Lamento Borincano--Early Puerto Rican Music: 1916-1939

Lamento Borincano--Early Puerto Rican Music: 1916-1939

Lamento Borincano is a wonderful collection of early recordings of Puerto Rican music that cover an astonishingly wide range of styles, from sophisticated danzas, which have a strong European influence, to the earthier sound of the seis jibaro and plena, which were created by farm workers and laborers, to the bolero, son, and guaracha, which were imports from Cuba. All these tracks were recorded in New York between 1916 and 1939, and because most of the musicians were recent immigrants making music for their homesick countrymen, the music still retains a strong island feel. This two-CD set includes a meticulously annotated 56-page booklet that contains biographies of the musicians, lyrics in Spanish and English, and a description of the musical styles. The engineers at Arhoolie have done an excellent job of cleaning up these old records, and even though the recordings were made in the first part of the last century, they are still very easy to listen to and exhibit almost none of the scratchiness that can mar reissues of 78s. Lamento Borincano is a strong reminder that Cuba is not the only Caribbean island that has produced exciting music played by world-class musicians. --Michael Simmons

Country	USA
Artist	VARIOUS ARTISTS
AudienceRating	NR (Not Rated)
Binding	Audio CD
EAN	0096297703724
Format	Original recording remastered
IsEligibleForTradeIn	1
Label	Arhoolie Records
Manufacturer	Arhoolie Records
NumberOfDiscs	2
NumberOfItems	2
PublicationDate	2001-02-27
Publisher	Arhoolie Records
ReleaseDate	2001-02-27
Studio	Arhoolie Records

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