SONG OF THE DAY

“Rumba Azul” by The Lecuona Cuban Boys (Lecuona Cuban Boys, Vol. 4 (1932-1936), Harlequin Records, 1994, originally released on Victor Records sometime in the mid-30s). Composed by Armando Oréfiche.

WHERE I HEARD  IT

Well, this song really took me for a ride! I heard it during the “New-Year’s-Eve-party-in-Germany-1943” scene of the film Aimee & Jaguar, and thought “WOW! Great song! Let’s go straight to the credits!” and the credits listed the song as titled “Rumba Hindou”. At first google glance, that title only revealed a dozen or so search results, and they were all about the film, nothing leading me back to an album or compilation or article or anything about the Lecuona Cuban Boys. That made me question the integrity of the information about the title of the track, since there’s no way a band from the 1930’s and 1940’s recorded a song especially for a film from 1999; the track had to exist somewhere other than this soundtrack!

So then I went on amazon.com into the mp3 section and listened to every song with the word “rumba” in the title that the Lecuona Cuban Boys had on that site. I could hear in the movie that the word “rumba” was being repeated over and over again, so I knew at least that to be true. “Rumba Internacionale” – NO. “Rumba Tambah” – NO. “Rumbas Cubanas” – NO.

So, then I just searched the web for the artist, thinking that maybe they were really unknowns so that’s why their songs wouldn’t even be on amazon. But I discovered that they had a wikipedia article, and this article said that the band also performed under the name Havana Cuban Boys. So then I searched for “Havana Cuban Boys rumba” on amazon, and this time found different rumba titles. And now I’ve found it! The “Rumba Azul”! When I listen to that part of the film again, I can now hear the lead singer saying “rumba azul”! Nice!

But the Havana Cuban Boys version is faster than the one in the movie—-I want the one in the movie! So, long shot here, I google “Lecuona Cuban Boys Rumba Azul” since I know that’s definitely the song title and I’m thinking the soundtrack may have at least been correct in the artist. Results! The youtube.com video that resulted was exactly the confirmation I needed!! My hunch was right! The version used in the film was by the original band, Lecuona Cuban Boys, not their later incarnation.

So then I wanted to know why the song hadn’t come up when I searched amazon for “Lecuona Cuban Boys Rumba”. Well, because I was searching in MP3s, and the song had not yet been converted to MP3. But it was clearly showing up on old, unavailable-for-purchase, compilation albums by the band, so it was definitely settled.

You may think the 45 minutes I spent last night scouring the internet for this song was not worth it, but I do. This song is brilliant, intoxicating and fun. I simply love it. It’s been played on repeat since I found it, and was on repeat in my head all night after I was off my computer. It led to fun dreams of good times, and made for a great early morning! Just listen to the video below and I’m sure you’ll see why the effort was worth it too!

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– The Lecuona Cuban Boys was a popular Cuban orchestra which toured the world for over forty years.

– The band was founded by Ernesto Lecuona, whose role was that of a patron-entrepreneur. He did not actually play with the band, but sometimes gave a piano recital before the band played.

– The core of the band was put together in 1931 as Orquesta Encanto; the band changed name early in 1934.

РOn tour in Europe, in 1934, Lecuona returned to Cuba, and Armando Or̩fiche took charge of the band in Europe. Ernesto gave them the gift of his name, which, at the time, was a property well worth having, and the right to use a number of his compositions.

– The LCB was exceptional strong in arrangements, compositions and instrumental quality (most of them could play two or three instruments). Their only weak spot was the lack of a really first-rate Cuban singer, but that was not so important as might seem because they played so often to non-Latin audiences. Some of their pick-up singers could sing in English, and many of their numbers were instrumentals.

– The band played the full range of Cuban popular music, but their speciality was the conga. Though it was perhaps Eliseo Grenet who first composed a conga in its ballroom dance style, it was certainly the LCB who took it round the world and made it famous.

– The LCB was therefore the first conjunto to use the conga drum regularly in its performances, and not Arsenio Rodríguez, as is often supposed.

– The band initially organized itself as a collective, but in practice Armando Oréfiche (composer, arranger, pianist) was the leader.

– Other band members were Ernesto ‘Jaruco’ Vázquez (trumpeter, guitarist, composer, arranger); Adalberto ‘Chiquito’ Oréfiche (tenor sax and bongo); Agustin Bruguera (timbales, conga, voice); Gerardo Bruguera (tenor sax and clarinet); Jesús Bertomeu (trombone); Jorge Domínguez (alto sax, clarinet, violin); Daniel González (alto sax, clarinet, violin); Guillermo Hernández (guitar, tumba, guiro, maracas); Enrique López Rivero (trumpet) 1932 34; Alberto Rabagliati (voice) engaged 1934; later Fernando Díaz and Luis Escalante were engaged as replacement trumpeters.

– The band toured throughout the world: the USA, Latin America and Europe were the main tours.

– When World War II broke out, the band went to Latin America and continued their touring there.

– After WWII there was a dispute within the band, which ended in a split.

– Armando Oréfiche left with a few members, and started the Havana Cuban Boys; the rest stayed under the old name, based in New York until 1960.

– The Lecuona Cuban Boys continued to tour, and finally retired in 1975.

VIDEO OF THE DAY