Critical Review #8: Neustadt 2002

Right from the start I find this article fairly easy to follow. It takes an accessible approach of comparing two specific examples of music deemed to be Cuban. While this is more or less a specific case study used to represent the disparity between social perceptions, it provides concrete evidence to the reader in order to illustrate what actually was and what the US contrived Cuban music to be. I find this interesting also because it’s a somewhat scientific approach to this subjective field of music. It accounts for many factors including time and allows us to focus on the specific distinctions between these two albums.

The Buena Vista Social Club was comprised of old musicians; many of which no longer played music prior to the recording. The music was simple and focused on themes of love, Cuban countryside, spirituality, work, and other such topics. Neustadt comments on the effect of these musical choices: “The miraculous return of these elderly soneros playing acoustic music from the ‘good old days’ on the world stage, however, lends this album a pervasive nostalgia when contemplated from outside Cuba.”

I think this idea of forging nostalgia from the outside is so interesting. I have recently discussed this topic with friends that have very strong feelings regarding the idea of nostalgia. They quite adamantly dislike it and feel it fosters this foggy, nonspecific feeling of remembrance that people get stuck in. While I’m not sure of my opinions, the Buena Vista Social Club then furthers this notion of unproductive, muddled emotions that in this case may be more or less misdirected.

The music of Tremendo delirio, on the other hand, contained more complex rhythms that blended more traditional Afrocuban rhythms along with more modern styles of hip-hop and rap. La Charanga Habanera’s music also communicated through the voices of younger, more current musicians and critiqued social and political issues on island. Thus the actual popular Cuban music within its country seems to have been more sophisticated music than it’s given credit for.

I’m not sure I agree with the metaphor of the language of music as compared to musical identity. It appears to me a more apt metaphor would be one hearing a language they don’t know or aren’t familiar with, and then stereotype that language by what they think it sounds like. If an English speaker tried to speak Spanish back to a native speaker of this dialect, even though the English speaker would be communicating their perception of the language, that doesn’t make it Spanish words. So though Neustadt is trying to argue otherwise, it does appear to me that the popular music within Cuba at the time should more accurately be considered Cuban music.