While major labels search for the next “Despacito,” Daptone Records is reviving the sounds of 1950s Cuba.
Daptone Records, a Brooklyn-based label critical in revitalizing soul and funk -- it released seven albums from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, whose bandmembers also backed Amy Winehouse on Back to Black -- is answering the post-"Despacito" Latin-music craze with its own, first-ever Latin release, a typically left-of-mainstream pick: a mambo album from big band Orquesta Akokán.
True to its name -- Orquesta Akokán translates to "from the heart" or "soul" -- the self-titled release, out March 30, digs into the heart of 1950s Cuban rhythm in an attempt to bring back the sound that kickstarted America’s fascination with the Caribbean isle. "Mambo was popular in Cuba, but it had a short window because it came about right before all these political changes, and musicians left the country,” says the album’s producer, Jacob Plasse, referring to the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and drove 500,000 residents from the nation over the next 20 years.