SANTIAGO DE CUBA LA REINA DEL

Four years before the musical adventure that led Ry Cooder in Havana to record the legendary “Buena Vista Social Club”, Francois Jouffa had recorded the most important singers and musicians of Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second city and the capital of son. The blending of African, European and American, but also Haitian, influences have made Santiago de Cuba’s music the embodiment of Cubanness, the best of which is here handed down to posterity thanks to Francois Jouffa. Patrick FReMEAUX