Most danceable recordings by Arsenio Rodriguez

G

Gaviota

Son
I love to listen to him, but I rarely hear him played, and couldn't name many songs that I find particularly danceable. It doesn't help that the recording quality tends to be quite poor...

Please share your favourite tracks for dancing (less danceable favourites welcome too)
 
I actually found Arsenio far harder to get into than other Cuban artists from the 40s and 50s. I even sold one of his CDs that is now unavailable. Eventually I started to appreciate his sound and I wish I still had that CD.

In terms of tracks I'd like to dance to: there's at least one and probably a few. Titles to follow.
 
Gaviota said:
Papaupa is really nice and pretty straightforward

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Have you heard the (relatively) recent version by Luis Bofill? It's the first track on an Arsenio tribute album which I fortunately bought new from a shop in Cali a couple of years ago. The whole album is superb. Makes me wish I were still DJing.

 
Gaviota said:
I love to listen to him, but I rarely hear him played, and couldn't name many songs that I find particularly danceable. It doesn't help that the recording quality tends to be quite poor...

Please share your favourite tracks for dancing (less danceable favourites welcome too)
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With all due respect all of Arsenio's music is danceable. It's just that the way Son/Guaracha/Mambo = Salsa is taught to students in an organized (and not necessarily professional) setting on this planet it's not compatible with the music he produced. But the generation who experienced and favored Arsenio during his lifetime danced to all of his music.
 
Richie Blondet said:
With all due respect all of Arsenio's music is danceable. It's just that the way Son/Guaracha/Mambo = Salsa is taught to students in an organized (and not necessarily professional) setting on this planet it's not compatible with the music he produced. But the generation who experienced and favored Arsenio during his lifetime danced to all of his music.
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Outside of the community that holds on to something, the original dance is lost. I am finishing my trip in havanz and one of my teachers drowned me a version of Son dancing that is very specific and unrecognizable as Son to basically all salsa dancers.
 
1derpalm said:
Outside of the community that holds on to something, the original dance is lost. I am finishing my trip in havanz and one of my teachers drowned me a version of Son dancing that is very specific and unrecognizable as Son to basically all salsa dancers.
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What age is the teacher? Did they give you any background info about that particular variant of son? I wonder if it's an old school version.
 
DJ Yuca said:
What age is the teacher? Did they give you any background info about that particular variant of son? I wonder if it's an old school version.
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She us 38. Folkloric dancer. Many dance group projects. Also works at bullet school.
It was during a class so she was explaining something else and then went onto a little side trek.
She didn't explain much, but pkayed the song and danced it. It hadn't the son cave nor the tumbao rhythm. The steps did not have any recognizable relationship to son as we no it.
Yes it was an old variant.
 
1derpalm said:
She us 38. Folkloric dancer. Many dance group projects. Also works at bullet school.
It was during a class so she was explaining something else and then went onto a little side trek.
She didn't explain much, but pkayed the song and danced it. It hadn't the son cave nor the tumbao rhythm. The steps did not have any recognizable relationship to son as we no it.
Yes it was an old variant.
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I can't imagine what the track could be. But presumably the dance is not a form of son that would be appropriate for most son music.
 
DJ Yuca said:
I can't imagine what the track could be. But presumably the dance is not a form of son that would be appropriate for most son music.
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It is a form of son according to her. Very old style. There were many ways to dance "son" if you will because there were different styles (or forms) of Son. Succu succu is an old style.of son, and to me it doesn't really resemble son.
 
1derpalm said:
It is a form of son according to her. Very old style. There were many ways to dance "son" if you will because there were different styles (or forms) of Son. Succu succu is an old style.of son, and to me it doesn't really resemble son.
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Was it Changui? There is debate over it being an early variant of Son or simply a distinct genre from Son. In Changui the clave, or at least the traditional 5-off beat pattern, is absent.
 
Richie Blondet said:
Was it Changui? There is debate over it being an early variant of Son or simply a distinct genre from Son. In Changui the clave, or at least the traditional 5-off beat pattern, is absent.
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No.
Also I haven't heard anyone who talks about changui say it is an early Son. It is an ancestor for sure, but there are others as well. I don't remember the names she said.
 
1derpalm said:
No.
Also I haven't heard anyone who talks about changui say it is an early Son. It is an ancestor for sure, but there are others as well. I don't remember the names she said.
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In the documentary YO SOY DEL SON A LA SALSA the Changui is highlighted as being the earliest manifestation of Son.

I subscribe to the Benjamin Lapidus position that it is a distinct genre all its own.
 
1derpalm said:
She us 38. Folkloric dancer. Many dance group projects. Also works at bullet school.
It was during a class so she was explaining something else and then went onto a little side trek.
She didn't explain much, but pkayed the song and danced it. It hadn't the son cave nor the tumbao rhythm. The steps did not have any recognizable relationship to son as we no it.
Yes it was an old variant.
Click to expand...
Do you think it could have been a nengón?
 
1derpalm said:
It is a form of son according to her. Very old style. There were many ways to dance "son" if you will because there were different styles (or forms) of Son. Succu succu is an old style.of son, and to me it doesn't really resemble son.
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I have a number of albums and comps of music recorded in Cuba in the 1950s that list various rhythms that have long sunk into oblivion (i.e. compared to son montuno, cha cha cha etc). Sucu sucu and nengón I think are 2 examples but there are plenty of others. Did these rhythms ever make it to NY? I doubt it. Did they have their own specific dances? Maybe the most popular did, but if they all did it would have been a hell of a lot of different dances for people to learn. Most really don't sound that different to other son rhythms and can be danced to with the same moves that can be used for more typical 1950s sones. So no necessity for dancers to learn a different dance for them.
 
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