Karibe Taki [Caribean Song] (also called "Alma Tristesse")
Penned by Hernán Braña, this is an excellent first band for the album.  Hernán's intimate knowledge of Yma's voice - its possibilities and limitations, provided a piece that fit her voice like a glove.  The simple vocal line, contrasted by lush, almost tropical orchestration, sets a wonderful atmosphere of the unusual.  According to Hernán, its inception, in 1951, stems from a visit he had with Yma at her penthouse apartment on upper Broadway in Manhattan.  When he arrived, Moisés was out and Hernán found Yma in tears and depressed.  He was so moved that he wrote this lovely, nostalgic song for her.

Like the three selections from Flahooley, "Karibe Taki" is an important example of the musical workings of Yma's mind while improvising because the song was done in one, continuous take.  When Hernan composed the piece, Yma's vocal line was written down.  When it came time to record it in the studio, however, Yma improvised a short opening cadenza (a rarity on her recordings) and during the first section altered rhythms and provided vocal shadings that could never have been notated on manuscript.  The final, obligatory Afro-Cuban section, however, showed the most change.

According to what Hernan originally told me, he had notated in the music what he thought would go nicely in each section.  He remembers, however, that when reaching this point in the recording studio, Yma suddenly took off on tangents that had little to do with what he had written, or even what they had discussed.  Stunned by the brilliance of what she was creating, both he and Moises decided no other take was necessary.  (It should be noted, however, that according to the Capitol files the take used for the final release was #10.  Rev-Ola marks this track on their CD release, Voice of the Xtabay and Other Exotic Delights as an unreleased recording but comparisons with the released version show them to be exactly the same.)

A study of Yma's improvising during "Karibe Taki" (and the Flahooley songs) give the listener a rare glimpse into the actual workings of her mind during flights of extemporization.  Most impressive is Yma's absolute authority, technical mastery of her voice within a range of three-octaves, and her instinctive varying of rhythmic emphasis while in the midst of dense coloratura work.

Yma's tone is very forward, firm, and has much "buzz" - a power and focus worthy of any operatic lyric soprano.  The underlying "Cha-Cha" beat supports her elegant, classically polished singing and is famed by an inventive, colorful orchestration.  When the theme returns in the minor key, Yma completely changes her vibrato and tonal placement to suggest great sadness.  The coloratura fireworks of the last section blaze with high staccati that sparkle and dazzle as Yma nonchallantly plays with high Ds, Es, rhythm and accentuation, and then descends to contralto depths with quarter tones and nonsense syllables.