A Brief History of Conjunto Guantánamo

Influences In 1996, Buena Vista Social Club had taken this musical genre out of the cold storage imposed on it by the Cuban blockade and the passing decades, and thoroughly dusted it off for us as they masterfully reminded the whole world of how truly compelling the genre of Afro-Cuban "son" music is.

”When Buena Vista came out” says Ulises Beato, “it was such a stark contrast to the run of the mill comercial salsa music that was around. Back then all you heard on the Latin scene was either, over-commercialized salsa romantica or the NYC style of salsa and Gloria Estefan which, for me, were all just watered down albeit somewhat danceable imitations of the original authentic son sound. The "salsa" world was alive and well and it's roots in Afro-Cuban son were widely acknowledged but everyone was playing their own versions as they went along and they were taking the music further and further away from it’s original essence.”

"When I heard Buena Vista I was reminded of this special feeling. Of the jam sessions that would sometimes break out in my parents house after around 1980, when some our family members arrived on the Mariel Boat lift, still fresh from that then isolated city that had incubated it's own inimitable culture and music. I remember how unique and different it all felt. It was like finding a prized possession you didn’t even know you had lost.”

“Nobody had that authentic traditional Cuban sound in NYC city or around Miami anymore like I had heard in my youth. Because of this, I set out to provide what was missing. A syncopated music with the energy, cadence, poise, elegance, wit and humorous innuendo that expressed a certain authentic Cuban aesthetic and sensibility I became familiar with as a kid. I wanted to play this more traditional music that had been largely shelved and forgotten.”

Formation of the Band In 2003, Ulises Beato founded Conjunto Guantánamo (CG) at the behest of friend and jazz trumpeter Jack Cassidy. In a late night conversation after a jam session, Cassidy planted the seed with Ulises and even suggested “Why don't you call it Guantanamo?" To which Ulises immediately replied "conjunto" Guantánamo (Guantanamo Ensemble)! Since everyone familiar with the genre knows that the Southeastern province of Guantánamo in Cuba, is the original birthplace of son montuno, this made perfect sense to Ulises and Conjunto Guantánamo was born. Shortly after this, CG played its first few gigs in the Brooklyn neighborhood of DUMBO which at the time had, arguably the largest enclave of bohemians, artists and musicians in the North East US. It was in that crucible of DUMBO where the band formed, that it solidified and eventually gelled into what it is today.

The Ambassadors of Cuban Folklore After gigging around New York City for a couple of years the band solidified as the ambassadors of Cuban folklore, with a freshly interpreted, classic Afro-Cuban sound like Son Montuno, Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo and Rumba with contemporary energy, their performances sometimes transition into extended experimental descargas -- a type of Afro-Cuban improvisational jam session -- using musical motifs straight from the streets of Havana and Matanzas, combined with the very spirit of New York City.

A Solidified Sound In 2006, CG started to solidify its sound while around NYC at the many residencies they had at the time. “in those years we were gigging a lot and had weekly and monthly residencies at the places like the notorious Socialista club on Jane Street, Sasha Petrovsky’s Little Branch bar downtown, Gonzales and Gonzales, Barbes, etc.

It was then that Conjunto Guantánamo was able to capture the precision and telltale cadence of authentic traditional Afro-Cuban music that give it its unique hypnotic and driving sound. Lively percussion, pounding syncopated bass lines, brazenly exotic trumpet melodies, uninhibited improvisation. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.