Sometimes, there's no theme, just some meanderings that fit together with a tenuous thread.

The complete PalmTree Culture 3 playlist on Spotify.

Lecuona Cuban Boys – La Havane E Paris

During a conga workshop I attended last weekend, the teacher Laurent Lamy discussed the origin of the songo rhythm.  The classic history is that it was developed as a fusion of rumba, son Cubano, jazz and funk by the band Los Van Van.

Since I have to pay attention in order to avoid constantly reaching into my Brazilian bag of tricks, I tried this time around to pick a series of (mostly) Cuban / Latin jazz songs.  You'll see a Brazilian song snuck in anyway.  Some of these tracks are old favorites of mine, while others are brand new discoveries culled from Latin jazz collections I've come across on Spotify. 

The complete PalmTree Culture 2 playlist on Spotify

This is the first in a series of Spotify playlists I've put together.  The content is influenced by my personal listening, which ranges from folkloric drumming to salsa and samba to nu world club.  Heavy on the Brazil and Carribean, but not to the exclusion of other palm-tree cultures.  The first is a link to the entire playlist, and then personal notes for each song below.

Yes, you'll need Spotify, which is unfortunately only currently available in Europe.