Los Zafiros
Bossa Cubana (World Circuit/Nonesuch 75972)

One of the finest fruits of the Buena Vista Social Club cash-in trend that has been gaining steam over the past year or so is this gem of a CD by Los Zafiros, an otherworldly Cuban pop group from the early 60s. Bossa Cubana collects 17 tracks by the group, hugely popular for a time, whose sound is somewhere between The Platters, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Buena Vista supergroup.

This is far from traditional Cuban music, though it contains elements of a lot of Latin styles (bolero, bossa nova, son) fused together with doo-wop, calypso, and some old-school rock'n'roll. There can have been few groups on earth that ever sounded like Los Zafiros, and it's a credit to World Circuit that they've rescued them from total obscurity (even though the impetus was undoubtedly a cha-ching reflex once the Buena Vista album hit).

A lot of the tunes, were they not sung in Spanish, would simply be great old doo-wop songs, not the kind you'd hear on oldies radio, but the kind you'd hear in some tiny hipster rock record shop where Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley LP's adorn the walls. But most of the songs have a distinct Cuban spin on that sort of music, making the disc infinitely hipper than any potential American counterpart, and overall, it seems to have come from a parallel universe wherein Havana was the center of popular music in 1962. It's immensely seductive music, rich with incredibly tight harmonies, soaring falsetto vocals, dramatic spoken interludes, crystal clear rhythm guitar, and swaying percussion. The title track, which opens the disc, is about the hippest thing I've ever heard, with its percolating guitar line and "shabba-dabba-dabba" harmonies---and thusly the disc moves along, track after track of cool Cuban rhythm and harmony.

The tunes are memorable and surprising, full of great chord changes just when you think you've got 'em pegged. Uptempo tunes give way to minor-key ballads that would make Roy Orbison tremble. Tremolo guitar lines, heart-throb lead vocals – Los Zafiros had it all, and though it didn't (couldn't) last for them, at least we have their legacy preserved to reassess now.

Many favorites abound – the bouncy bossa of "Puchunguita, Ven," the moody "La Luna en tu Mirada." Some of 'em start blending together after awhile, and there is a definite quotient of harmony overload happening at times, as awesome as the group's harmonies are. The sound is very clear considering these are old Cuban pop recordings, and you'd not expect them to have been kept all that tidy in the last 35 years.

A deeply groovy disc, representing a neglected aspect of Cuban music, that which borrows heavily from American pop. In the wake of the Buena Vista CD and film, you'd almost believe that all Cuban music is as haunting and pure as what you hear in that and all the offshoot releases. But this one takes you back to a Havana that was really happenin', and if you let your ears and toes take control, you'll be hooked.

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Review by Jacob Ocular-Migraine