By CHARLES WARD
                           Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

                           Cuban music has coursed though American culture for a very long time.

                           Its influences go back far beyond the Afro-Cuban craze, the Buena Vista Social Club, salsa and the
                           Latin big bands of the 1940s to at least the mid-19th century and pianist/composer Louis Moreau
                           Gottschalk. His folding of Cuban and other West Indian indigenous music into his showy classical
                           compositions made him a pioneer.

                           Antología de la Zarzuela Cubana (Anthology of Cuban Zarzuela), the passionate and hip-swinging
                           show presented Friday at the Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall, sampled another side of native Cuban music:
                           zarzuelas and popular songs by composers who emerged out of the country's strong tradition of art
                           music.

                           The Miami-based Pro Arte Gratelli presented the show for Houston's Institute of Hispanic Culture.

                           The zarzuela is a type of light opera native to Spain. Its mix of spoken dialogue and directly appealing
                           music is similar to the operettas of Franz Léhar or Gilbert and Sullivan.

                           Created and popularized in the 17th century, the zarzuela eventually spread throughout the Spanish
                           empire. It arrived in Cuba in the 19th century to join a well-developed taste for opera.

                           Some of the country's best composers have written zarzuelas. Antología sampled the music of four:
                           Maria La O and El Cafetal (The Coffee Plantation) of Ernesto Lecuona, the most famous Cuban
                           composer; Amalia Batista by Rodrigo Prats; and Cecilia Valdés, the 1932 Gonzalo Roig setting of
                           the 19th-century novel by Cirilo Villaverde (a political exile who died in New York).

                           Plots echoed political and economic realities of the country. The tragic cores of each came from the
                           interaction of the aristocracy with the lower classes, including the black slaves who work the
                           plantations. Straightforward and directly communicative, the zarzuela selections spoke to the heart.

                           European opera had some influence, particularly in the large-scaled, multisectional Gran Duos (Grand
                           Duets) in Maria La O and Cecilia Valdés.

                           Frequently, the solos sounded like the music in big movie musicals starring Jeanette MacDonald,
                           Nelson Eddy and Mario Lanza. Melodies soared over traditional Western European harmonies with an
                           occasional underlay of popular rhythms. As such, the music required big, well-trained voices, and the
                           10 soloists of the Pro Arte Gratelli sang them with great sincerity, fervency and style.

                           Indeed, the entire evening was well-paced and beautifully styled by the singers, four dancers and
                           four-member instrumental combo.

                           One singer stood out: mezzo-soprano Mabel Ledo, whose rich, beautifully focused sound was
                           something the others could have emulated.

                           Separating the zarzuelas on each half of the program were popular songs similar to the classic standards
                           of American popular music.

                           Lecuono dominated. Malagueña, his most popular song, was not part of the show, but gems like
                           Siboney, Siempre en Mi Corazón (Always in My Heart) and Tengo un Nuevo Amor (I Have a
                           New Love) were.

                           The Cuban classic Guantanamera also made its inevitable appearance.

                           The idea man behind Antología de la Zarzuela Cubana was Havana-born Alfredo Munar, who has
                           been a tireless promoter of Cecilia Valdés. As pianist, he led the show.

                           Unfortunately, the amplification in Zilkha Hall did little to help the accompanying ensemble. The piano
                           sounded like a muddy roar, and the electric double bass was thin and wan (when there weren't
                           problems getting the sound out).

                           For most of the evening Antología kept the political tensions underlying it well in check. But with the
                           final number, Yo volveré (I Will Return), they emerged.

                           Through that Eduardo Davidson song, the company echoed the sentiment dear to a crucial part of the
                           huge Cuban émigré population in south Florida and other parts of the United States: We will return to
                           our homeland.