Cuba Classics, Vol. 1: Canciones Urgentes

1	Sueño de Una Noche de Verano 6:21
2	Causas y Azares 5:23
3	Como Esperando Abril 3:21
4	Playa Girón 3:22
5	Canto Arena 4:22
6	La Maza 5:51
7	Canción Urgente Para Nicaragua 3:00
8	Sueño Con Serpientes 5:35
9	Unicornio Live 4:35
10	Nuestro Tema 3:59
11	No Hachen Falta Alas 7:39
12	O Melancolía 5:19

Barnes & Noble

Cuba's great folk renaissance known as nueva trova evolved as a parallel to South America's nueva canción (new song) movement, and Silvio Rodriguez is the most widely admired trovador of all. As with the latter, the purveyors of nueva trova sought to amplify the political relevance of folk music by recasting the ballads of the past with timely, progressive commentaries. Assembled by Luaka Bop label founder and onetime Talking Head David Byrne, this set makes for a splendid and inclusive introduction to Silvio's music. Whether he's talking about love, revolution, or the seasons of the soul, an abiding humanism underlies all these tunes, and anything but blunt, Silvio approaches each with a poet's heart. He's thoroughly cosmopolitan in his influences; Bach, the Beatles, and Neruda, along with fellow Cuban favorites, all have a place in his songwriting. "Canción Urgente Para Nicaragua" cheerleads the Sandinistas with a spirited pop son. The anthemic "La Maza," made at least as famous by Argentine Mercedes Sosa, asks "What would the hammer be without the quarry?" in a stark setting of sweeping guitar and percussion. "Sueño con Serpientes" ("I Dream of Serpents") is prophetic psychedelia, with its entrancing strains of 12-string guitar and triumphant vocal testimonies set adrift on waves of reverb. Soaring piano and vocal melodies carry "O Melancolia" up into the stratosphere, while the quiet samba of "Nuestro Tema" showcases Silvio's guitar work as he simultaneously plucks out bass lines and chords to accompany his breezy, romantic imagery. The cradle of contemporary Cuban song lies here. Abraham Velez

All Music Guide

A release of Cuban music following closely on the heels of the break in the blockade for cultural exchange, this album features one of the founders of the nueva trova movement of Cuban music, somewhere between poetry and song in general. The music itself might flow from pop to nothingness, to light backing arrangements only. The vocals are somewhat thin and at times seemingly weak, but the lyrics are the power here. While the music sticks in the sounds of light mid-'70s jazz-pop, the lyrics deal largely with topics of love, and occasionally with more political motives, but always they embody a high level of poetic genius. For Spanish speakers, this album may be worthwhile simply for the poetry itself. For English speakers, it might hold somewhat less allure, although the lyrics are translated in the liner notes. Pick it up for a nice glance at a Cuban musical tradition largely detached from the stereotypical salsas, rhumbas, and cha chas, and see what had been developing in the island during the blockade. Adam Greenberg