The Music Machine interpretation of the Cuban classics is a personal and contemporary approach of songs that have been recorded and played uncountable times worldwide. In the Cuban and Salsa tradition artists like Tito Puente honored the songs. Also, The Beatles, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick, Jr., Buena Vista Social Club to Andrea Bocelli and Lucas van Merwijk's fellow countrymen from New Cool Collective still draw from the ever inspiring well of Cuban musical history.

The Music Machine concerts are just as rich as the culture the four musicians extrapolate their music to. The cohesion of Lucas with Cuban master pianist Ramon Valle, Thelonious Monk Award winner Ilja Reijngoud on trombone and the talented Adinda Meertins turned out to be a golden setting for unlimited musicality, intelligent arrangements and -simply put: beautiful songs that deserve more audience then just one season of touring.

The videos with this article show plain fun and have a ray of musical highlights. Read further to learn why Lucas van Merwijk and the band picked these songs, and for more background information on the Golden Cuban Classics.

El Cumbanchero
A song by Rafael Hernández Marín (1892-1965), one of the most important composers of Puerto Rican popular music in first half of the 20th century. During World War I Hernández was in the United States Army's Harlem Hell fighters musical band, the Orchestra Europe. In 1937, Hernández wrote two of his greatest works, Lamento borincano and Preciosa. In 1947 he returned to Puerto Rico and became the director of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. He was the founder of little league baseball in Puerto Rico and President John F. Kennedy christened him "Mr. Cumbanchero". El Cumbanchero is also known as Rockfort Rock or Comanchero.

Lucas van Merwijk about El Cumbanchero:

"This song became a big hit in Cuba and is a well known tune all over the world. This version was arranged for 4-tet by myself, giving it a different twist. Funny fact: originally, Hernández was from Puerto Rico - even Ramon thought he was a Cuban, haha!"

Bilongo
Bilongo was written by Guillermo Rodriguez Fiffe, who died in Miami in 1995. Fiffe was a member of the Trio Azul (formed by Rosendo Ruiz) when he wrote the song. The song was written around the early 1940s. Bilongo is about a man enslaved by a love potion a woman spikes his food and drink with. It has been recorded dozens of times since the early 1940s by everyone from Conjunto Casino to Tito Rodríguez to Eddie Palmieri to Ismael Rivera.

Lucas van Merwijk about Bilongo:

"Bilongo or La Negra Tomassa by Cuban Guillermo Rodriguez Fiffe was composed around the 1930s and is today still being played by virtually every beginning salsaband in the world. This version was arranged by Ilja Reijngoud who made some significant harmonic changes to the chord structure."

Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho (translated: Kiss me a lot) is a song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. According to Velázquez, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed before, and kissing as she heard was considered a sin. Emilio Tuero was the first to record the song, but the Lucho Gatica version made the song famous.

Bésame Mucho is also covered by the Beatles, both on stage and in the studio. They included the song in their setlist during the band's audition for Decca Records, their first EMI recording session and the Get Back sessions. A performance from the Get Back sessions was included in the documentary film 'Let It Be', and another version from the EMI audition appeared on the 'Anthology 1' compilation. The Beatles sang their rendition of the song with English lyrics - but they do not correspond to the original Spanish lyrics. In 2006, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli recorded the song for his album 'Amore'.

Lucas van Merwijk about Bésame Mucho:

"Bésame Mucho is such a well known piece, it hardly needs any introduction. Composed by the female Consuelo Velázquez from Mexico and arranged by Ilja Reijngoud, we play this one in 7/8 and it has a drumfeature at the end giving the composition a different dramatic vibe from the somewhat sweeter Bésame Mucho versions often heard."

A mi que
Jesús Guerra (1920-1995) was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba and died in Alicante, Spain in 1995. Guerra wrote guarachas that were very popular in the 1940s. They include A mi que, Bigote de gato, Dónde vas María and also the cha-cha-chás Tú verás, Margot, Baila Violeta; and the son pieces Un menaíto namá and Semilla de marañón. He settled in France in the 1950s and moved to Spain in 1985.

Lucas van Merwijk about A mi que:

"A mi que by Jesús Guerra, was performed by many groups, like among the legendary Tipica ’73 Orchestra from New York treating it with their strong NY Charanga sound. What we do is a totally different approach of the tune with the acoustic bass playing the melody over a quiet jazzy and open Yambu feel."

Drumsolo
Lucas van Merwijk about the seven minute drumsolo:

"Drumsolo..."

Chan Chan
Chan Chan is a composition by Cuban bandleader Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz (1907-2003) a.k.a. Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters: Juanica and Chan Chan. The song was one of Compay's last compositions and was written in 1987. Chan Chan had already been recorded by the composer himself various times, but worldwide success came with a version with Compay and other Cuban artists Eliades Ochoa and Ibrahim Ferrer as the first song on the album Buena Vista Social Club.

This is the signature song of Compay Segundo, a classic son, the standard of traditional Cuban music. What sets it apart from any other son is the bass line and the syncopated melodic phrasings, or tumbao. The two central characters, Juanica and Chan Chan, are legends of Cuban folklore; the lyrics capture the life and culture of the guajiro, or peasant of rural Cuba. Compay himself was born in such a setting in the Oriente province, which is often referred to as the cradle and soul of Cuban music.

Lucas van Merwijk about Chan Chan:

"Chan Chan became a million seller hit with The Buena Vista Social Club. Bassist Adinda Meertins approached the tune with an exiting uptempo 12/8 feel giving the piece a unusual and different character."

Three Basslines
Lucas van Merwijk about Three Basslines:

"Three Basslines is based on Frank Emilio Flynn’s world famous baseline from his composition Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga. I arranged the piece and added two other basslines resulting in a dirty, raw and funky Latin descarga."

Blind Cuban pianist Francisco Emilio Flynn Rodríguez suffered eye damage at birth. His Cuban mother died when he was 5, and his Irish-American father returned to the United States. Mr. Flynn grew up in the care of a Cuban aunt and uncle. His musical life encompassed many forms, including classical music; the fílin style of the 1950's, which fused jazz harmony, Cuban rhythm and romantic ballads; and the more modern Latin jazz movement of the 1960's, as leader of the Quinteto Instrumental de Música Moderna, which played in the descarga, or jam-session style. His career began at 13, when he won an amateur contest and joined a danzón orchestra, playing in the popular courtly style. He studied further at Cuba's National Association for the Blind, and in the 1940's joined the fílin-style band Loquibambia, whose singer was Omara Portuondo, later well-known from Buena Vista Social Club albums.

Lucas van Merwijk is endorsed by Pearl, Zildjian cymbals and drumsticks, Remo drumheads and DAP-audio.