guarachon63 wrote:I am curious about one recording you mention: 1948 SMC 78 RPM Ritmo Afro-Cubano series (Vidal Bolado y su Ritmo de Tambores) Do you have any more info on that one?
Hi Barry,
Thanks for posting that link.
Between 1947 and 1948 (or '49) SMC released the four 78 RPM phonorecords of their
Ritmo Afro-Cubano series that contain the earliest known audio documentation of folkloric rumba. Two of the records (sides 1 through 4) were recorded under the name
Chano Pozo y su Ritmo de Tambores. The personnel are Chano Pozo, Carlos Vidal, José Mangual, Kiki Rodríguez (Arsenio’s brother and conguero) and the vocalist Miguelito Valdés.
The term
folkloric should be qualified here in regards to the Pozo tracks. To be sure, these are not band adaptations of rumba; the tracks consist of voice and percussion only. On the other hand, this is not a full rumba ensemble; it’s just six guys with a conga and a set of bongos. The quinto and bonkó parts are played on the bongos (by Pozo and Mangual). It is also noteworthy that the tempos are significantly faster than the guaguancós recorded in the mid-50s, especially those recorded by Los Muñequitos. The fast tempos could reflect the influence of the cabaret, as Chano performed cabaret-style rumbas at the Tropicana and other venues. In fact, if you were to remove the non-percussion instruments from the Chano tunes "Muna Sanganfimba" and "Nagüe," you would hear pretty much the same type of fast rumba. All of these songs I just mentioned can be found on the box-set
Chano Pozo El Tambor De Cuba.The other two 78s: sides 5 though 8, are under the name
Vidal Bolado y su Ritmo de Tambores. Vidal Bolado is the conguero better known as Carlos Vidal. The personnel are listed as Vidal Bolado, Merceditas Valdés, Chonguito, Monguito, Willie and Candito. The four Vidal sides consist of a guaguancó, a columbia, an abakuá and a bembé. The guaguancó and columbia tracks are the earliest authentic folkloric rumba recordings I'm aware of.
None of the Vidal tracks have been re-released on CD. Even more frustrating, I've been told that after SMC went out of business, the heirs threw out the master tapes! Surviving 78s are extremely rare. My friend Zeno will be posting these rare rumba tracks on his website later this year. I'll announce when that happens in this forum.
As many of you know, Carlos Vidal was Machito's conguero and José Mangual was his bongocero. By far, the strongest "quinto" player on the
Ritmo Afro-Cubano series is José Mangual. Carlos Vidal is the next strongest and Chano is clearly the least strong. Researching these early recordings, I have gained more appreciation of José Mangual. Also, I came to the conclusion that Mongo Santamaria was the first quinto
virtuoso to be recorded (1952). Once I got into the early Muñequitos recordings years ago, I did not listen to the more flashy Mongo so much. However, my recent research has given me a renewed appreciation of Mongo's contribution.
-David