline - Keyboards
Karina Colis - Timbal
Ernesto Diaz - Congas
Eric Doob - Drums
Gonzalo Grau - Minor Percussion, Vocals & Keyboards
Gilenny Guzman - Lead & Bckgnd. Vocals
Manolo Mairena - Misc. Percussion, Lead & Bckgnd. Vocals
Felipe Salles - Tenor Sax
Jared Sims, Alto Sax
The music of the Cabo Verde diaspora as played by a band hailing from the Lusophone underground of Luxembourg, recorded in Portugal, reissued by a New York label. This well-travelled sound has been enriched by its journeys. It's an upbeat, synth-infused fast-paced homage to Funaná. Karl Grundmann
Almost impossible to pick a favourite from this bunch, they're all so cool. For now, I'm singling out the Kinks one because it's such an original song choice but ask me tomorrow and it'll be a different one! themichaelmoran
