MUSIC OR DIE #11–Sabu, "Palo Congo" (1957)

Party!

Part 11 of my 1000+ part series.
(For info on that, clickety-click-click)

In which I continue to demonstrate my musical ignorance, only this time to a sick new beat!

TL;DR:

More after The Cut>>>

1.) El Cumbanchero
YAAAASSSSSSSS
I could not stop DANCING. I'm all about this. As far as I can tell, the lyrics are about a guy who likes to just have fun playing bongos and doing his gig.
I'm just imagining this while listening:

Make of that what you will.

(Also, lest we forget...)

After two minutes or so of singing, it goes into a guitar + bongo breakdown, with the odd vocal call in the background, until around the 5-minute mark when the vocals pick up again. You can really hear the African influence in this, from the vocal style to the drumming. KEEP IT COMING, SABU!

2.) Billumba-Palo Congo
Whoooa, ok, this is a different vibe. All call and response, very primal.
Not gonna lie, I'm about halfway through now and it's getting a little repetitive.
It's around the 4-minute mark and I feel like I'm being hypnotized. It's the same rapidly circular bongos over and over with the same call and response. His voice is remarkable – homeboy sounds like he was born smoking. He has such a raspy and commanding voice. I had no idea what he was saying half the time, but man alive did I enjoy not understanding it. Still repetitive, though.

Sabu got me like

3.) Choferito-Plena
Okkkkk, I see you, guitar. We're mixing it up a bit once more. I can follow the narrative more here too: 'Yo, little driver guy, take me to where my sweet honey is. You're a real pal. I'll pay for your gas and everything.'

Because what could possibly go wrong when gasoline is involved?

I'm really digging the guitar here. And...the whistle? OK! Why not! I'm down!

So around the 3, 3:30 mark it slowed down quite a bit, but hey, we can't be too pushy when asking for favors, right? I could have used more of that sweet whistle action though.

4.) Asabache
Yayyy more bongossss...it's not like this album is all bongos or anything, nope!
Opens with a sweet bongo intro. Like, so much bongo. You didn't know how much you needed more bongo in your life until you heard this intro. 

OOH, I heard someone talki–ok, never mind, he's gone. But woohooooo BONGOS! 

Yep, two minutes in, and it's still bongos. 

Three minutes. 

Four minutes. Still bongos.

IT'S ALL BONGOS. SO MANY BONGOS. 

Yep.

5.) Simba

That moment when you try (and fail) to convince yourself that it's ok to be attracted to a cartoon lion.

These jokes practically write themselves!

I could not hear the opening yells without thinking of the start of this:

THE SONG IS CALLED "SIMBA," FOR FUCK'S SAKE

THE WHISTLE IS BACK. I REPEAT, THE WHISTLE IS BACK. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

And there's...metal being played? What is that? ...apart from METAL

I never claimed to be funny.

There was a brief and wondrous moment of COWBELL, that was soon replaced with moar metal.

Now there are primal yells and shrieks? He sounds like a...crow? Metal... and crows...

Not to be confused with the 1994 cult classic, though that would be an understandable mistake. 

Though "The Crow" didn't have nearly enough bongos in it.

I'm so confused, but this is the best sort of confusion. I have given up on understanding.

6.) Rhapsodia del Maravilloso
So right off the bat, the title is something like "the rhapsody of wonders." I'm expecting great things from you, Sabu. 

I don't know why, but literally the first thing I thought of was the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin. I'm so down and hip with the young people.

Ooooh ok, we have guitar, bass, and maracas or something? I'm digging it. Veeeeery Caribbean. Like I feel like I'm driving along the seashore under palm trees or something. 

WAIT A SECOND – around the 4-minute mark, there's a guitar motif that sounds suspiciously like "Tequila." 

Get out of here immediately.

It bothered me so much that I Googled it – the song "Tequila" came out in 1958, one year after this album. COINCIDENCE? I think not. 

7.) Aggo Elegua

You thought you had had enough bongo? YOU FOOL! This follows a similar formula as Billumba-Palo Congo: call and response, heavy on the bongos. Only this one has the addition of what sounds like...cabasa? Not sure.

This is seriously so much like Billumba-Palo Congo, I can't even handle it. I'm slipping. Slipping...

Aaaand I'm done.

8.) Tribilin Cantore

Guitar! And a...guiro? Maybe? Really, guys, I'm making this up. But it sounds convincing. 

This song reminds me vaguely of the Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra. Like there's some 'talk-sing'-style verses in the background, along with a Latin-lite beat. It's pretty chill.

Judge for yourself.

Like "El Cumbanchero," it starts off with strong vocals, but ends up purely instrumental that is even more laid-back, finally ending with a "reprise" of the vocals. Pretty chill indeed.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The 1950s were a time with a surge in popular of all things Cuban and Caribbean. You had huge figures like Hemingway regularly traveling there, and stars like Desi Arnaz gaining popularity. New York was the American epicenter of it all, with Sabu Martinez being one of the products of that melting pot. This album, I think, serves as a good time capsule of that era in American history – it's very much a product of its time and context. I do like this, though it gets a little too repetitive for me at times. Like most instrumentally-driven albums, I feel like it'd be 100000 times better live.

Personal standouts tracks:

"El Cumbanchero", "Choferito-Plena", "Simba" (on sheer virtue of its strangeness)