THE international salsa ensemble Classico Latino return to the studio with a new set Salsa Classics — a homage to Colombian salsa legend and multi instrumentalist Julio Ernesto Estrada aka “Fruko.”

Classico Latino are stellar musicians led by Colombian pianist Ivan Guevara and British cellist/conductor Graham Walke and feature the Cuban violin virtuoso Omar Puente.

Omar was the first violin with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra, toured internationally with Cuban pianist Ruben Gonzales and has performed with high profile figures including Jools Holland and Wynton Marsalis.

Omar is also billed on the album with Fruko. The Morning Star caught up with Omar in advance of their London showcase gig on December 7.

He talked about growing up in Cuba in the ’60s and ’70s, the blockade and his main musical influences: “In the ’60s and ’70s many influences from ensembles and orchestras came to me. The duo Los Compadres, two phenomenal musicians who played Cuban Son — Cuban music in its purest form — and Los Van Van Orchestra who were popular at the time.  

“Internationally, the tango singer Carlos Gardel occupies an important space in my musical life along with the Orquesta Aragon a Cuban orchestra formed in 1939.

As for the blockade Omar says: “For me, music has no barriers or borders, but the success of the Buena Vista Social Club was definitely a serum of energy. That music is so precious. Originally only a small number of people knew about it. Buena Vista Social Club put Cuba back at the top of the list and on the map again.” 

He says recording an album with Fruko was an honour. “Having the possibility of working with a music legend is not just an honour, it is a super pleasure! That music was composed by someone who has toured almost all the stages in the Latin world and appeared on the radio, I really feel lucky for the experience of sharing the the studio and stage with him.”

Drawing on the Bolero and Tango, and lesser known rhythms such as the Pasillo and Joropo, Classico Latino’s Salsa Classics is released by the Classico Latino label.

Staying with Latin American music Craft Latino Records double vinyl album set of recordings from Tico Records Hit The Bongo! The Latin Soul Of Tico Records spans the decade 1962–1972 and celebrates the 75th anniversary of the label.

Tico Records was owned by New York R&B record man George Goldner who made big bucks when the Mambo craze was sweeping the dance halls of the east coast of the US. Goldner recorded artists such as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, the Joe Cuba Sextet, La Lupe, Willie Bobo and many more.

The album includes The Joe Cuba Sextet’s El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia) and Bang Bang; Tito Puente’s Oye Como Va (which Santana wowed the hippies with at Woodstock); and The Modern Sound Of Al Escobar’s cover of Archie Bell’s Tighten Up and the Cliff Nobles northern soul instrumental The Horse.

Goldner’s gambling habit cost him his R&B labels and publishing rights. Tico was taken off his hands by a music impresario — the mob-connected Morris Levy. Great music though.

Finally, Somanti is a new album on Bongo Joe Records from the Haitian six-piece band Chouk Bwa and the Brussels based The Angstromers. 

Chouk Bwa hail from Vodou, Haiti — home of  Haiti’s independence movement while the Angstromers have a passion for musique concrete, Jamaican dub and electronic music. The all-acoustic Chouk Bwa sing about the injustices meted out to the world’s poor while the Angstromers produce an electro-acoustic, in your face sound barrage — it’s infectious stuff.