Amarrate!

Amarrate! loosely translates as ‘Buckle Up!’ and this latest release by award-winning outfit Soneros de Verdad certainly takes listeners on a ride through traditional Cuba, with its genteel rhythms of son, bolero and filin. There's some lovely, if familiar-sounding stuff here, much of it penned by Luis ‘El Macry’ Frank Arias, a one-time vocalist for the likes of Orquesta Revé and Irakere, and a bandleader who jumped on the Buena Vista Social Club bandwagon a while back. This self-styled ‘second-generation’ BVSC features the sort of formidable talents to be expected of Cuba's conservatories; guitars, horns, percussion and tres blend nicely in arrangements both smooth and swinging.

Both the title song, a tribute to soneros living in Cuba, and the romantic ballad ‘Por el Amor de Una Mujer’ are blessed with some sublime piano playing from the 87-year-old Guillermo ‘Rubalcaba’ Gonzalez, a pianist every bit as good as his late namesake, Rubén. But what sets this album apart from other current son releases out there is the addition of singer Mayito Rivera, for 20 years a frontman of timba supergroup Los Van Van. Rivera turns up the heat as he guests on three tracks.