Rumba Tres - Rumbamania (full 12 Minute Version!) _BEST_
Popular Cuban singer and radio artist Rita Montaner recorded the first version of the traditional song "El Manisero" in Havana in 1927. The Don Azpiazu and His Havana Casino Orchestra version of "El Manisero," adapted from Montaner's recording, was made in New York City three years later. It is the first American recording of an authentic Latin dance style composition. This later recording launched a decade of "rumbamania," introducing U.S. listeners to Cuban percussion instruments and Cuban rhythms. Selected for the 2005 registry.
Rumba Tres - Rumbamania (full 12 minute version!)
Ruth Draper (1884-1956) was an actress who specialized in solo performance featuring numerous characters and monologues of her own creation. Some were humorous, such as her many sketches of society women like "The Italian Lesson," a 28-minute tour de force of conversation, interruptions and distractions, and very little Italian. Others were more serious, like "A Scottish Immigrant at Ellis Island" and "In a Railway Station on the Western Plains." She presented them successfully on stages in Europe and America from the 1910s on, and her early fans included the novelist Henry James. She was a great favorite of actors, playwrights and directors, and an acknowledged influence on Lily Tomlin, Mike Nichols, Julie Harris, Uta Hagen, David Mamet, Julia Sweeney and many others. She resisted recording offers until late in her life, when she recorded a series of her monologues in 1954. A lone album with three monologues was released by RCA Victor in 1956, though her work was further anthologized on five albums by the Spoken Arts label. Recent digital versions have included previously unreleased monologues. Selected for the 2018 registry.
Cuba's Celia Cruz was a dominant artist in the Afro-Cuban scene of the 1950s, when she sang with the great Sonora Matancera band. She came to America in 1962, and did well initially but, by the early 1970s, Latin styles nurtured in the US were dominant, and her career entered a slump. For this mid-'70s album, rather than recreate the large orchestras that Cruz usually fronted, New York based bandleader and co-founder of the Fania Records label Johnny Pacheco assembled a small group that included pianist Papo Lucca, tres player Charlie Martinez, and several percussionists, including himself. This proved to be the perfect setting for Cruz to reach a newer and younger audience while simultaneously remaining true to her roots. And she responded with some of the most inspired singing of her career, especially in "Celia & Johnny's" many improvised passages. The album's opening rumba, "Quimbara," was a huge dance floor hit and Cruz was soon acclaimed as the Queen of Salsa.Selected for the 2013 registry. 041b061a72