Critical Review #7: Neustadt 2002

Neustadt's article is a comparison between two albums of "Cuban" music: "The Buena Vista Social Club" and Charanga Habenera's "Tremendo". Both albums came out around the same time, but BVSC, which consisted of traditional son music from the 40s and 50s (which is no longer the popular music of Cuba) was a tremendous commercial success in the Western world, selling better than any other Cuban music album in history. Tremendo, which consisted of timba music, a more modern electric style, was the #1 hit in Cuba at the same time. Neustadt compares the albums and styles, drawing comparisons between the two in terms of lyrical content and showing how some elements of timba are descended from son. In the end Neustadt brings the issue around to how the reception of BVSC has affected Cuban music. Because Westerners believe that son is the music of Cuba, that is what they expect from Cuban artists. Modern Cuban musicians are forced to conform to a 70-year-old tradition if they hope to have any international success.

This article raises important questions about the power dynamics of the global music industry. Did BVSC become popular because it had Western marketing forces behind it, or because son is just more appealing to non-Cuban audiences? A similar situation is the way in which many people around the world find American jazz from the same time period as son to be much more appealing than modern American popular music. The son issue is definitely clouded by the way in which BVSC came to non-Cuban audiences. Discussion Question: Musical styles are constantly evolving and changing due to countless exterior influences from other styles, cultures, and time periods. The popularization of son around the world has influenced timba players to go back and explore their musical roots to an extent. Do you think that this can be seen as a positive influence, or does the way in which son reemerged (through Western marketing) mark the re-exploration of son by modern Cuban musicians as inauthentic?