At once spicy hot and languorously sweet, Putumayo Presents Cuba is a passionate marriage of active and passive, masculine and feminine, a contemporary festival of sound whose roots were born in defiance of onerous distraction and oppression. Based on Afro-Cuban culture, whose music comes from a combination of European and African instrumentation, the songs in this collection swing with the energetic rhythms of traditional son (also the base of salsa). Layered over the repetitive beat, guitars chime, maracas add shimmy, and trumpets take the upper accent melody, often repeating or contrasting the main vocal melody. One of the finest contributions to the disc is Mi Son's "Mecanica de Amor," in which the band substitutes the violin for the lead trumpet, making a treat of the unexpected. Irakere's funky fusion "Boliviera" comes on gangbusters with beefy bass, full horn section, and featured flute melody. Containing superb liner notes, Putumayo Presents Cuba makes a fine introduction to this island's rich sound, and a superb remedy to the blues.
 

Cleverly packaged in a faux cigar box, this four-CD compilation of Cuban music is designed with the curious fan in mind. Each disc is dedicated to a genre: Cuban Invocations (Afro-Cuban religious music), Cantar en Cuba (songcraft), Bailar con Cuba (dance music), and Cubano Jazz (jazz). Rather than attempting a full historical account, the selection of both classic and modern performers suggests the evolution of the music in broad, bold strokes. Cantar en Cuba features singer Maria Teresa Vera, a key historical figure, but also up-to-the-minute salsero Issac Delgado. In Cubano Jazz, the late bandleader Mario Bauza, crucial in the birth of Latin jazz in the early '40s, is represented alongside contemporary pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The accompanying 112-page booklet includes essays, interviews, and a useful song-by-song discussion that sets the music in context. The result is an informative, rewarding overview of Cuban music--and a terrific instant dance-music collection.
 

Ry Cooder's name has helped bring attention to this session, but it's the veteran Cuban son musicians who make this album really special. Reminiscent of Ellington in its scope and sense of hushed romanticism, Buena Vista Social Club is that rare meld of quietude and intensity; while the players sound laid-back, they're putting forth very alive music, a reminder that aging doesn't mean taking to bed. Barbarito Torres's laoud solo on "El Cuarto de Tula" is both more blinding and more tasteful than any guitar showcase on any recent rock album; a quote from "Stormy Weather" and some very distinct parallels to Hawaiian styles remind us of why it's called "world music."
 

It should never cease to amaze how spry and dramatically potent a force is the Buena Vista Social Club. The group--really a gaggle of aging Cuban maestros brought together for stunning all-star performances--keeps its footing in Cuban dance music at the same time as it revels in the lax tempo of layered hand percussion and traditional rhythms. Ibrahim Ferrer stepped to the international fore as the vocalist on the eponymous BVSC CD in 1997 and here furthers his already-obvious command of everything from sultry, horn-swaying ballads to gritty son tunes like "Mamí Me Gustá." Ferrer's tattered vocal inflections shape the more rollicking tunes so their texture is palpable, especially when belted in antiphonal give-and-takes with the rest of the huge band he totes along here. A 15-member-strong string section steps forward on the bolero tracks, which send off a smoldering passion that's startling in light of the BVSC's heightened, horn-charged charts. But the rich string passages color songs in wide brush strokes, which is to say that they heighten the passion to no end. Ferrer's debut might come in his twilight years, but it's a majorly luminous event.
 

While she came to global prominence as the female singer on the Buena Vista Social Club album and in the film, Omara Portuondo has a career that--like the other participants--stretches back many years. She puts her experience to good use on this record, sounding for all the world like a Cuban Billie Holiday, smoky and quietly tragic, with a history of lost love. The lush arrangements, which often sound transplanted straight from 1950s Havana, frame her voice exquisitely while guests such as Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, and Rubén González add their inimitable talents to the mix. Her reading of "The Man I Love" ("El Hombre Que Yo Ame") is also a microcosm of the disc--slightly jazzy, with a yearning vocal that's emotive without ever being overwrought. There's little doubt that Portuondo is a world-class singer, and this is the ideal showcase for her extraordinary talents.