Pancho Quinto Downloads

Rumba Sin Fronteras is a snapshot of a magical moment in musical history, a collaboration between generations of musicians that creates a fusion of Afro-Cuban and African-American traditions. Pancho Quinto’s music is a unique cross of rhythmic and harmonic elements rarely heard in contemporary music, featuring innovations in Cuban percussion. Pancho explores new possibilities within the rumba...
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Rumba Sin Fronteras is a snapshot of a magical moment in musical history, a collaboration between generations of musicians that creates a fusion of Afro-Cuban and African-American traditions. Pancho Quinto’s music is a unique cross of rhythmic and harmonic elements rarely heard in contemporary music, featuring innovations in Cuban percussion. Pancho explores new possibilities within the rumba tradition by adding new sounds and rhythmic combinations, and the basic tracks of this recording were achieved in a one-day session during his historic 1998 US tour. His first recording, En El Solar La Cueva Del Humo, documents Pancho’s revolutionary fusion of Cuban drumming, known as guarapachangeo, which incorporates bata drums and cajones into the traditional rumba. These innovations are taken to another level here, as he combines forces with percussionist and babalao Octavio Rodríguez, pianist Omar Sosa, percussionist John Santos and saxophonist Enrique Fernández. When Pancho came to the United States on his national tour, he was inspired by the booming percussive sounds he heard bouncing from the car trunks in San Francisco’s Latin barrio, the Mission District. He craved the boom of hip-hop bass and revelled in the freedom of improvisation he was allowed. Singers Lazaro Rizo and Guillermo ‘El Negro’ Triana were also ready and willing to stretch the boundaries of rumba vocals, incorporating new harmonic ideas and phrasing into traditional songs. For this recording, Pancho went to Home Depot and bought some plywood to build a bass cajón, a massive box that he sat on and attacked with both hands and sticks. With a set of bata drums behind him on a stand, a small cajón between his legs, two conga drums on the side, and a variety of bells, sticks and a tambourine at his feet, his unique percussion set produces a diverse array of sounds that he divides between high and low frequencies. Pancho has been active for more than five decades in a network of percussionists in Havana that have maintained and developed the country’s important African traditions. He began his career playing in traditional religious ceremonies, earning the rank of omo aña or master drummer – one who has been initiated to play the ritual fundamental drums. He was a constant presence in neighbourhood carnival groups and rumbas during the 1950s, and played on the classic Sonora Matancera song ‘Nuevo Ritmo Omelenco’, featuring a young Celia Cruz (also one of the first popular music recordings to include bata drums). Although Pancho excelled as a percussionist, this was not a career option for him in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Pancho worked on Havana’s docks, which for over three centuries were a crossroads, where men from different neighbourhoods met and worked on their drumming and dancing skills during breaks between unloading ships. In the shipyards the workers practised a variety of African cultural and religious traditions – including Abakua, Palo Monte and Regla de Ocha (or Santería) – and in this environment Pancho was able to learn and assimilate many different drumming traditions. These he fused into his interpretation of rumba, a complex Cuban music and dance, which developed from the synthesis of various African and Spanish styles. During the 1980s Pancho and other seasoned rumberos formed a group called Yoruba Andabo that worked with Merceditas Valdes, acclaimed vocalist and respected inheritor of Cuba’s African musical legacy. During this collaboration he began a long-term relationship with Canadian jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, who travelled to Cuba to record the ground-breaking record Spirits Of Havana with Merceditas and Yoruba Andabo. Pancho continued to teach young percussionists during the 1990s, functioning as one of the country’s most prized resources as he carried on with his rhythmic innovations. He showed his students the essence of the Cuban version of Yoruba/Lucumi and Congolese drumming, and gave them the means to forge new styles from an eclectic montage of Cuban elements. This recording highlights the spirit of improvisation that makes Pancho such a driving force in the development of Cuban music and one of the world’s great percussion innovators. 1 La Gorra 5:53 (words: Lazaro Rizo, music: Lazaro Rizo/Octavio Rodríguez, arr Omar Sosa) 2 Bolero En Medio Del Carnaval 4:26 (Enrique Fernández/Octavio Rodríguez) 3 A Esos Senores 3:56 (trad, adaptation: Guillermo Triana/Lazaro Rizo/Pancho Quinto/Octavio Rodríguez) 4 Sosa En El Pais De Las Maravillas 4:57 (Omar Sosa/Pancho Quinto/Octavio Rodríguez) 5 Aspirina 6:41 (trad, adaptation: Guillermo Triana/Pancho Quinto/Octavio Rodríguez) 6 Solo Mi Arte 4:54 (words: Guillermo Triana, music: Pancho Quinto, arr Omar Sosa/Greg Landau/Octavio Rodríguez) 7 Caridad 5:08 (words: Guillermo Triana, music: Pancho Quinto/Octavio Rodríguez) 8 Water Please 4:53 (words: Guillermo Triana, music: Pancho Quinto/Octavio Rodríguez) 9 Mi Derrota 4:42 (adaptation from Jose Alfredo Jimenez’ ‘Cuando Vivas Conmigo’: Guillermo Triana) 10 Cuando Baila Cachita 2:39 (Omar Sosa/Greg Landau) Appearing on this album are: Pancho Quinto: bata, cajón, quinto and other percussion Octavio Rodríguez: bata, cajón, quinto, tres golpes and other percussion John Santos: bata, tumbadoras, cajón and other percussion Miguel Miranda: bata, tumbadora, clave, katá Alexander Nápoles: clave, katá, timbales Guillermo ‘El Negro’ Triana: vocals Lazaro Rizo: vocals Lilia ‘Bellita’ Exposito: coro Jose Luis Gómez: coro Rahsaan Fredericks: bass Omar Sosa: piano, marimba and keyboards Greg Landau: guitar Special guests: Jesus Diaz: timbales and drums on ‘La Gorra’ Enrique Fernández: soprano, alto and tenor saxes on ‘Bolero En Medio Del Carnaval’ Special thanks to: Santica Maldonado and family, Rosa, Christina, Marco, Caridad, Nicole, Sebastian, Marysol, Cha Cha Cha Restaurant and the whole Round World family Thanks to: Phil Stanton, Sandra Alayón-Stanton and all at World Music Network All tracks published by Riverboat UK Music, except track 8 published by Careers BMG Music Publishing Executive production: Robert Leaver Production: Greg Landau Musical direction: Octavio Rodríguez Recorded and mixed by Oscar Autie and Greg Landau Recorded at Bay Records and El Patio de Ochún Studios Mixed at O Studios and El Patio de Ochún Studios Sleeve notes: Greg Landau Design by Undertow, coordinated by Duncan Baker Visit www.worldmusic.net to listen to sound samples of all World Music Network and Riverboat Records releases
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