La Sonora Matancera

Thin pickings at the boot sale today and last week so delving into the archive to find this EP (Extended Play) 45rpm on the French SEECO label. It's four tracks by two cuban singers - Celia Cruz and Celio Gonzalez. I think I found it at the flea market at Brick Lane in London's East End back in the 80's. I was immediately drawn to the wonderful kitsch photo on the sleeve. The vinyl itself is rather badly warped and only the two inner tracks on each side will play properly. Thankfully they are both really excellent examples of Cha Cha and Mambo and well worth the 50p or whatever it was I paid for it.
Here's a short introduction to the biography of Celia Cruz who sadly died a couple of years ago - still singing in her 80's.

"Although the Cuban-born music known as salsa, like other forms of Latin jazz and dance music, has been primarily male-dominated, its biggest vocal star is female. Celia Cruz has a powerful voice that transfers the rhythmic energy of salsa into the vocal medium, and she has been a prominent figure in the music since the beginnings of her career in Cuba in the 1950s. Leaving Cuba for the United States after the Castro takeover in 1959, Cruz has become a true legend of Latin American music and something of an emblem of Latin American identity.
The early facts of Cruz's life are somewhat obscure. Always reluctant to discuss her age, Cruz--according to some accounts--was born in Havana, Cuba, on October 21, 1924. Growing up in the city's poor Santo Su�rez neighborhood in a household of 14 children (some were her cousins), she stood out because of her singing ability. Cruz won a singing contest called "La hora del t�" and with her mother's encouragement began to enter other contests in various parts of Cuba."

Discover more about Celia Cruz HERE.


Celio Gonzalez was born in the province of Santa Clara, Cuba, in 1924. At the age of 17 he joined the Orchestra of Joachim Mendive and soon playing with other bands like The National Trio and Manacera Sonant. He later worked with Cuban stars such as Tito Puente and Johnny Pacheco. He died in Mexico on 2004.


01 sin pensar en ti
http://rapidshare.de/files/20723709/01_sin_pensar_en_ti.mp3.html
02 ven bernabe
http://rapidshare.de/files/20723962/02_ven_bernabe.mp3.html

Both tracks zipped at Momoshare:
http://www.momoshare.com/file.php?file=8d9eb535933a03d4989972d27b7550b3


These files kindly donated by Mr. Dante Fontana.