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Hello my fellow congueros,

I was looking to buy some rumba cds on descarga, but there are too many to chose from.
Can you recommend some on descarga or elsewhere.

abraços

Phew, there are so many fine rumba records around.

Two must-haves in my opinion because they are so authentic and well done respectively:

Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba: Música Yoruba http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/1473 ... xpoiE;;164

Patato y Totico http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/1135 ... 6xpoiE;;50

But these are just 2 out of 200.000!

My 2-3 clave cents
And greeting to Rio

P.S.: Practically everything from Grupo Afrocuba De Matanzas would do to listen for days...

You cant go passed the real source... Look out for the following Cuban groups:

Los Muñequitos de Matanzas
Los Papines
Celeste Mendoza
Carlos Embales
Conjunto de Clave Y Guaguanco
AfroCuba de Matanzas
Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba

One of my all-time favorites is by Yoruba Andabo and has never been released commercially but is available for free download here.

(The story of these recordings is here.)

I have a lot of favorites but two that are readily available and have provided the most "return on investment are":

Yoruba Andabo: El Callejón de los Rumberos

Los Muñequitos de Matanzas: Rumba Caliente 88/77

I would also highly recommend the Patato y Totico record mentioned above for those looking for a very accessible introduction to the genre. Also note the Conjunto Folklorico album mentioned is not rumba but rather santo/batá music.

How embarrassing, I really forgot to mention Los Muñequitos de Matanzas

As to accessibility: It also depends on what you understand by rumba.
Tone, do you want secular rumba music, or traditional religious, ceremonial music?

guarachon63 wrote:One of my all-time favorites is by Yoruba Andabo and has never been released commercially but is available for free download here.

(The story of these recordings is here.)

I have a lot of favorites but two that are readily available and have provided the most "return on investment are":

Yoruba Andabo: El Callejón de los Rumberos

Los Muñequitos de Matanzas: Rumba Caliente 88/77

I would also highly recommend the Patato y Totico record mentioned above for those looking for a very accessible introduction to the genre. Also note the Conjunto Folklorico album mentioned is not rumba but rather santo/batá music.

Barry ,
you beat me to it , we have the same taste bro. but one of my fave Cd`s is Vacunao Los Munequitos De matanzas . Also for a little different Clave Y Guaguanco Songa and Dances Album worth a listen some nice tonada`s very melodic
. I would also like to thank you for sharing the Cajones Bullengeuro CD the work you done is awesome . This is one of my Rumba cd`s atm Im learning the title track a very patriotic song .


Gracias Hermano

Marco

Well, if "accessible" is a standard there are 2 albums that I listened to a lot and they helped me get going. In the mid 70's LP put out a series of disks designed to help them sell instruments. They were recorded so that you could really here each seperate instrument and there was a variety. They may not have been great but to me it was a bunch of guys who knew what they were doing and really were having fun doing it. The 2 best for me were "Ready For Freddy" and "Authority". LP has them on their web site, they are often on sale, and they mail them anywhere.

I have no idea what the others here think of them, Probably get flamed for mentioning them, but I wore them out in the days before CD's amd MP3's.

I would also recomend Rumberos de Cuba and Pancho Quinto

Everything Abakua said.

Thanks guys,

maybe I should have been a bit more precise. Of course I know most the names mentioned, and already own some of the cds mentioned.
I was after some specific albums, ideally on Descarga so I can buy them online.
It is really rumba I am after at the moment.
There are so many albums from the Muniquitos for example and the quality varies wildly, so I was after some tips to zoom on the great ones.

Thanks for the input and keep it coming....!

peace

The Real Rumba from Cuba CD is brilliant, excellent tracks by a variety of rumba groups.

Any body hip to "Toticos y sus rumberos",a NYC recorded rumba with the late Puntilla and some great quinto playing by a young Jerry Gonzalez.Also has got some very cool examples of Bata Rumba(Cha Cha Lokuafun w/guaguanco !.Definitely one of my favorites of rumba played outside of Cuba.

vinnieludovico wrote:Any body hip to "Toticos y sus rumberos",a NYC recorded rumba with the late Puntilla and some great quinto playing by a young Jerry Gonzalez.Also has got some very cool examples of Bata Rumba(Cha Cha Lokuafun w/guaguanco !.Definitely one of my favorites of rumba played outside of Cuba.

+1

Tone wrote:
I was after some specific albums, ideally on Descarga so I can buy them online.
It is really rumba I am after at the moment.
There are so many albums from the Muniquitos for example and the quality varies wildly, so I was after some tips to zoom on the great ones.

Descarga has a pretty lousy selection of Los Muñequitos, because sadly most of the good ones are out of print.

I generally think anything they recorded up to and including 1996's "Ito Iban Echu" (which is not rumba but a great, great record) is of the highest possible quality. Pretty much everything after that can be safely skipped. If you really want to order from Descarga the one I would recommend is "Rumba Abierta," classic recordings from the 1950s.

Amazon has a bigger selection of the out of print stuff but their used suppliers are asking outrageous prices for some of them.

I highly reccommend Gregorio Hernandez (EL Goyo) - La Rumba Es Cubana. This album has everything you need in a rumba album.