Put It All Together, and You Have Greatness

At its best, a genre-spanning CD compilation can distill the essence of a specific musical landscape, introducing you to its most memorable songs and artists. Ideally, such an anthology is a teasing aperitif, a doorway to a world you’ll be revisiting time and again.

Here’s a look at some recent Latin compilations. All of them are recommended as starting points for listeners eager to explore Cuban rumbas, Mexican boleros and Pan-American rock ‘n’ roll.

**** Various artists, “100 Canciones Cubanas del Milenio,” FTC. For an extensive survey of vintage Cuban songs, look no further than this four-disc collection, which is supplemented by an enjoyable (and obsessively researched) booklet (in Spanish) by musicologist Cristobal Diaz Ayala.

Ayala, who has written a number of books on the fruitful musical exchanges between Cuba, Puerto Rico and the United States, has hand-picked the 100 songs, from all formats, that define Cuban popular music, and the results are thrilling. The set includes sones, guajiras, habaneras, lamentos, pregones and, of course, plenty of boleros.

You’ll find the expected standards such as “Dos Gardenias” (recently resurrected by Buena Vista Social Club member Ibrahim Ferrer), “Flores Negras,” “La Bayamesa,” the torrid “Delirio,” “Babalu,” “El Manicero” and “Guantanamera.” The list of performers is equally illustrious, including Beny More, Celia Cruz, Miguelito Valdes, Bola de Nieve, Machito and Sexteto Habanero.

The set’s best moments are its lesser-known songs, such as Mario Fernandez Porta’s wonderfully melodramatic “Que Me Importa,” recorded in the ‘50s with exquisite restraint by Elizabeth del Rio. A real connoisseur, Ayala analyzes each song and supplies biographical data about composers and performers alike.

**** Various artists, “Cuadernos de la Havana,” Winter & Winter. More than an introduction, this five-CD boxed set is a definitive homage to Cuban music. An “audio film” of sorts, it endeavors to make you feel as if you’re actually walking the streets of Old Havana.

The set is designed to give you aural snapshots of an imaginary visit to Cuba. Each disc is divided into scene titles giving you a sense of the place where the music (mostly by little-known contemporary groups) was recorded. And the performances include the ambient noises of the particular location. It’s a technique that might be distracting, but in the end it creates a wonderful sense of presence.

The set begins with “Arrival in Miramar,” as veteran pianist Frank Emilio Flynn performs his nostalgic “Midnight Theme.” Track 2 takes you “Near the Central Railway Station,” where the sounds of the bustling crowd are punctuated by an acoustic ensemble performing the emblematic “Chan Chan” song in the distance. As we check in at the Hostal Valencia, the Cuarteto Tradicion Cubana offers a superb selection of traditional gems such as Ernesto Lecuona’s “Siboney” and the Orquesta Aragon hit “El Bodeguero.”

The remaining discs include all forms of ensembles, from the pure sounds of the excellent Duo Enigma to the children’s choir La Cantoria Coralillo and the piano of Andres Alen. Some of the songs, like the classic “Son de la Loma,” are heard more than once in different versions, and Flynn acts as the project’s unofficial navigator, offering some of the collection’s most heartfelt moments.

The set includes three booklets with a kaleidoscopic array of photos and drawings, maps and papers documenting daily life, and two additional booklets with a travel journal in Spanish and English by Italian writer Mario Luis Malfatti. An ingenious combination of music and evocative sound effects.

*** 1/2 Various artists, “The Rough Guide to Salsa Dance,” World Music Network. The label’s previous compilation of its kind, 1997’s “Rough Guide to Salsa,” was the only sampler around that included Colombia’s phenomenal outfits, such as Sonora Carruseles, the Latin Brothers and Fruko y Sus Tesos, alongside the more expected names. Unfortunately, this album forsakes Colombian salsa for a more conservative selection of the old and new. Still, you can’t ignore an anthology that includes such seminal salsa cuts as Celia Cruz’s “El Negro Bembon,” Oscar D’Leon’s “Lloraras” and Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe’s “La Murga.”

*** 1/2 Los Tres Ases, “Siempre Estrellas,” BMG Latin. This low-priced, 10-track bolero collection is part of a new series honoring 15 artists from the golden era of Mexican popular music in the 1940s and ‘50s, including Trio Calaveras, Tres Reyes, Virginia Lopez and Estela Nun~ez. The influence of Trio Los Panchos--three sensitive men who told bittersweet stories of romantic longing with the help of their guitars and vocal harmonies--is felt throughout the series. Indeed, Los Tres Ases were fashioned after Los Panchos. The disc is a highly recommended introduction to the otherworldly beauty of the Marco Antonio Mun~iz-led ensemble.

*** Various artists, “Price of Glory” soundtrack, New Line. Although it hardly showcases rock en espan~ol at its very best, this soundtrack is an exciting buy because it includes new tracks by some of the genre’s most vital outfits. “Lado Oscuro” by Colombia’s Aterciopelados illustrates the group’s current direction, mixing smoky electronica with folk melodies, sung with bewitching intensity by Andrea Echeverri. The two bouncy, accordion-drenched tracks by Mexico’s El Gran Silencio show why the Monterrey quintet is the only outfit worth its salt in the rap en espan~ol subgenre. There are also new songs by Venezuela’s tropical-ska practitioners King Chango and a charming power-pop ditty by L.A.’s Pastilla, as well as previously released tracks by Mano Negra, the Texas Tornados and Control Machete.