Almendra

The danzón that a whole generation danced to. Abelardo Valdés writes 'Almendra' in 1938, and its melody is so elegant it becomes shorthand for the form...

The danzón that a whole generation danced to. Abelardo Valdés writes 'Almendra' in 1938, and its melody is so elegant it becomes shorthand for the form itself — the stately, sweet-and-swaying ballroom rhythm that ruled Cuban dance halls before the mambo. The composer records it with his own band, and the great charangas keep it alive on flutes and violins: Orquesta Riverside, then Orquesta Aragón's definitive reading. By the time Isaac Delgado fires it into a son montuno with the Buena Vista circle, 'Almendra' has become less a single tune than the sound of an era learning to sway.

Composer

Abelardo Valdés

Year

1938

Lineage

danzón