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Greetings. It’s been a while. How y’all doing?
Summer is here most definitely, as we enter another week of 90+ degree weather, with the promise of heat indexes in the 115-120 range over the weekend. To quote Modern English, “I Melt With You.” Seriously though, stay cool those of you in the heat zones.
I foolishly ordered a couple of records on Discogs the other day and am worried that they’ll sit on my doorstep and will be a molten mess when I get to them. Hopefully not, but certainly a concern when it gets this hot.
We have had a lot going on here locally and around the world in the news. Some of it is fun and good but as we know, a lot of it isn’t. Far from it. Without getting into that shitty and evil side of the world right now, I am doing my best to stay positive and upbeat. I was happy for the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup. That was cool. I got to see the parade and cup going by just yards from the store here in Raleigh. I was glad to see the Knicks win, despite the orange one trying to jinx them. And currently I am excited by and in the grip of World Cup fever. As much as I can’t stand the head of FIFA and his bootlicking corrupt ways, you can’t knock the greatness and importance of this tournament. In the same way that the Olympics inspires and excites and brings the world together. I’m all about that. As you read this, both the US and England will have played their first knock out phase games. Did they advance and which teams await them if they did? It’s exciting. Just ask Mexico. Or any of the small nations that have done so well. Great stuff.
As for music listening? I feel I have gone through many different moods since the last time we wrote something for the newsletter. I would have picked totally different things a few weeks back, but because of the World Cup and because it is summer and because I present a radio show called Worldy, the current playlist has a lot of Latin music amongst other international sounds.
I’ve always had a love for Afro-Cuban rhythms and tropical sounds. Not sure where I would have got that from as a kid growing up in the south coast of England, but most likely from old movies that were set in the islands or South America somewhere. There would always be a scene in a nightclub or something that featured a band playing. It made an impression on me. Years later I would find myself in Miami, married to a Cuban woman, sipping mojitos and listening to a Salsa band, and it felt like I was in a scene from one of those old films. When my wife’s dad passed away, I was fortunate to inherit some of his record collection that had some real Cuban and Latin gems in it. Pops had great taste and was a real character. I loved him so much. He was just like one of those cool old guys from Buena Vista Social Club. Something that we bonded over.
Whilst living in New York I was surrounded by so many cultures and their music. At the crossroads of my subway stop were some of the best examples of food and beverages from Cuban to Thai, from Neapolitan pizza to Greek gyros. I was spoiled. My daily stop, if for nothing more than a coffee, was at this small narrow Cuban restaurant, El Sitio, who had the best staff and food and always had great music playing. I didn’t know who it was by, but just absorbed it subliminally as I munched on my Cuban sandwich. I wasn’t vegan then.
Out and about watching shows, digging for records, my education on Latin music and its various forms began in earnest. Whenever I spotted a cool looking album jacket that suggested it might have bongos and the like on it, I would investigate. Unfortunately for me, I soon discovered that the best Latin records were rare and thus expensive. Luckily for me, the late 90s and early 00s saw lots of cool old records getting repressed by Scorpio. They were cheap and accessible and made available great titles on famous labels such as Tico, Fania and Alegre. I tried to grab as many as I could afford. I also learned a lot from my old boss at the store I worked at, who seemed to have knowledge on just about everything. One of our customers was the actor Matt Dillon, who is a big record collector, particularly for Latin music. He taught me lots of interesting facts and what to look for on records. We used to hook him up with a dealer friend we knew called Latin Willie, who came through with major heat. Nothing that I could afford, but occasionally I might get something cheaper he had. Because I was on a budget I would have to look in the bargain bins for my Latin sounds, and you’d be surprised what turns up on exotica records and the like. Those old Herbie Mann and Cal Tjader records particularly were ones I would find cool cuts on.
As the years have gone by, music lovers have been blessed with so many great reissues of Latin music by a host of labels based all around the world. Notably, records that were recorded in Central and South American countries. Cumbia and Salsa music released on labels such as Discos Fuentes is now more wildly available to listen to. For those of us not from these countries and having not been of age when they came out, it’s a windfall. You can now fill your boots with awesome music previously unheard outside of the culture.
I recently noticed one of our distributors had one or two reissues of some good Latin records and ordered a couple to see how they turned out. Both were reissued by the Vampi Soul label from Spain. The first is by Coco Lagos Y Sus Orates and is titled Descargas. It originally came out in 1967 on the Mag label from Peru. I once saw this record in a boutique New York record shop and the cover screamed Latin heat. One of the things Matt Dillon taught me about was to look for the word descarga on Latin records. That’s the Afro-Cuban term for a spontaneous, improvised jam session. You tend to find the hardest hitting percussion moments in these records. So, for an album to be titled Descargas would surely suggest heat. It certainly does for this album. I was psyched to see a reissue available. It slaps hard. We’ve got another copy here at the store for someone.
The second record is an album released on the aforementioned Discos Fuentes label in 1973 by Columbian legend Fruko Y Sus Tesos and titled El Violento. Fruko, real name Julio Ernesto Estrada, is a household name in Colombia and in the Latin American world, and based his style of music on the salsa and boogaloo coming out of New York by the likes of The Fania All-Stars. Throughout the 1970s, 80s and on, he has released some of the best in salsa music. He was also the one who provided the team song for the Colombian national soccer team for their 1998 World Cup appearance. That song, La Pachanga Del Futbol, was a huge hit for him. Going back to my days in New York and the neighborhood I lived in, I had just moved there during that spring of 1998 and was looking for a spot to watch Columbia vs England and ended up in a bar that, once inside and my eyes adjusted to the light, I discovered was a Columbian bar filled with supporters about to watch the game. I walked in decked out in an England shirt and it was like something out of a movie. But after a moment or two of funny looks, I was welcomed and watched the game with them. England won 2-0, with Beckham scoring from a great free kick as I remember. I have always rooted for Columbia after that and will never forget that day and how cool that bar of people was to me. Anyway, this album by Fruko is a banger. All killer and no filler as they say. Heavy, hard salsa of the finest order. Great listening anytime, but perfect for these tropical heatwaves and between games of the cup.
Thanks for reading and your support. I’ll try to stock the store with a few other good titles whilst they are available. Keeping a full Latin section in a shop isn’t easy as a lot of these records you don’t see that often. Originals will cost you big bucks, but whenever reasonably priced reissues come around that are nicely done, they are well worth the investment. In my opinion.
Cheers and see you next time - Dom