Artificial Radio Hour with Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill: Artificial Radio Hour with Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill Part 39

Hey folks!

Here are some (mostly) Carribean tunes for you, primarily from Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Machito is the artist credited (above) with introducing the mambo in the late 40s/early 50s. He's a pretty relaxed guy.

Willie Rosario also sounds pretty relaxed. My Spanish isn't very good though, so I'm not sure exactly what he's singing about besides dancing. I might put together a whole Boogaloo show one of these days, that would be fun.

Illustration by Mike Henderson (Art from Nailbiter #7)

Word Balloon is a "comics & conversation podcast" that has been going for more than ten years. John Siuntres, the host, has in-depth talks with creators of comics, tv, and other pop culture, on the geeky side. In this clip from last year, he once again has as his guest writer Brian Michael Bendis, the creator of, among other things, Powers, Jessica Jones, and the Miles Morales Spider-Man, and writer of almost every Marvel Comics character at one time or another. Here, he's relating his trip to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Under the Word Balloon clip, I put a track that is kind of intended to be background music. KPM was a library music label which employed composers to write music to be used in movies and tv. Because the publishing rights were owned by the label, royalties were not paid to the artists or composers. It was cheaper than commissioning new music or licensing existing tracks. "Black Light" is from a 1973 album called Afro Rock, which has become much sought after by the DJ community.

Watermelon Man wasn't a huge hit when Herbie Hancock wrote it in 1962, but Mongo Santamaria's cover the next year became a top ten hit.

Ran Kan Kan was a hit for Tito Puente in the early 60s, but I'm pretty sure this version is from 1984, based on the length. (The older versions mostly clocked in at around three minutes.)

"El Pito" means "the whistle", but the word is also slang for penis. That sheds a different light on the scene in the Spike Lee movie Crooklyn where the song is featured...

The ad is not a real ad. I mean, it is a real ad, but I am not sponsored by anyone, definitely not by a pre-poop spray. It was just so funny hearing this ad on The Allusionist, which is a show about words. Not that it's a serious show, but it was quite unexpected.

"Amor Verdadero" is from the Afro-Cuban All-Stars' 1997 album A Toda Cuba le Gusta, but it's an old song performed in an old style by old guys. It's pretty much a pre-Castro 1950s kind of tune. Manuel "Puntillita" Licea is the main singer.

"El Cacahuatero" is not performed by an Afro-Cuban artist. Toña la Negra was an Afro-Mexican singer who was very popular in the 30s and 40s. A "cacahuatero" is someone who sells cacahuates, or peanuts. Cacahuate is a Mexican Spanish word that comes from a Nahuatl word for cocoa bean.

In Cuba, peanuts are sold in "cucuruchas", little paper cones.

"El Manisero" also means "the peanut vendor", because mani is the word for peanuts in Cuba. This song (although not this recording), which is a genre called "son-pregón", was mislabeled "rhumba-foxtrot" and kicked off the "Rhumba Mania" dance craze, one of three Latin dance crazes in the first half of the twentieth century. (The others were the Mambo & the Cha Cha Cha.)

Adjudicated Guess is a podcast where people who think they're smart try to answer questions about subjects they don't know. It makes sense if you listen to it. The music underneath is a library track by Richard Farnon (pictured).

Buena Vista Social Club was an album and documentary about a group of (mostly old) Cuban musicians. The membership overlapped considerably with the Afro-Cuban All-Stars. This lead vocal was by Ibrahim Ferrer.

That's all for this week. Leave a comment or reply wherever you read this, let me know what you think of the show!

Enjoy!

-Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill

Relax And Mambo - Machito and His Afro Cubans (1956)

Watusi Boogaloo - Willie Rosario & His Orchestra (1967)

Word Balloon Comic Books Podcast - The Bendis Tapes 9/21/2016 - Brian Michael Bendis's CIA visit

Black Light - Alan Parker (1973)