Review: De Alla Pa'ca

In 1994 Eugenio “Genio” Acosta Ithier envisioned a musical exchange between Puerto Rico and Cuba. His plan was to gather some of the best soneros and musicians in Puerto Rico to record a tribute to the contemporary Cuban composers. He accomplished this task and named it DE AQUI PA’LLA and released it in 1995. A year later we have it’s counterpart, DE ALLA PA’CA. For this project some of the best soneros and musicians in Cuba were assembled to pay homage to some of Puerto Rico’s best composers under the musical direction of NG La Banda’s Jose Luis Cortes. Rafael Hernandez (“Oprobio”), Bobby Capo (“Y Llorando Me Dormi”), Tite Curet Alonzo (“Para Que Volver”) and Perin Vazquez (“Todavia” & “El Menu”) are among those honored by the voices of Issac Delgado, Mariano Mena, Angel Bonne, and Tony Cala. The Cuban songo style that is so prevalent these days was abandoned for this project. What you get is salsa picante throughout the session. Both of these productions are well worth the investment due to their musicality and the historical musical exchange between these two hotbeds of rhythm.