Super Sonido

1. Orquesta Riviera: Macho Cimarron

A really great salsa/son rendition of Macho Cimarron(wild/brave slave) from the Cuban Orquesta Riviera. Sorry but I couldn’t find much information about these guys. I do know that the few albums they made are ultra rare and super expensive.

Cimarron(runaway slave) comes from the word Marroned (ship wrecked). It mainly refers to African slaves that ran away and/or rebeled against their Spanish masters. The song pays homage to them. 

Its seems like appropriate subject matter for the 1970’s. Civil rights, rebellion, and cultural identity were common elements in salsa lyrics during that time. Also, it was very common that older son montunos  and guaguancos  were rehashed with a more uptempo salsa sound. Songs like this bridged the gap between tradition and modernity, in effect providing a cultural voice to Latinos in the United States and in their homelands. 

Conjunto Estrellas de Chocolate has an earlier version of this song (50’s maybe?). Pete Conde, the Fania All Stars (Live at The Cheeta), and many others do a rendition as well.   

(this is a krmx joint also)