Rumba usually calls to mind big bands and flashy 1940s nightclubs. But in this collection of songs by one of Cuba’s most prolific rumba writers, the sound is stripped back to its African origins.
Gonzalo Asencio (1919-1991) wrote many tunes that entered the repertoire of Cuban bands from the 1930s onwardsometimes by theft. Performing a CD’s worth of Asencio’s material, the Conjunto Todo Rumbero ensemble is practically a drum circle, laying down polyrhythmic percussion around a call and response between lead singers and small vocal choruses. It’s the way rumba began in the Cuban countryside before migrating to Havana nightclubs
