Manuel Galbán - RIP

Manuel Galbán passed away last week at the age of 80, the victim of a heart attack.  Who was this guy?  He was an outstanding guitar player from Cuba.  His first claim to fame was as the musical director of the Cuban vocal group Los Zafiros, which combined traditional filín movement with other music styles such as bolero, doo-wop, calypso music, bossa nova and rock.  He had a distinctive, twangy style that made him sound at times like Duane Eddy.  One writer from No Depression described Galbán as “a big man with thick hands who uses guitar strings heavy enough to tether a boat in a storm.” He learned to play on the traditional, three-stringed tres [that unique-sounding instrument Jorge Calderón plays on Warren Zevon’s Keep Me In Your Heart], and you can hear that in his bright, rhythmic runs on the electric guitar.  His axe of choice was the Fender Telecaster.  

Not only did he play guitar, but he was a pretty good pianist too.  But most people associate Manuel Galbán with the Buena Vista Social Club.   Many obituaries claimed he was part of the Buena Vista Social Club, but he was not [I have their album – he’s not on it].  However, he did play with many of the musicians who did participate in that project, and recorded with two of the vocalists, Ibrahim Ferrer [Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, Buenos Hermanos, Mi Sueño] and Omara Portuondo [Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo].  In 1998, Galbán toured and recorded with the traditional Cuban group Vieja Trova Santiaguera [note to self – must get that CD].  He can also be heard on solo albums by Buena Vista's virtuoso bass player Orlando “Cachaíto” Lopez [Cachaíto , 2001], and the trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabel [Buena Vista Social Club Presents, 2004].

Ry Cooder produced Buena Vista Social Club [1997], and while working with the aforementioned vocalists he decided he had to include Manuel Galbán. In an interview with Cuba’s Granma newspaper, he said:

“My arrival in Buena Vista Social Club is owed to Ry Cooder’s surprise at the way I play guitar, very similar to the legendary guitarist Duane Eddy. So Ry said, "Find Galbán," he called me the "guitar wizard," gave me a Fender guitar and asked me to do a recording with him.”

In that same interview, Galbán described his playing:

I combine fast passages with arpeggios, while making appropriate use of the bass strings, in that way I give the sensation that more than one musician is playing. I set about synchronizing and fading the strings with the other hand, a trick that I learned backing Kike’s singing in Los Zafiros.

After recording with Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Fortuondo and Vieja Trova Santiaguera, he recorded a duo album with Ry Cooder, titled Mambo Sinuendo.  How does one tell the difference between the tones of Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder?  Galbán’s tone sounds like “Cuban surf music.”  It’s an excellent album. The Grammy® folks liked it too.  Mambo Sinuendo earned the award for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2004. I picked it up shortly after I bought Ry Cooder’s Chávez Ravine.   According to Ry Cooder when asked about the making of Mambo Sinuendo:

Galbán and I felt that there was a sound that had not been explored a Cuban electric-guitar band that could re-interpret the atmosphere of the 1950s with beauty, agility, and simplicity. We decided on two electrics, two drum sets, congas and bass: a sexteto that could swing like a big band and penetrate the mysteries of the classic tunes. This music is powerful, lyrical, and funny; what more could you ask? Mambo Sinuendo is Cuban soul and high-performance.

Both Cooder and Galbán created a sound that evokes old-tech, pre-Castro Cuba of the 1950s.  One of the songs [Los Twangueros] is a tip of the hat to Galbán’s twangy sound.  Galbán's guitar duets with Cooder were matched against two drum sets, congas and bass from Lopez, and even a burst of trumpet from Herb Alpert.   The leadoff track [Drume Negrita] is the one I like best.  The last is a delicate electric guitar duet on the Doris Day song Secret Love.  It’s all good – get it!

What a shame people my age didn’t get to hear Galbán’s work earlier.  RIP.