MUSIC REVIEW

When Bebo Valdés took the stage Wednesday night, his piano soared through a medley of old Afro-Cuban hits such as "Son de la Loma," creating the illusion of a '50s Havana hotel lounge at 2 a.m.

But this was New York and it was still early. The 85-year- old Valdés, a mambo legend who looked tall and agile enough to play point guard for the Knicks, was just warming up for the evening's star, the magnificent flamenco singer Diego El Cigala.

El Cigala was just a few verses into "Inolvidable," from the Grammy-winning album "Lágrimas Negras" ("Black Tears"), which he recorded with Valdés two years ago, when he let out the first of several astonishing wails. To call it a spectacular nasal vibrato would be too clinical, to call it "cante jondo" - the Spanish genre of "deep song" - would be too simplistic. This was a pure distillation of the sound of a broken heart.

Still, El Cigala smiled. He was actually quite jovial all evening, sipping what looked like a glass of red wine as he crooned an endless array of laments about "loves one can never forget" and of "black tears as dark as my life." These were classic songs of the Afro- Cuban bolero canon that were given a strange new life by El Cigala's flamenco pathos, which had the effect of purging them of their sorrow.

Valdés - who was once the musical director of Havana's famed Hotel Tropicana, but has lived in Sweden for the past 40 years - was masterful, shifting between delicate accompaniment and strident, percussive leadership. As he transformed bolero to mambo, cha cha and jazz, he showed hints of Art Tatum and Bud Powell. The rest of the quartet - Javier Colina on upright bass, Fabu Saurez on cajón and Rickard Valdés (Bebo's youngest son), on percussion - were graceful in supportive roles.

After two years of embracing the album's material, El Cigala took it to an emotional space far beyond the original recording. When he launched into the bolero "Vete de Mi," made famous by the charismatic Cuban singer Bola de Nieve, the song's transformation into flamenco made it completely his own.

By the time El Cigala had mesmerized everyone with his encore performance of Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," it was clear that a star was born. Although the crowd will remember Cigala's charismatic performance, the show, perhaps more importantly, was an unprecedented fusion of flamenco and Afro-Cuban swing. While the Buena Vista Social Club triumphed by bringing back the music of a bygone era, Valdés and El Cigala are establishing a tradition for a new century.

Bebo Valdés and Diego El Cigala. In their New York debut, the Cuban pianist and Spanish singer take their Grammy-winning album, "Lágrimas Negras," to even greater heights. Seen Wednesday at the Beacon Theatre, Manhattan.

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