Search - Bobby Matos :: Charanga Chango

Combines the best elements from charanga, salsa, and latin j

Marcos | California, USA | 09/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most Charanga music follows a certain format, playing mostly son, cha-cha-cha, and danzon. Not this one, specially with Larry Harlow taking on the piano, it blows into the best of salsa territory. This whole CD is one of a kind, specially with the instrumentation. While many of the songs have the charanga sound of the violins and flutes, it also includes trombones, saxophones, and even clarinets.



"Cuando Baila Ramon" is a unique 60s boogalu meets modern charanga that swings completely. Some tracks sound more jazzy like "Poem For Cachao", with a bass line that comes to the front to pay tribute to that most important bass player in latin music.



There is a strong emphasis on the instrumental over the vocals, but what vocals were done provided great catchy choruses, and some interesting spoken verse.



This one is for hard-core salseros, and fans of Cuban music. This is similar to a Cachao album, with a lot of descarga type material, in a hard-core salsero style."