Juan Almeida – Fantasia

キューバ音楽の枠を超えた異彩の一枚、Juan Almeidaによる『Fantasia』が登場。ラテン・ジャズ・ファンク、トリッピーな電子音楽、そしてオーケストラが奏でるクラシカルな要素が融合した、エキセントリックかつ壮大なインストゥルメンタル・アルバム。まるで忘れられたアニメ映画のサウンドトラックのような壮麗さを持ちながらも、突如として炸裂するエキゾチックなファンクやアフロ・キューバンのリズムが魅力的。プロデュースを手掛けたのはキューバ音楽の巨匠Rafael Somavilla。リスナーを何度でも新たな発見へと誘う深みと奥行きのある一枚だ。キューバン・クラシック・シリーズのOBIストリップ付きヴァイナル仕様でコレクターズ・アイテムとしても注目必至。

A1. Preludio
A2. Este Camino Largo
A3. Decide Tu
B1. Interludio
B2. El Arriero
B3. Te Canta Mi Tambor
B4. Ritmo Abierto
B5. Postludio
B6. Final

The next album in our Cuban Classics series is a hard one to pigeonhole. It’s a real oddity, unique and not in keeping with the majority of Cuban albums we know, but it's all the better for this. Coming courtesy of Juan Almeida, the Fantasia LP is an eclectic and epic, instrumental ride through Latin jazz-funk, trippy electronics and orchestrated classical music. Sounding at points like a full-blown orchestrated score to a dusty animated film extravaganza, with phrases and passages repeating like the appearance of ghostly spectres throughout the recording. At others, it busts into exotic funk, psychedelic-trippiness and Afro-Cuban percussion. 

As rich and varied as the record, so too was Juan Almeida's (Juan Almeida Bosque) life. A descendant of African slaves born in a poor neighbourhood in Havana in 1927, Almeida went from bricklayer to university law student, through which he would meet Fidel Castro. He played a key role in the Cuban revolution, becoming the only black commander and famously voicing “Aqui no se rinde nadie!” (“Nobody here surrenders!”) when outnumbered at the start of the offensive. Castro would later make him one of his vice presidents, but Almeida’s legacy does not stop there. He also became the composer of over 300 popular Cuban songs, many of them recounting his days as a guerrilla. 

Produced, orchestrated and conducted by Rafael Somavilla, who worked on a vast array of Cuban recordings including Raúl Gómez's Instrumental which we also reissued on Mr Bongo. The feel of Fantasia is big, luscious, grand and pop-classical. It has become a highly sought-after, cult Cuban rarity amongst collectors and like many great albums, every repeat listen brings with it new elements previously unnoticed. Such is its richness and depth. A truly mesmerising, off-the-beaten-track instrumental record.

The vinyl release is presented with a Cuban Classic Series OBI Strip.