Tito Puente
When, in 1961, West Side Story hit the screens after conquering Broadway, it was the entire Puerto Rican community of New York, ostracized and deprived of the American dream, that feverishly gained visibility. From Spanish Harlem to the Bronx, where poverty, drugs and gangs are rampant, Latino music and dance will then carry the identity revolution, the barrio setting itself on fire and undulating to Afro-Caribbean rhythms, led by "the king of timbales" Tito Puente. Soon mixed with soul, jazz and blues of the black neighbors, who share suffering and stigma of racism, the genres multiply: mambo, rumba, cha-cha-cha, merengue, boogaloo. All the Hispanics of Central and South America joined the movement.
Crowned the "Queen of Salsa," Cuban-born singer Celia Cruz performs in this concert video featuring Latin jazz legend Tito Puente, La India, Johnny Pacheco and the RMM Orchestra. The flamboyant Cruz and her talented friends heat up the dance hall with songs such as "La Vida Es un Carnival," "La Voz de Experiencia," "Quimbara," "Babalu," "Siboney," "El Cumbachera," an improvised version of "Guantanamera" and Cruz's signature song, "Bemba Colora."
A testimony about Afro-Cuban popular music from its origins to the present day.
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
A 4 part documentary about jazz musician / actor Slim Gaillard with interviews, archival footage & performances.
The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.
