Cha cha cha

"This 14-track collection of the highlights [from some of the finest recordings of Barroso's career] is probably the best bargain winter-sun break you're going to get this year. This is the sound of 50s Havana, just after the orange sun has set over the Malacon, as the glow of the city lights begins to flood from hot bars and steaming clubs. The blend of excitement and passion hints both at danger and romance - preferably in one hit ... Throughout, violins and flutes rest on a bed of the most delicious rhythms, and above it all floats the irresistible voice of a master in his prime. Simply divine".

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"Tidløs mestermusik fra Cuba ... Produceren Nick Gold har det med at få gode idéer. Okay, Buena Vista Social Club kom til ham ved et tilfælde, og han har selv ofte takket salig Ali Farka Toure for indføringen i vestafrikansk og cubansk musik. Det gav os i sin tid et reissue af 1982-mesterværket Pirates Choice med Senegals Orchestra Baobab, og nu kommer der mere med samme tidløse kvalitet. En udsøgt nydelse med en klassisk sangmester, der sang sin sidste strofe for mere end et halvt århundrede siden og for alvor var stor helt tilbage i 1920'erne ... Der er tale om en compilation af de bedste ting fra 1950'erne, og det er altså musik, der har den der helt vidunderlige flydende vibe, som i Gold's og lydtekniker Jerry Boys' produktion får en helt egen kvalitet ... Har du Cuba-affición, har du sikkert sangene, som er hvermandseje på den caraibiske ø. Men hører du kun sjældent musik fra de himmelstrøg, bør dette være adgangsbilletten".

"It would be difficult to imagine classic Cuban cha-cha-cha in the absence of Havana-born singer Abelardo Barroso (1905-1972) ... To win Barroso enduring Cuban musical fame, it took a comeback from obscurity in the 1940s (...) to become the frontman for Orquesta Sensación in the 1950s and '60s, the cha cha cha era covered in this compilation reissue. Alongside the equally popular Orquesta Aragón and Orquesta América, Barroso carried Cuban dance music across the waters, winning fervent new listeners and inspiring artists and dancers on the African, European and North American continents ... These fourteen gratifyingly remastered tracks take listeners back to the waning days of pre-revolutionary Havana, whose legendary nightclubs and illicit pleasures are implicit in this engaging re-visitation".