HOT SALSA : Manolito y su Trabuco

When a musical style tends
to be out of breath,
the antidote is
often simple :
back to the roots
to muster one's strength
in order to
find one's marks.
Seems that pianist
Manolito understood,
he who knew how to keep
the excitation of the
trendy bands, but by
lengthening it by a good
brimful glass of son.

MANOLITO Y SU TRABUCO
Cuba

Manolito (photo Gilles Delbos)

CD selection :

Directo al corazón
(Egrem ; 1995)

Contra todos
los pronosticos
(Concord)

Marcando la distancia
(Manzana ; 1998)

Order !

Such a formula imposed Manolito y su Trabuco as the '97 Cuban revelation, in France where young blood is always welcome, but also in Havana, where his hit La Parranda went nap on the Punta's way in summer...

For even if his mediatization is recent, Manolo Simonet, alias Manolito, is an accomplished musician. Coming from the famous charanga Maravillas de Florida, Manolito seduces some musicians in 1993 to make up his own gang, Manolito y su Trabuco.

The Mi Salsa show, almost as popular as are the novelas on Cuban TV, crowned them as the best new band in 1994.

After some drudgery, the group arrives in the nick of time : its knowledge of the son and of other traditions (as the Colombian vallenato where Manolito's ears were dragging) are the assets of its music, now that recovering from one's surprise, some orchestras are overdriving to please a more demanding audience.