Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Songo Mondongo (2026)

Songo Mondongo is the debut album by Swedish salsa ensemble Hatuey, originally recorded in 1990 on Rud-a-Dub Records and reissued in 2026 through Northerland. This release restores to circulation one of the rarest documents of the Scandinavian Latin music scene at its flowering — a moment when Hatuey was just beginning to forge its distinctive voice, fusing Cuban salsa dura rhythmics with a cool Nordic sensibility.
The band left an indelible mark on the international salsa world during its active years from 1987 to 2014, touring globally and reaching such landmarks as sharing a stage with the legendary Bebo Valdés and performing at Havana's prestigious Jazz Plaza Festival. Songo Mondongo was where that journey began.
The album captures the original quartet: Hatuey (producer and bandleader), Stefan Grahn (alto saxophone), Björn Meyer (bass), and Mats Lundvall (piano, keyboards). Meyer — a Stockholm native who would go on to become one of Europe's most celebrated jazz bassists, collaborating with Anouar Brahem, spending over a decade in Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, and releasing solo records on ECM — was in 1990 still at the outset of his professional career, and Hatuey was one of his earliest engagements.
Tracks such as «Songo Mondongo», «Comparsa», «La Bruja Voluble», and «Ragamuffin» reveal a combination rare in European salsa: authentic Afro-Cuban rhythmic structures — songo, comparsa, batá-informed percussion — interwoven with the jazz improvisational fluency of the ensemble members. The title itself nods to songo, the rhythm developed by Cuban drummer Changuito for Los Van Van in the late 1960s, while mondongo (a Cuban tripe stew) lends the album title a note of Caribbean wit and folk imagery. The 2026 Northerland reissue arrives as part of an ongoing revival of the Hatuey catalog, shortly after the release of the previously unheard archival single «Hoy Es Día De Fiesta», which announced a new discographic chapter for the group.

Tracklist:
1. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - La Rampa
2. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Songo Mondongo
3. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Ragamuffin
4. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Neptuno
5. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Wagga-Wagga
6. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Comparsa
7. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - La Bruja Voluble
8. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Hatuey
9. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Cristal
10. Hatuey, Stefan Grahn, Björn Meyer & Mats Lundvall - Oddua