Cuban Originals
The violin is an instrument few people would associate with Cuban music. Yet, beginning in the 1940s,Orquesta Aragonmade massed fiddles synonymous with a dance-music style calledcharanga, which added a dose of urban sophistication to the more pastoral, flute-leddanzongenre. Orquesta Aragon rode a gliding, polished sound based on the interplay between the string section and the effervescent flute of Richard Egües, more recently heard backing Senegalese singerCheik Lôon his breakaway disc,Bambay Gueej. Thoughcharangawould seem to be at odds with tougher, more rhythmically charged Cuban dance music, the Orquesta put the mambo-derived cha-cha on the map with Egües's composition "El Boduguero," whichNat "King" Colelater took to the top of the American charts. Famous members of this world-class ensemble include Rafael Lay, who arranged the songs with Egües, andBuena Vista Social Clubalumnus Pio Leyva. The band remains together, but this disc traces the glory days of the late 1940s to the early 1950s.--Bob Tarte.