Ya No Hace Falta is an album by the Cuban band Bamboleo.[2][3] It was released in 1999.[4][5] The title track ("I am not in need") was the group's most commercially successful song.[6][7] The band supported Ya No Hace Falta with a North American tour.[8] The title track appeared in the film Suite Habana.[9]

Ya No Hace Falta
Studio album by
Released1999
GenreTimba
LabelAhí-Namá Music[1]
Bamboleo chronology
Yo No Me Parezco A Nadie
(1998)
Ya No Hace Falta
(1999)
Ñño! Qué Bueno Está
(2000)

Production edit

The majority of the album's songs were written and arranged by bandmember Lazaro Valdes, who was chiefly influenced by Earth, Wind & Fire.[10][11] The songs were performed by four singers and 10 musicians.[12] Valdes employed tumbaoes on many of the songs.[13]

Critical reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [14]

The Sun-Sentinel wrote that "Bamboleo blends funky urban salsa with storytelling and arrangements that feature blaring horns, thunderous percussion and four poetic vocalists... Its music includes more breakdowns than the commercial salsa heard in the United States and Puerto Rico, so much so that the tembleque, or tremor, is ideally suited to freestyle dancing."[15] The Washington Post called the album "irresistible," writing that it is full of "lots of bottom, lots of funk, lots of power in the horns."[11]

The Santa Cruz Sentinel determined that "each track is uniquely eloquent, carrying the air of improvised artistic freedom and a clear-metered knowledge of the right musical elements."[12] The Star Tribune noted that "the percolating piano, call-and-response vocals and sizzling percussion are unmistakably—and irresistibly—Cuban."[16]

AllMusic wrote that "the group certainly does not want for heat, with salty montunos from pianist/arranger Lazaro Valdes and plenty of time-shifting breaks from a percussion section as good as any operating today."[14]

Track listing edit

No.TitleLength
1."Opening" 
2."Ya No Hace Falta" 
3."Recapacita" 
4."Se le Fue la Mano" 
5."El Manisero" 
6."Candil de Nieve" 
7."Lo Que Quiero es Bamboleo" 
8."La Tremenda" 
9."El Pillo" 
10."El Protagonista" 
11."Lo Mio" 
12."Ya No Hace Falta (Edited Version)" 

References edit

  1. ^ Roy, Maya (March 6, 2003). Músicas cubanas (con CD). Ediciones AKAL.
  2. ^ "Bamboleo Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. ^ Moreno-Velazquez, Juan (28 Jan 2000). "Bamboleo timba caliente de verdad". El Diario La Prensa. p. 28.
  4. ^ Perna, Vincenzo (July 5, 2017). Timba: The Sound of the Cuban Crisis. Routledge.
  5. ^ Infante, Victoria (19 Aug 1999). "Con Bamboleo, se 'baila timba': El grupo estara en Conga Room hoy y manana, con el ritmo que es sensacion entre la juventud cubana". La Opinión. p. 1D.
  6. ^ Robinson, Eugene (November 20, 2012). Last Dance in Havana. Simon and Schuster.
  7. ^ Varela, Chuy (September 19, 1999). "Cuban Gems – Voice of Discontent – Timba, like American hip-hop, is new form of expression on the streets". Sunday Datebook. San Francisco Chronicle. p. 38.
  8. ^ Panken, Ted (Apr 2001). "Declarations of independents". Jazziz. Vol. 18, no. 4. p. 60.
  9. ^ Gentic, Tania (Spring 2014). "Beyond the Visual City". Hispanic Review. 82 (2): 199–220.
  10. ^ Torres, Richard (17 Feb 2000). "More Than Just Pretty Faces". Newsday. p. D27.
  11. ^ a b Robinson, Eugene (4 June 2000). "Playin' la Timba Brava: Cuba's Frothy Musical Stew". The Washington Post. p. G9.
  12. ^ a b Davies, Robin (November 2, 2000). "Handful of Cuba's best bands dance into Santa Cruz". Santa Cruz Sentinel.
  13. ^ Portillo Jr., Ernesto (June 2, 2000). "From Cuba, timba's a fun, frenetic musical mix – Explosive sound of Bamboleo leads the craze". Arizona Daily Star. p. F31.
  14. ^ a b "Ya No Hace Falta". AllMusic.
  15. ^ Cazares, David (3 Sep 1999). "Bamboleo's Timba Feeds a New Culture". Showtime. Sun-Sentinel. p. 29.
  16. ^ Campbell, Tim (June 26, 2000). "Buena Vista: The next generation". Star Tribune. p. 1E.