5.
Beny Moré – The Most From Beny Moré
He’s one of the most famous and respected Cuban musicians ever, but also it touches a cultural thing in my heart – it’s the music that my parents used to listen to, so that to me is an important piece of my life. I obviously still feel an affinity with Cuba through music – I guess what I didn’t really grow up with was being in Cuba, but I grew up with Cuba through the music – it’s just a feeling that you have from when you were a kid, y’know? And living in a Cuban household with the food and the music; so those albums, the Latin albums I’ve picked, definitely touch on a time and a place in my life. Beny Moré is a bit like that for a lot of Cubans I think; it’s not like you have to like him, it’s more like how can you not? It captures the spirit; he was a self taught musician and he would conduct his band in a whole different way – at least those were the stories my parents had told me – he was just a genius in his compositions and his horn arrangement were just phenomenal. As a musician him and his music is just a part of Cuban history.
