Charanga del Norte

Performed by: Charanga del Norte

Excerpts from a session by Charanga del Norte for the British Academy Project recorded in October 2019. Apart from the vocals, every mic was a ribbon and all the performances were live – to recreate an approach used in the fifties.

Recorded and engineered by Barkley McKay of Valley Wood Studio using Extinct Audio’s BM9 mono and Valkyr stereo, ribbon microphones.

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“A new research project – bringing to life the practice and history of mid-20th century New York-based Latin music – has launched at Leeds Beckett.

Dr Sue Miller and Dr Paul Thompson, Readers in Music in the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts, are investigating the original recording studio techniques and performance aesthetics of this traditional style of dance music.

Building on Sue’s previous historical, ethnographic and performance work on Cuban and Latin music, the team are devising experiments using an ‘experimental archaeology’ technique to re-create the sounds of commercial mid-century studio recordings made in Havana and New York.

Sue and Paul are collaborating with specialist professional performers from Charanga del Norte and New York-based Orquesta Broadway, music technologists and producers. These include Leeds Beckett Lecturer Barkley McKay as recording engineer and Latin Grammy artist and producer Nestor Torres (Cachao Master Sessions) as project mentor.”