Product Overview
Truco & Zaperoko – Fusión Caribeña / Ryko Latino Audio CD 1999 / RLCD 1013
UPC 645211101322
Printed in the USA.
Manufactured in Canada.
Imagine The Beatles and The Stones amalgamating for a recording project as 'Beatles and Stones'. Curious, no? Well, two leading Puerto Rican bands have been doing just that for three album's worth of great music, and the formula works beautifully.
Zaperoko have been well-known to quality latin dance music aficionados for two decades, ever since their groundbreaking debut release Cosa De Locos (1983, Montuno Records). Conceivedby trombonist Edwin Feliciano, inspired in part by a musical tour of Cuba, the album was the first (apart, perhaps, from 1979's Cortijo masterpiece La Maquina Del Tiempo) to fuse Cuban' Songo with Puerto Rican' salsa and folkloric elements, Brazilian samba, and several other flavours from jazz and funk.
Hector Valentin's traditional Boricuan plena and bomba group Truco, on the other hand, have a twenty-five year reputation as unflinching modernisers of Puerto Rico's two main indigenous song-forms.
The beauty and originality of the loose amalgamation of these two very different latin bands come across effectively and concisely on this, perhaps their strongest collective album to date. Feliciano's policy of encouraging jazz improvisation among his soloists bears fine fruit in the more modal jazz-salsa pieces, such as "Miedo Y Terror" and "Papa Son". But the two groups aren't too proud to turn their hand to strictly folkloric airs, such as "En El Cafe" (strangely enough, a Cuban song - but very 'Rican' in tone here), "Senora Plena", or "Maria Luisa", the unusual instrumentation for such traditional pieces giving them a fresh lease of life.
From the percussion viewpoint, Cuban bata and Puerto Rican quinto and requinto students will be thrilled to hear the subtle difference in technique from Afro-Cuban styles demonstrated here by the mighty Maysonet brothers, one of the island's most famous Afro-Rican percussion families. In particular, the Afro-Rican drumming styles shine in "Miedo y Terror" (again) and in "No Se Lo Que Paso".
Elsewhere, pianist/Rhodes keyboardist Jose Lugo plays fiercely, with an Eddie Palmieri-esque left-hand technique, whilst the unmistakable Puerto Rican 'trombanga' style is pinned down by Edwin himself and fellow 'bone-players Luis Quinones and Tonito Vasquez.
Vocals are handled largely by Richard Martinez and Luis Gonzalez, as on the previous two albums. Particularly impressive is Martinez' Spanish version of the Brazilian Chico Buarque favourite "Cotidiano".
Very highly recommended, regardless of whether your interest lies in folkloric or modern Caribbean and New York latin idioms.
SOURCE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/nd54/
Tracklist:
| 1 | Vámanos Pa'l Carnaval |
4:44 |
| 2 | Conchita | 4:48 |
| 3 | El Cuarto De Tula | 6:12 |
| 4 | Te Gusta El Dulce | 5:41 |
| 5 | La Noticia Del Día | 4:44 |
| 6 | Porque Adoré | 5:14 |
| 7 |
A Ti Na' Má | 4:34 |
| 8 | Margarita | 4:39 |
| 9 | Brilla El Sol | 5:34 |
READ MORE: https://worldmusiccentral.org/2018/12/26/artist-profiles-truco-y-zaperoko/
Truco y Zaperoko
Several decades ago, two groups were formed in Puerto Rico. Outwardly, they had little in common but as fate would have it they eventually discovered each other’s unique talents and became a group which is simply without parallel in both concept and execution.
Truko and Zaperoco were two separate bands that fused into one entity. Their trademark is the deliberate fusion of folklore with a progressive and danceable Latin ensemble, for which they received a 2004 Grammy Nomination for their album Musica Universal. The band has also been voted the most exciting live act in Puerto Rico, as well as receiving huge accolades from and touring with such legends as Andy Montañez and Gilberto Santa Rosa.
For two decades, Truco, led by Hector Valentin, was recognized as one of the leading ensembles in the history of Bomba y Plena, the traditional music of the Afro-Puerto Rican people. The distinguishing characteristic of Plena is the battery of three handheld drums which loosely resemble the tambourine in design. Each drum is pitched differently and played by a different member, the ensemble effect is stunning when left in the hands of men like the Maysonet Bros. who are the core of the Truco ensemble. The other distinguishing element are the group harmonies that these men engage in while playing these complex rhythmic passages. Bomba y Plena is in general music of celebration and this spirit of alegria (happiness) informs every note that is played by this inspired organization and its humorous and profound leader, Hector Valentin.
Zaperoko was formed in the early 1980s when a trombonist named Edwin Feliciano visited Cuba to perform with a leading salsa orchestra of the time. The effect of hearing a relatively new rhythm called Songo, pioneered by Juan Formell and his groundbreaking ensemble Los Van Van, sent the impressionable young musician racing back to his home in Puerto Rico to explore some of the ideas that had been already forming in his mind. The outcome of this meditation resulted in a group called Zaperoko and a debut album released by Montuno Records in 1983 called Cosa De Locos. Produced by Rene López, one of the most admired men in the history of Latin music, this album helped pioneer the genre which today is called World Music.
These two groups -among the greatest in any genre- come together every few years to record an album and present a very few special live concerts, where music fans are treated to one of the best fusions of folkloric and dance music in the world today.
