Leo Brouwer & Irakere - Concierto Teatro Karl Marx 1978 Vol. II (1995)

This is a live recording of a concert that took place at Karl Marx Theater in Havana in 1978. At the time there was a debate in Cuban society about popular music vs classical. One of the issues was bad taste in popular music created by many salsa bands. With this concert Chucho Valdés wanted to make the point that pop vs classical was an artificial division, that there were only two kinds of music - good and bad. He brought Leo Brouwer, a classical guitar living legend, into the project and the point was clearly made. Irakere performed live in front of an audience consisting of salsa dancers, who came to see Irakere, and the classical music lovers, who came to see Leo Brouwer. By the end of the concert everybody was dancing.
Irakere performed compositions by Classical music icons - Mozart, Joaquin Rodrigo and Villalobos; along with the already Afrocuban classic Misa Negra (Black Mass).
This concert became an important point in the history of Irakere and Afrocuban jazz. It also served as a premise for future projects by other Cuban bands, including the recent Tiempo Libre's Bach in Havana, where they mix timba rhythms with the music of Bach - a highly recommended record.
The transfer from LP to CD by EGREM is awful. As is the entire Irakere discography on CD they simply entitled "Colección" (Collection) with each Irakere album replaced with by a number (Vol I, II, III, etc) It goes to show EGREM amazing sloppiness and carelessness. Until EGREM comes up with a proper remaster, this little piece of history is available as is.