Article on Cuco Valoy
kaysee
VALOY, Cuco
(b '37, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) The sonsof a carpenter, Cuco
Valoy (singer, composer, arranger, producer) and his guitarist brother
Mart》 began working as a duo (Los Ahijados, the Godsons) in the late '50s
based on popular Cuban voice and guitar duos and trios of the time, many
songs written by Cuco. 'Paginas Gloriosas' '65 ('Pages Of Glory'; available
on P ginas Gloriosas, Adelante Soldados '94) was Cuco's patriotic hymn and
the anthem of the short-lived 'constitutional revolution', suppressed by a
military government helped by US Marines. 'I was young,' he says (now
describing himself as apolitical); 'I identified with the impoverished and
marginalized against the wealthy establishment in power ... but it was a
long time ago.' (interviewed by Philip Sweeney in the Independent '93). They
met leaders of the budding salsa boom in New York '71; Cuco formed a
twelve-piece band '75 which he named both Los Virtuosos (the Virtuous) and
La Tribu (the Tribe), changed to Nueva Tribu (New Tribe) when new members
were added mid-'80s. The lineup incl. lead and chorus voices, rhythm section
and a changing front line of one or two saxophones, two or three trumpets
and frequently one trombone; personnel incl. the splendid vocalist Henry
Garc｛ (mid-'70s to mid-'80s), Mart》 on bass, and two of Cuco's 14 sons:
Marcos Antonio Valoy (sometimes on trombone) and Ram▋ Orlando (Valoy,
piano, musical director, arranger, composer, chorus singer). Ram▋ left
mid-'80s and became a major Dominican star. Until then, Valoy featured a
variety of salsa and merengue (the DR's predominate dance form) but then
deviated from this rule on albums that were largely or totally merengue.
Lots of his best material was scattered through albums on the Discolor and
Kubaney labels '75--83, later compiled on the Kubaney CD collections:
Sonero, El Brujo (Volumen 2), 20 Exitos De Los Ahijados (with Los Ahijados),
La Salsa De Cuco Valoy -- 15 Exitos, Salsa Con Coco, Bien Sobao, Sonero
Mayor and Cuco y Mart》 Valoy (with Los Ahijados) '87--94; annoyingly, just
to confuse things, the '92 compilations Salsa Con Coco and Bien Sobao have
the same titles and cover artwork as Valoy's '78 and '82 releases. His key
albums on Discolor were Salsa Con Coco '78, Tremenda Salsa '78 (aka Cuco
Valoy y su Tribu en Curazao), Arrollando '79 and Tiza! '80, the latter incl.
what Sweeney described as the 'superbly melodramatic salsa thriller'
'Mendigo de Amor' ('Beggar Of Love'). Cuco recorded for small firms '83--7,
returning to Kubaney '88; treasures lurking on the mid-'80s albums incl.
Cuco Valoy y su Tribu '84 on his own CVR label, Mejor Que Nunca '85 and Con
Sabor del Tropico '86, both on Team. He made a substantial return to salsa
on A Petici▋ Popular Salsa '89, which was entirely arranged by Isidro
Infante. Cuco reunited with Ram▋ on La Gran Obra Musical De Cuco Valoy '91
on J&N/Fuga Records; Infante was co-musical director, co-arranger and
keyboardist on Valoy's last album on J&N, El Que Sabe! '92 and as
co-arranger on Sabroso '93, his first on AVL. On Sabroso he returned to his
first love, old Cuban songs; he told Sweeney it was the music he felt most
deeply. Cuco settled in New Jersey '91, and with his Nueva Tribu was doing
three to four gigs a week across North and South America in '93. Many of
Cuco's more than 300 songs are about women, such as his monster hit
'Juliana' from Salsa Con Coco '78; 'I find it easy to write songs on the
bitterness of love gone wrong because it's a part of the everyday life of
ordinary people -- everybody recognizes it.' He acquired a nickname and an
association with the Afro- Christian voodoo cult of santer｛ with his
merengue hit 'El Brujo' '77 ('The Wizard' from El Brujo '76, aka Corre,
Policia, Corre!): a woman with a wayward husband uses a potion to bring him
back. UK disc jockey Tomek decided '91 that Cuco really was a wizard, in
'his mastery of all elements of the Cuban- Dominican expression,
''merensalsa''. The immaculate swing of his band is informed by arrangements
which never sacrifice the bittersweet diasporic tradition for specious
modernism...' Further albums: Las Mujeres Calientes: Bachata, Merengue y Son
'94 and Selecci▋ de Merengues '95 on AVL, Merengues Bombon '95 and Salsa
Con Valoy '96 (compiles salsa tracks from '91--3 albums) on Mr Imperio.
DeRayMi
Kaysee,
Thanks. Did you post this with me in mind, by any chance (since I
periodically ask about Cuco Valoy)? I'll pretend you did, to make me
feel better after feeling neglected by you-know-who. :) I like what
I've heard of his salsa much more than I like any of the merengue
tracks or songs in other genres I've heard by him.
"Afro- Christian voodoo cult of santer¡a"
So, uh, which is it? Is it really accurate to refer to santeria as a
voodoo cult? Aren't they two different branches of the same African
religion(s) displaced in the New World?
DRM