Customer Reviews

Magia Negra

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This early recording stands out as easily the worst recorded CD in my collection - apparently made with a 60's home cassette recorder. A pity because the tracks might otherwise have been enjoyable. Try Desafios or the Buena Vista Social Club Presents instead.

Luis, I am prepared to accept everything you say about the provenance of this recording - your knowledge on the subject is greater than mine. But at the end of the day, most of us just buy recordings for listening pleasure rather than historical interest. It doesnt really matter how bad the master tapes were and how hard they tried to do their best. When the end result is as bad as this, it should come with a warning that the sound quality is inferior to what we are entitled to expect on a (full price) CD. Since the recording company has overlooked it, I thought I would let folks know. I also have to disagree about the relative value of the recordings. "Interesting" is about the best I can do - but for enjoyment, give me the recent recordings any time. These tracks are no doubt rare, but rarity is generally not much of a guide to quality -except that sometimes recordings become rare because they are not thought worth preserving. Sorry Luis, it's still 1 star for me.

I first heard this song from the movie "My Life without Me".
It's beautiful music. (beautiful enough to make me slow-mo the end credits to find out who the singers are since there is no movie soundtrack produced)

I just started listening to Latin Music about 3 years ago, so i don't know the history that well but i know good music when i hear them.

So if you never heard of her and still hesitating, i think this album is a good one to start.

ps. i don't speak more than 4 words of spanish, if someone could translate the lyrics and post them somewhere, it would be greatly appreciated.

ps2. the lyrics doesn't really matter, for all i know, she could be singing about eating slimy chicken meat while being chased by wild pigs, the music still sound amazing...

This great CD features Cuba's "Guapacha and Bolero" queen Omara Portuondo's first recordings as a soloist in 1958. Recorded in Cuba by Venezuela's "Velver" label and accompanied by the great maestro Julio Gutierrez and His Orchestra, these jazzy-boleros belong in every afro-cuban music fans collection. GRREAT!

In response to your August 21st response, if you own a copy of "Magia Negra" by Omara Portuondo and are a true fan of Omara, take care of it, I recently heard that after 40 yrs. the Velvet label either merged or went out of business. If that's true, its very likely that Cuba's "EGREM" or "RTV COMERCIAL" labels may re-issue copies of their own, because of the rarity and value of those recordings. Everything Omara has recorded with Buenavista and other groups in recent years, no doubt has far greater sound, but they don't even come close in value to those original 1958 sessions. Are the early recordings of Nat King Cole, Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, etc. worth preserving and re-issuing, even though their sounds may fall below current expectations? I certainly think so. Why take them away from fans and collectors who enjoy them in spite of shortcomings in sound which, was common during that era, not mention the wear and tear of these masters, now in existance for 42 years! "Magia Negra" is of great value to everyone who was born and grew up in Havana seeing and listening to her sing along with many other giants of our afro-cuban music of yesteryear.

In response to a "music fan" from Brisbane, Australia, while it is unfortunate that the sound quality of these first (as a soloist) and early recordings by Omara Portuondo isn't the best, the value and rarity of these recording surpass any she's made in recent years. Being accompanied by none other than Julio Gutierrez and his Orchestra enhances the importance of these 1958 sessions. Unfortunately, at the time the then new venezuelan "Velvet" label operated under a low budget and most likely the master tapes used for the "Magia Negra" re-issue on CD format had to be extensively restored. In fact it may very well be that the master tapes used are the only ones left in existance and it also may be that the current folks at Velvet did a marvelous job in restoring them in spite of low quality and wear and tear of these master tapes. I know that the "Magia Negra" Lp was re-issued and extensively produced during the 60's and 70's and discontinued sometime during the 80's. As far as I know these historical recordings were made in Havana's legendary Estudio Teatro de Radio Progreso and as any recording studio,, anywhere they will give you "options" that fit your budget. Also the recording technology available during the 50's, many times produced sound quality that fell below expectations.

In response to your August 21st response, if you own a copy of "Magia Negra" by Omara Portuondo and are a true fan of Omara, take care of it, I recently heard that after 40 yrs. the Velvet label either merged or went out of business. If that's true, its very likely that Cuba's "EGREM" or "RTV COMERCIAL" labels may re-issue copies of their own, because of the rarity and value of those recordings. Everything Omara has recorded with Buenavista and other groups in recent years, no doubt has far greater sound, but they don't even come close in value to those original 1958 sessions. Are the early recordings of Nat King Cole, Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, etc. worth preserving and re-issuing, even though their sounds may fall below current expectations? I certainly think so. Why take them away from fans and collectors who enjoy them in spite of shortcomings in sound which, was common during that era, not mention the wear and tear of these masters, now in existance for 42 years! "Magia Negra" is of great value to everyone who was born and grew up in Havana seeing and listening to her sing along with many other giants of our afro-cuban music of yesteryear.

In response to your August 21st response, if you own a copy of "Magia Negra" by Omara Portuondo and are a true fan of Omara, take care of it, I recently heard that after 40 yrs. the Velvet label either merged or went out of business. If that's true, its very likely that Cuba's "EGREM" or "RTV COMERCIAL" labels may re-issue copies of their own, because of the rarity and value of those recordings. Everything Omara has recorded with Buenavista and other groups in recent years, no doubt has far greater sound, but they don't even come close in value to those original 1958 sessions. Are the early recordings of Nat King Cole, Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, etc. worth preserving and re-issuing, even though their sounds may fall below current expectations? I certainly think so. Why take them away from fans and collectors who enjoy them in spite of shortcomings in sound which, was common during that era, not mention the wear and tear of these masters, now in existance for 42 years! "Magia Negra" is of great value to everyone who was born and grew up in Havana seeing and listening to her sing along with many other giants of our afro-cuban music of yesteryear.