Forever Danzon by Nat Chediak Havana is a long way from Montevideo, but at the beginning of the sixties, violinist Federico Britos left home for one of the most vibrant music capitals on the American Continent There, he fell in love with Vivian (his wife of 35 years) and Cuban music. I'm happy to report that both affairs continue, uninterrupted, to this day More recently, Federico has been Concertmaster for the Miami Symphony in South Florida, where he now makes his home. He founded, with guitarist Frank Vignola, the Hot Club USA, a homegrown descendant of France's fabled Grappelli & Reinhardt jazz quintet. He's a featured artist in Cachao's Cuba Linda album, and a major revelation in Nocturne, Charlie Haden's sparkling collection of boleros. For his present undertaking, the mutifaceted Britos has chosen to update one of Cuba's most enduring musical genres, the danzon, a direct descendant of the French contredanse and itself the forerunner of the mambo. Tho vehicie is The First Danzon, debut album of Danzon by 6, Federico's working charanga The charanga, of course, is the traditionai violin & flute ensemble that perorms danzones. The music this charanga plays points towards the future without betraying the past This is most evident in" LBs Alluras de Simpson", where Britos adds a baroque touch with the use of a harpsichord in the intro to this danzon -the first ever -that harks beck to 1879. At the same time, Federico contributes a third part, grounded in Miguel Failde's original composition but harmonically advanced, as though the piece had just been conceived. "Osiris" is a 1956 danzon with Vocals that bursts into a cha.cha-cha at the finale As wall it should, since the tune belongs to Enrique Jorrin, creator of the infectious rhythm, with whose orchestra Federico performed for many yaars "Linda Melodia" is a nod to its composer, Rubeun Jiminez, Son of the traditional trombone in Cuban music. In the fifties, Generoso Jimenez was arranger and musical di9Ctor for betoved singer Bony More. In this composition, timbalara Ruben "Tutti" Jimenez cuts loose on his tune with a spirited solo Danzonas are also Cuba's most flexible musicai genre Consisting of three to five parts (with an introduction), occasional Vocals and/or chorus, the natural state of the danzon is constant flux. For a spell, danzones adopted melodies fmm sources as varied as American standards and other Cuben genres Cheo Belen Puig's mystical "Meditacion de Thais" takes its title from the classic violin piece by Massenet