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Rating: Ry Cooder's album with the "Buena Vista Social Club" had the merit of introducing a bit of Cuban music to the general public, and I must say it's not bad at all. But in the same year, this other work by Marc Ribot was released, which in my opinion is an absolute gem.
It is practically a tribute to the musician Arsenio Rodriguez, known as "El Ciego Maravilloso" as he was blinded at the age of seven by a horse's kick. He is probably one of the most important figures in Cuban music of all time, and his compositions are now practically standards of any salsa repertoire. Immigrating to New York in 1953, he exported the genre to the United States and became quite popular there too (although without reaching the fame he had in Cuba in the 1940s). Rodrigues' music was actually written and arranged for "big bands" of twelve to fifteen elements; the challenge of rearranging everything for a minimalist setup with bass, guitar, and percussion (also an organ in some pieces) is admirable.
The idea is to ironically perform a sort of counterfeiting (from here the title I would freely translate as "The Bogus Cubans"). By the way, one of the pieces, "Postizos", is written by Ribot with the intention, in my opinion, of writing a piece that could seem composed by Rodriguez (as Borges would say, a version of "Don Quixote" written by Pierre Menard). So, long live counterfeits if they are of this quality. I would compare it to "Jazz Samba" by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz, a great Brazilian music record recorded by people who were not Brazilian at all. Marc Ribot's guitar soars and howls effortlessly among the Latin claves. I wonder if there is a musical genre where he doesn't feel at ease, as he truly ranges from avant-garde, to surf rock, to jazz, to classical (and actually none of these genres alone, because there's always a certain degree of contamination when he plays). And it must also be said that his technique regarding speed of execution is not even that excellent, as it is limited by the fact that he is left-handed playing a right-handed guitar. His strength lies elsewhere, in vibratos and reverberations, for example. By the way, a second album from the same formation, "Muy divertido!", has also been released, which I have not yet had the pleasure of listening to.
I conclude with a thought by Arsenio Rodriguez mentioned in the booklet:
"When one has gone through countless disappointments, what does one more matter? After experiencing betrayal, you shouldn't cry; you must realize that everything is a lie, that nothing is true. You must live for the happy moments, enjoy everything you can, summing up life is just a dream."
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