{"id":18948,"date":"2020-07-12T09:30:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T13:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=18948"},"modified":"2022-07-07T14:23:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T18:23:28","slug":"hilario-duran-the-cuban-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2020\/07\/12\/hilario-duran-the-cuban-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Hilario Duran: “The Cuban” Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuban-Canadian pianist Hiliario Duran<\/a> released “The Cuban<\/em>“, the soundtrack of the movie of the same name that takes us on a musical journey.<\/p>\n

“The Cuban<\/em>” Music<\/h3>\n

Without having seen the movie, I can tell you that “The Cuban<\/em>” soundtrack delivers on being a great sampler of Cuban music. The album includes the rhythms of “son<\/em>“, “bolero<\/em>“, “danz\u00f3n<\/em>“, “guraracha<\/em>“, and the “mambo<\/em>“. From the little information, I could find online, the theme of the movie is about the effects of music on Alzheimer’s.<\/p>\n

\"Hilario
Hilario Duran’s “The Cuban” is a beautiful soundtrack of the movie of the same name.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The music, led by Duran’s piano, is energetic, full, and with swing. The songs are a mix of originals with a few covers of classics like “Guantanamera<\/em>” and the “bolero<\/em>” “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas<\/em>“, which appears twice; one time sang by guest Armando Armando, and the second time sang by the other guest Ana Golja. Golja is a Canadian singer-actress, who performs very well on this classic song.<\/p>\n

There’s not much I can tell you about this album\u00a0other than my insights on the music. As I hinted above, I couldn’t find much information on it even on Hilario Duran’s website<\/a> (it’s not there). There are no credits for “The Cuban<\/em>” on its record label (Alma Records) site either.<\/p>\n

About Hilario Duran<\/h3>\n

Hilario Duran is a Cuban-born pianist that moved to Canada and made it his home more than 20 years ago. In the 70s he was chosen to replace Chucho Valdes<\/a><\/em> in the island’s prestigious Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna (modern big band orchestra), as Chucho went on to start the iconic fusion group Irakere.<\/p>\n

Duran has been nominated several times for the Juno Award, winning it twice, along with several other awards throughout his career.<\/p>\n

Below I share the opening theme of the album, with hints on what is about to follow, and highlight Hilario Duran’s piano.<\/p>\n