Hello, 2015! The future is here now, folks (as is the present) -- welcome! I hope this finds you all recovering from the holidays and entering the new year with revived senses of purpose and peace, and a desire to hear great music. Here’s what I recommend to kick it off:

In late November, World Circuit, the label that launched the Buena Vista Social Club, released a collection of the best of Cuban singer Abelardo Barroso, taken from his late-1950s recordings with Orquesta Sensación. Cha Cha Cha features 14 songs from an era when the titular dance craze was huge not only in Cuba but around the world, thanks to the growing popularity of radio and records. The recordings that Barroso and Orquesta Sensación made for Puchito Records found the singer at the peak of his powers, and he and the band were considered the leaders of the popular genre.

With an outstanding, rock-steady rhythm section, driving doubled violins, flute, coro (backing voices), and Barroso’s own charismatic lead, Orquesta Sensación was a sensation indeed. For several years, their songs could be heard pouring from every bar and business in downtown Havana. And although they were primarily advertised as a cha-cha-cha band (Americans shortened it to cha-cha), they were equally adept with the other complex Cuban rhythms. Yet by the end of 1959 the great era of the cha-cha-cha was coming to a close, signaled by a new rhythm, the pachanga. While his peak was short-lived, Barroso’s legacy to Cuban music is timeless, and this new release beautifully captures a bygone era. I recommend listening to Cha Cha Cha on World Circuit’s 180gm vinyl, which is accompanied by liner notes, lyrics, photos, and a card for a digital download of the album.