Trying to jam-pack roughly 100 years of a nation’s music history onto 4 CDs is never an easy task, and, as far as I know, has never been done successfully either. Of course, “Cuba - I Am Time” cannot succeed either, but for the more casual listener it is an excellent overview that only falls short in the liner notes department.

Packed in a cigar case (it even has a cloth thingy you can pull on to get the CDs and the booklet out without having to turn the box upside down) and supplemented with a 112-page booklet outlining the history of and influences on Cuban music from the very early times until 1997, this boxed set is a real beauty and treasure.

The four discs cover a lot of territory: From early Yoruba and Santeria music to invoke divine spirits, in both older and newer incarnations (disc 1: Cuban Invocations), Cuban “son” from earliest radio tunes to the Nueva Trova movement (disc 2: Cantar En Cuba), the more popular and familiar dance tunes from Beny More to Isaac Delgado (disc 3: Bailar Con Cuba), to Cuban (fusion) jazz by such renowned artists as Irakere, Chico Farrill, Cachao and Steve Coleman (disc 4: Cubano Jazz), Cuban music is literally “unrolled” before our ears.

The booklet does outline the history of Cuban music in much detail, but for the more than casual listener it also has one major deficiency - it doesn’t list any session or personnel information. Besides this major caveat, the booklet is stunning: With a huge number of fascinating photos, illustrations, lyrics and track-by-track analyses and background information, it is one of the few sets which actually made me read along while listening to this music which was to me, in this much detail, more or less unknown.

I bought this boxed set when it was released in Germany (1997) to very favourable reviews of Germany’s two largest daily newspapers and at the time, it cost an arm and a leg. Today, if you look around a bit, you can often find it at reasonable prices both new and second-hand. If you live in Germany or Europe, for example, you can get a copy from Zweitausendeins for 39,99 EUR, an excellent price. From Amazon.co.uk you can get it from a market place dealer for 20 Pounds (new) and on Amazon.com you can have it for around $55 (new) or as low as $30 (new) from market place dealers.

So, if you have any affinity for this kind of music, this boxed set is one of the best, and has been for the past eight years as well. Quite a feat in today’s ever changing times.

Various Artists. Cuba - I Am Time. Blue Jackel Entertainment, September 1997 [4-disc boxed set with 112-page booklet in cardboard cigar box].

Categories: (01) Collecting
Tags: boxed set, CD, Cuba, jazz, recommended