The musical travel diary of a journey to Havana by  Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter

 

Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter present their personal, musical highlights from a journey into the heart of Havana. Especially the voice of Hermes Fernández Salgado from the Trío Tesis, the unusual, touching, glittering musical interaction of the singer Roxana Brínguez with the guitarrist Manuel Suárez Silva, and the heartbreaking Dúo Cachibache wakes up the deep longings to bring alive these songs with a sapphire or diamond needles on a 180g LP-Vinyl. Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter have created a seemingly simple and fascinating poetic treasure box of sounds which they found in the backyards, narrow streets and bars of Havana. The graphic designer Günter Mattei captured with his colorful illustrations the memorable scenes and key moments from this musical journey in booklets normally used by Cuban people to get butter, bread and other essential things in life. This album — in a gatefold cover — stands out well from the usual styled Cuban releases. With „Cuadernos de La Habana“ the listener can enjoy with closed eyes a journey into a secret world of Havana and discover moving and touching sounds.

Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter collected soundscapes and music because they believe in the narrative force of sounds. „Cuadernos de La Habana“ is a collection of their favourite songs and contains the highlights of their journey to Havana featuring songs by Dúo Enigma and the group Trío Enserie. This audio film is a really fascinating and entertaining trip to Havana with Caribbean and South-American sounds played by the Dúo Cachibache, traditional son and cuban songs by Trío Tesis and music performed in a Casa de la Trova [far away from the normal tourist spots] by Roxana Brínguez [whose voice is neither trained nor spoilt by the usual singers' voices] and Manuel Suárez Silva [who sings some of his own compositions, written in the style called here »filin«].
 
»Like a dagger of twisted steel
This song penetrates.«
José Martí
[the hero of Cuban Independence and  Cuba's national poet of the 19th century]
 
Winter & Winter continues with the LP „Cuadernos de La Habana“ the unique series of audio films (cinema for closd eyes) which started with the album Venezia La Festa - featuring the coffee house orchestra of Quadri at St. Mark's Square, Au Bordel, Souvenirs de Paris - sounds from a whorehouse in Paris, Tin Pan Alley, The Sidewalks of New York - Uri Caine's time travel into the fin de siecle after North America's civil war, ¡Tango Vivo! Noches de Buenos Aires - a trip into Buenos Aires's real music world, Rä Dä Bäng, Carnival of Rhythm - drums and pipes in Switzerland.