LOS IRAKERES

Co-founded by members of Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, Irakere (the name translates as forestation) is as much a musical laboratory as a band and inarguably one of the most important groups in Latin music history in general and Cuban music in particular. Its eclectic, often experimental approach has deeply influenced Afro-Cuban jazz as well the island's dance music. They employ traditional percussion instruments -- bata drums, güiro, claves, maracas, bongos, congas, cowbells, and erikundis, under and around brass, reeds, winds, electric keyboards, bass, and guitars -- to ...