Hip Deep is Afropop's media project dedicated to the idea that music is a key to understanding everything. Get hip deep into programs on how the music formed and informed cultures in Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas, plus companion interviews, features, discographies and more.
Los Van Van is a Cuban band led by bassist Juan Formell, and has made their mark in musical history as one of Cuba's major timba acts. Using a charanga line-up as its base, Van Van added trombones and vocals, and was the first Cuban group to use synthesizers and drum machines in their repetoire. Their sound was a fusion of changui and son montuno with other various types of music, including Afro-Cuban rhythms, rock, funk, disco, and hip hop. Juan Formell contributed countless innovations to the Cuban bass and clave, which paved the way for a radical reconceptualisation of rhythmic arrangements in Cuban music. The Van Van sound came to be known as songo (based on the songo rhythm), which laid the base for the later development of timba. Los Van Van still continues to move as a group, and have recently released a series of live albums, including 2007' s Live from Camagüey.
Click here to visit the Official Los Van Van website! Watch a Los Van Van music video on YouTube! Purchase Los Van Van’s latest CD at Amazon.com!
Son 14 (Cuba) Son 14 are comprised of fourteen top Cuban musicians, unequalled in string, brass and percussion. Reacting, interacting and imitating each other's rhythms within layers of percussion at a breathless pace, they then mellow the mood with a slower cumbia and a gentle bolero. Produced under the musical direction of Geovanis Alcantara Lopez. Eduardo (Tiburon) Morales infuses the flavour of traditional son alongside the salsero Ruben Rodriguez and the romantic boleros of Salvador Lorens.
Watch a Son14 music video on YouTube! Purchase Son 14’s Latest Hits CD at CD Baby.com! Read more about Son 14 at Tunimusic.com!
David Rudder (Trinidad) Drawing on the sounds of Carnival and other aspects of Trinidadian culture, David Rudder is one of the top calypsonians of all time. In 1977, he joined Charlie's Roots, one of the top bands in Trinidad and Tobago. He spent many years as one of the vocalists with the band. In 1986 he ascended to popularity through his first album The Hammer featuring the two big hits, The Hammer and Bahia Girl. This was followed by 1987's Calypso Music, a brilliant encapsulation of the history of calypso. In 1988 Rudder released his best album to date, Haiti, which included the title track, a tribute to the glory and suffering of Haiti; Engine Room, which captured the energy of the steel band; and “Rally ’Round the West Indies,” which became the anthem of West Indies cricket. In more recent history Rutter has been less active than in the past, but remains both a prominent and popular figure in Trinidadian culture.
Click here to visit the Official David Rudder website! Watch a David Rudder music video on YouTube! Visit the official myspace page of David Rudder! Purchase music from David Rudder on Amazon.com!
Plastic System Band (Martinique) An approximately 80-piece carnival street band that consists of horns, stiltwalkers, and dozens of percussionists playing on plastic drums and ti bwa. In the Martiniquan carnival tradition, their recordings are medleys of everything from French nursery songs to popular zouk songs to the myriad of Antilles carnival songs. These recordings give a superb introduction to Martiniquan carnival music. Bel Je includes both songs found on the "Kalot Kannaval" 12-inch single.
Visit the Official Plastic System Band website! Watch a video of Plastic System Band on YouTube!
Modesto Cepedo (Puerto Rico) Modesto Cepeda was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1938. His father, Don Raphael Cepeda, was a composer and musician of bomba and plena and the director of El Grupo Folklorico La Familia Cepeda. This heritage provided Modesto with an early exposure to the music and dance of Bomba and Plena. For five generations the Cepeda family has devoted themselves to the education and promotion of this musical genre through performances on television, and at festivals, hotels and universities across Puerto Rico.
Watch a music video featuring the music of Modesto Cepedo on YouTube! Purchase Music by Modesto Cepedo on Amazon.com!
Boukan Ginen (Haiti) Boukan Ginen is a mizik rasin band from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Boukan is the Haitian Kreyòl word for "bonfire" or "fire pit". Ginen is a specific Haitian name for the ancestral home of enslaved Africans. Boukan Ginen won the prize for best carnival song at the 1991 Carnival in Port-au-Prince, for their performance of "Pale Pale W", a song later released on their debut album, Jou a Rive. The song title means "talk" and included lyrics widely interpreted as supporting the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The band's music was suppressed by the military authority of the junta led by Raoul Cédras that ruled the country from 1991 to 1994. In 1994, Boukan Ginen became the third Haïtian musical group to receive the Prix Découverte from Radio France International. Although the have been less active in recent years, their mark on Haitian music culture certainly remains, while their music continues to inspire.
Purchase Music by Boukan Ginen on Amazon.com! Watch a music video of Boukan Ginen on YouTube!
Alex Mansilla (Dominican Republic) Watch a music video of Alex Mansilla on YouTube! Purchase Music by Alex Mansilla on Amazon.com!Picture:
Paracumbé (Puerto Rico)
Since its official birth in 1981 as a high school work shop, Paracumbé has been dedicated to promoting traditional forms of Afro Puerto Rican music, more specifically from Puerto Rico’s southern cost.Directed by ethnomusicologist Dr. Emanuel Dufrasne-González, the group preserves a musical tradition that is vastly unknown (even to many natives living in Puerto Rico,) by using the style of bomba, a form of Afro Puerto Rican music performed by drums and voices, and plena, a popular call and response style that is played with guitar and hand drums, called panderetas.After two albums and appearances on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Televisa’s “La Mañana,” and National Public Radio’s “Latino U.S.A.,” the group spends much of its time touring Puerto Rico, representing the country in cultural events, and creating workshops for those who yearn for knowledge about this musical heritage.
Cro Cro (Trinidad) Watch a music video of Cro Cro on Youtube!
Phase II (Boogsie Sharp) (Trinidad)
Based in Port of Spain, steel orchestra pan group Phase II is a leading ensemble in Trinidad and Tobago and four time champions of the National Panorama music festival.Guided by arranger and composer Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Phase II has won many of these competitions with original pieces, including a win in 2008 with their song “Musical Vengeance.”
Watch a music video of Phase II on YouTube! Visit Phase II’s Myspace page
Afropop Vignettes: The Caribbean
Aired April 9, 2009
The Heads of State of the 34 countries of the Americas (except Cuba) are meeting this April in Port of Spain, Trinidad to discuss common issues. President Obama will deliver the keynote address. Afropop takes this occasion as a jumping-off point to explore intriguing musical destinations--some well known, some barely known--and musical hot spots throughout the Americas. In part 1, we go to Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti, Martinique and the Dominican Republic. Hear Trinidad's pan orchestras, action on the street at carnivals in Port-au-Prince and Fort-de-France, and lots more!
