Two versions of Paulito's Cantante de Etiqueta?

tocatimba

tocatimba

Son
I got back a month or so ago from a month long trip to Cuba to visit family and friends. While I there, I bought a lot of music (I buy some of it in the street (1 CUC per album) is more or less the going rate). Anyway, I had bought when it came out the last album by Paulito FG "Sin Etiqueta", which I absolutely love. The lead song (and huge hit in Cuba) is Cantante de Etiqueta.

Anyway, I bought from this women in a wheelchair in the street a bunch of
albums, one of which was just called "Bailables 2010". It is just a collection
of dance music. Anyway it has a COMPLETELY salsaton version of Cantante de Etiqueta on it! (On the CD album cover the song is called "De Etiqueta". It is absolutely awesome!! It is one of my favorite salsaton songs of all time. I have no idea where it came from. The song doesn't sound like it was ripped off from a concert (i.e. no obvious crowd noises or bad audio sound in general). Is it possible that some other version was around before the final studio disk was released?

Any ideas on what might be going on here?
 
I'm not familiar with that version but I can ask around if anyone knows exactly when/where it's from. The going price used to be 3 CUC for those CDs. Alexander even mentions it in one of his guías in "Mi música". Times must be tougher than I realized.

In general there are often radio demos and then CD versions of hit songs in Cuba. This is because it is not easy for bands to get in the studio year after year but the Cubans are insatiable for new songs. If you go a few years without releasing anything new you are off the map unless you're Van Van. Actually even Formell once said in an interview that it's the director's job to be sure that a band has 3-4 hit songs per year to keep them in the fans' minds.

So bands will record a few demos for the radio and also because almost all music performance on Cuban TV is "dobaldo" i.e. the band is playing, the mics are on and the people are singing but there is also a prerecorded track playing. That way the soundmen don't have to worry about a soundcheck or anything. So if you have a TV performance coming up on one of the dance or music shows like Bailar casino, Super 12 etc., you need to record all the songs you are planning to perform. You can see the lead singers mess up sometimes when they forget to yell "ahí na'má" or some such thing because they don't have all the exclamations on the recorded version memorized. makes me laugh sometimes. That doesn't apply to actual televised concerts where the bands are really playing live with no track in the background. It's possible that Paulito was doing a show with some reggaeton guys and recorded this version specifically for that purpose. But this is pure speculation. It's probably more likely that he recorded a reggaeton version just for some reggeaton CD.

Anyway, there are many great demos out there that were never recorded on and album e.g. Tú que has amado tanto & La temática by Issac, Almas disfrazadas & Qué bien me siento by Azúcar Negra, Paulito's cover of Nek's song Laura just to name a few that pop into my head.
 
timberamayor said:
I'm not familiar with that version but I can ask around if anyone knows exactly when/where it's from. The going price used to be 3 CUC for those CDs. Alexander even mentions it in one of his guías in "Mi música". Times must be tougher than I realized.

In general there are often radio demos and then CD versions of hit songs in Cuba. This is because it is not easy for bands to get in the studio year after year but the Cubans are insatiable for new songs. If you go a few years without releasing anything new you are off the map unless you're Van Van. Actually even Formell once said in an interview that it's the director's job to be sure that a band has 3-4 hit songs per year to keep them in the fans' minds.

So bands will record a few demos for the radio and also because almost all music performance on Cuban TV is "dobaldo" i.e. the band is playing, the mics are on and the people are singing but there is also a prerecorded track playing. That way the soundmen don't have to worry about a soundcheck or anything. So if you have a TV performance coming up on one of the dance or music shows like Bailar casino, Super 12 etc., you need to record all the songs you are planning to perform. You can see the lead singers mess up sometimes when they forget to yell "ahí na'má" or some such thing because they don't have all the exclamations on the recorded version memorized. makes me laugh sometimes. That doesn't apply to actual televised concerts where the bands are really playing live with no track in the background. It's possible that Paulito was doing a show with some reggaeton guys and recorded this version specifically for that purpose. But this is pure speculation. It's probably more likely that he recorded a reggaeton version just for some reggeaton CD.

Anyway, there are many great demos out there that were never recorded on and album e.g. Tú que has amado tanto & La temática by Issac, Almas disfrazadas & Qué bien me siento by Azúcar Negra, Paulito's cover of Nek's song Laura just to name a few that pop into my head.
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Hi Timberamayor,

I was hoping that you would see this .... I thought about just PMing you but thought that maybe others in addition to myself might find your answers interesting.

Things are indeed bad in La Habana right now. I asked what the price was from another vendor (not in the street) but in a little shop on Prado and he wanted 1.50 CUC. I mentioned this to a friend and they said no, no, no, the going price is one CUC. So from then on, I would peruse the offerings and say one CUC, right? and they would just give me that "yes, of course" look....

Thanks for the explanation .... as I said, the CD was just one of those obviously home put together compilations ........ I suppose from what you are saying, it could come from just about anywhere.
 
tocatimba said:
Hi Timberamayor,
Thanks for the explanation .... as I said, the CD was just one of those obviously home put together compilations ........ I suppose from what you are saying, it could come from just about anywhere.
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Yeah those are all over the place. Last year they were selling one that had a song listed as being by Tumbao Habana that was actually by Calle Real, so you never know how accurate the information on the covers will be either.

Bill from Mamborama wrote a great blog post several years ago about these CD sellers called "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Quemador", so I always refer to these people who live off of selling CDs as quemadores.

And Alexander's guía in "Mi música" is "Los salseros de mi Cuba se maltratan, vendiendo mi música a tres kilos y bien barata" now they're selling them for un kilo. I wonder how the new "private businesses" are affecting things.

I hope you got a chance to see Havana D'Primera live. He used to sing something about how band directors were making millions while the musicians were breaking their backs every day. And then they added the coro "tumba la caña, anda ligero, mira que viene el mayoral sonando el cuero". This is why it so great to see these bands live. The 12 minute version of the song has so much more to it that they can't throw in to the 5 minute studio versions. I feel sorry for people who can't understand the lyrics. They are missing out on so much. But I digress yet again...

Anyway, in regard to the original question, it's a long shot but I e-mailed Paulito. I don't expect he'll answer but you never know.
 
Yes, the quemadores are everywhere. But in all fairness, the EGREM music shops are usually terrible...the one on Galiano next to the Casa de La Música has a very very poor selection.....there is another shop right across from the Habana Libre on La Rampa that had a better selection.....but in general I found it hard to get CD's of new/current music. E.g. I looked everywhere for the CD's of Combinación de La Habana and couldn't find one. The CD sellers are pirates I know ..... but really who makes the money on the CD's? The musicians? or the government? I honestly don't know......

I did see Havana D'Primera live, a couple of times actually .... I also saw Alexander sing a couple of songs at a Combinación concert .... also one of the singers of Los 4 sang a song with them..... They have good energy in concert. I say Maykel Blanco, Manolito, Azucar Negra, Bamboleo, and some others .... The new singer with Bamboleo (the little blonde .... I forgot her name) is great with Bamboleo .... I thought her voice wouldn't keep up but I was totally wrong ..... she has such a great stage presence.

Yeah the long versions are great if you can hear them .... When you're dancing a lot of this just goes by me.

I hope Paulito answers you. Thank you for making the effort.
 
.. tocatimba - not sure if this is what you look for?

version cubaton; youtube.com/watch?v=CmrtIntiYVU&feature=related

version timba; youtube.com/watch?v=qyi0WA4GJ7I&feature=related

.. my guess is that the cubaton version was made in a studio (in a haste - sounds like they just recorded the the same old cubaton beat to cover the whole song) to cover some extra income from mixtapes e.g 'Bailables 2010'. I hope your version was different, because IMO the original brilliant track is being destroyed here..
 
tocatimba said:
Yes, the quemadores are everywhere. But in all fairness, the EGREM music shops are usually terrible...the one on Galiano next to the Casa de La Música has a very very poor selection.....there is another shop right across from the Habana Libre on La Rampa that had a better selection.....but in general I found it hard to get CD's of new/current music. E.g. I looked everywhere for the CD's of Combinación de La Habana and couldn't find one. The CD sellers are pirates I know ..... but really who makes the money on the CD's? The musicians? or the government? I honestly don't know......
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The composers and arrangers get a percentage of all reported (i.e. legal) sales, the musicians get a flat fee when they record a CD. I don't know what the deal is for the bandleaders. Probably they also get a flat fee (although they have often composed/arranged some of the songs as well) but no doubt more than the regular musicians. When they are recording with Cuban record companies the government will definitely get some because all companies are government owned. The thing is that if the companies don't make any money than they won't continue to finance recordings. It's especially hard for new bands to get started and to finance recordings.

Some bands produce CDs with Italian or Spanish companies. I don't know how much the government takes there but in terms of the musicians the deal is the same. So really it is the composers/arrangers that make money from record sales and radio/club playing, assuming that DJs are honest and report their playlists like they are supposed to. The Italians are reputed to be very good about reporting their playlists.

The live gigs are where the regular musicians make most of their money and this has decreased significantly since the 90s when a second-line band might get $40 per musician for a night concert at Galiano and today maybe $10-$20. And for a matinee the musicians might make as little as $5. If it is well attended maybe $10-$15.

tocatimba said:
The new singer with Bamboleo (the little blonde .... I forgot her name) is great with Bamboleo .... I thought her voice wouldn't keep up but I was totally wrong ..... she has such a great stage presence.
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Ailyn Dalleras. She was 18 the first time I saw her with Azúcar Negra. Lazarito has changed the repertoire somewhat and was good about getting a lot of new songs out for her fast so she wouldn't be compared to Tania all the time. I don't know if you follow Gabriel's blog at all but she has a recent post including a section about Ailyn with a great photo that really shows how close the connection is between the her and her fans.

yemayasverse.blogspot.com/2011/10/ailyn-cure-for-what-ails-ya.html

tocatimba said:
When you're dancing a lot of this just goes by me.
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I never dance during the concerts :)
 
Well I actually got an answer from Paulo. I especially like the last sentence where he says: nos entretenemos a veces con ciertas variedades pero seguimos timbeando y guarachando

Hola Miche! rato sin saber de ti, espero que todo esté bien, pues nada, el tema en cuestión es que con el furor del regaetton hace ya dos años y medio se me ocurrió hacer esa versión para la radio, pero luego a la hora del disco ya en serio, pues lo hice ya con la timba acostumbrada, eso es todo.
Un beso para ti y cuídate, ya sabes... nos entretenemos a veces con ciertas variedades pero seguimos timbeando y guarachando
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Thanks Ville y Michel ... you guys are awesome. I agree with you Ville that I personally like the timba version much better .... but maybe that's not fair? If the only version of this song existed as a cubaton, would you like it? I think that is a far fairer question. Maybe I went overboard when I said that it is absolutely awesome! (but it really is considering that it is salsaton). The version I have is slightly different (in the intro and in other places) from the YouTube video.

I don't know what to say about buying music from the quemadores. The only alternative I see is to wait until I get back to Europe or the USA and then buy from online stores? As I said, I don't know how to get the music in Cuba except in the street.
 
tocatimba said:
I don't know what to say about buying music from the quemadores. The only alternative I see is to wait until I get back to Europe or the USA and then buy from online stores? As I said, I don't know how to get the music in Cuba except in the street.
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When we were going...somewhere. I don't remember now, but we stopped at this roadside restaurant and there was an old lady selling CDs. This was back in 2004. She said she had the "new" Van Van which at that time was Chapeando. So I bought it from her. We couldn't find the original CD anywhere in Cuba. But when I was at the airport on my way home I found it and bought it there. I think it was probably 6 months later before it was finally available outside Cuba.

For some reason it is just plain hard to find legal CDs in Cuba. As you pointed out. I was just lucky that day at the airport. I bet you'd have better luck looking for CDs in Varadero than in Havana :)
 
tocatimba said:
.. I agree with you Ville that I personally like the timba version much better .... but maybe that's not fair? If the only version of this song existed as a cubaton, would you like it? I think that is a far fairer question.
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.. this is an excellent point - most likely I would love it :)

When I was in Cuba this summer I was suprised to see how the online stores have better selection of timba than the shops in e.g Havanna. Exceptions were however LCH's new CD which could only be bought from Cuba after the release party in Casa De La Musica - after the trip it was still not available in the online stores. I think the same situation is at the moment with Pupy's new CD. Could this situation occur only with the real famous artists who can afford to place their CD first to Cuban market and later on to the rest of the world?

P.S to timberamayor - can you ask Limonta when the new AN CD will come out, please? :D
 
ville said:
P.S to timberamayor - can you ask Limonta when the new AN CD will come out, please? :D
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I've been thinking about doing that very thing, so after your urging I have just mailed him. With any luck we'll have a reply by tomorrow. But the best laid plans... You know it was supposed to come out in August if I remember correctly. I guess we'll see.
 
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