DJ Bongohead presents The Afrosound of Colombia Vol.2 (2LP/CD, Vampisoul, 2014)
We've introduced you to DJ Bongohead on our recent review of a 45 released on his own label, Peace & Rhythm Records. Here's his latest compilation released on Vampisoul, a beautifully designed CD or double LP digging once again in the vaults of the Discos Fuentes label. It's the second volume in the 'Afrosound of Colombia' series, following up on the first one released during the summer of 2010 (check here), which is still an essential purchase today with its killer selection and amazing liner notes, featuring and in-depth overview of the history of Discos Fuentes and artists such as Fruko y Sus Tesos, Afrosound, Los Corraleros de Majagual, Sexteto Miramar, Wganda Kenya.
A few years in the making, this sequel is sensational too. The 42 pages booklet focuses this time on a track-by-track description, before going into more artists' biographies, and makes the physical purchase the only one that makes real sense. Favorites include the mid-60s rolling tropical cumbia of 'El Combo Loco' from Cumbia De Luna, the dancefloor fire of the umptempo banger 'Pompo Del Pilón' from Los Corraleros De Majagual, the explosive salsa and killer piano solo of 'Caleñita' from Michi Sarmiento Y Su Combo Bravo, the Caribbean groove of 'Locura De Mi Cumbelé' from Adolfo Echeverriá Y Su Orquestra, the psychedelic latin funk of 'Batukacuto' from Tita Duval, the disco-cumbia of 'Dale Al Bombo' from The Latin Brothers, the ska-cumbia madness of 'Juana Rosa Manzano' from Los Corraleros De Majagual (with a clarinet line reminding Rod Stewart's 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy'), some psych uniqueness from Afrosound making us ask for albums reissues from that band, and, to close the record, an odd cumbia version of The Bee Gees' 'Staying Alive'.
Don't download this great new compilation of funky, folky & psychedelic tropical bangers with afro-coastal flavors. Buy the CD or vinyl. And the one from the first volume too, if you haven't already!!
Various - The Afrosound of Colombia Vol.2
(2LP/CD) Vampisoul VAMPI15, 2014-11-03
Tracklisting :
01. El Sexteto Miramar - Pachanga Mirama
02. El Combo Loco - Cumbia De Luna
03. Lisandro Meza Y Su Combo Vacana - Juventud Flaca Y Loca
04. Peregoyo Y Su Combo Vacaná - Sabor De Vacaná
05. Orquesta Ritmo De Sabanas - Qué Se Hicieron
06. Los Corraleros De Majagual - Pompo Del Pilón
07. Los Teen Agers - Goza Mi Tamborera
08. Michi Sarmiento Y Su Combo Bravo - Caleñita
09. Banda 20 De Julio De Repelón - Rosalba
10. Adolfo Echeverriá Y Su Orquestra - Locura De Mi Cumbelé
11. Fruko Y Sus Tesos - Achilipú
12. Afrosound - Banana De Queso
13. Wganda Kenya - Fayab Fayab
14. Tita Duval/El Nuevo Ritmo De Bobby Rey - Batukacuto
15. Wganda Kenya - El Nativo
16. Chico Cervantes Y Su Nueva Banda - El Soncito
17. The Latin Brothers - Dale Al Bombo
18. Los Corraleros De Majagual - Juana Rosa Manzano
19. La Integración - Caimán Y Gallinazo
20. Los Bestiales - Yolanda
21. La Bande De La Boquilla - La Rochela
22. Afrosound - Una Abeja En El Semáforo
23. Fruko Y Sus Tesos - Luz En La Inmensidad
24. Machuca Cumbia - Staying Alive
Links :
Buy on juno or munster-records
DJ Bongohead : blogspot | discogs | dustandgrooves
Peace & Rhythm Records : official | blogspot | discogs | facebook
Press Release :
Vampisoul is back with a fresh batch of funky, folky and psychedelic tropical bangers from the deep vaults of Discos Fuentes (and its other properties, Tropical and Machuca). As previously stated in the first volume of this series, the term 'Afrosound' is an invented concept appropriated from Discos Fuentes. If the term seems a bit vague or slippery, rest assured that with this second installment you will come closer to understanding the Afrosound aesthetic. You'll also grow to appreciate the diversity and unpredictability of talent under the Fuentes umbrella.
Afrosound is used to denote a thrilling and sometimes freaky soundtrack that chronicles the acceptance, evolution, diffusion and mainstreaming of the country's rich Afro-coastal heritage over a 30-year period. The music was taken from the Caribbean and largely agrarian savannah departments and transported inland to the country's more industrialized mountain regions, where it was translated, simplified, mass marketed, manufactured, recycled, modernized and globalized (with additives from distant shores). It was then packaged with a sexy lady on the cover and thanks to Don Antonio Fuentes' music mogul vision, sold to Latin America (and later the world at large) in order to make it dance to his beloved costeño rhythms. Through Fuentes and other labels like Codiscos and Sonolux, the raw resources of this Afrosound culture were melted down and shaped into black wax and diffused outward in all directions from the antioqueño cities of Medellín and Bogotá, where the major bulk of the music production industry resided in the 50s through the 80s. This Afro-vibration was sent out from the cold, misty high mountains and bounced back down to the flattened plains, meandering rivers, verdant valleys, steaming jungle and whispering shores of the azure sea, where it was resold to the original regions that inspired it and traveled to further lands beyond the horizon, like Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina. There were also several smaller coastal-based labels like Curro and Tropical that did much the same thing, but maintained a local base of operations for their work. You would have found this sound in little moldy hardware, musical instrument and dry-goods stores, or broadcast on radios in buses, cars, trucks, fishermen's canoes, even lashed to burros. It blasted in bars, hotels, on beaches from transistors. It was played on the booming sound systems at the outdoor black champetero parties under the palm trees and in the palenques, social clubs and house parties in working-class barrios, on crackling loudspeakers blaring from street festivals, in plazas. This incredible stream of black gold adorned and enriched the public airways of Cali, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Baranquilla, to become a symbol of pride and part of Colombia's collective identity.
Afrosound is not really something tangible that can be tied down and bound to a critic's rules. Nor is it some venerable folkloric strain passed down through generations from time immemorial. It's a modern bastard hybrid, syncretic and synthetic, spawned in the studio, co-opted by government, commodified by an industry that could only have been born in the era of the global village. It is more accurate to think of it as a state of mind, a way of creating, playing, seeing and hearing. The unifying factor of this second volume is still the same: African roots or influences and the period of experimentation, self expression, upheaval, rebellion and rebirth in the industry, nurtured by Discos Fuentes and its stable of musicians, producers and engineers.
A few years in the making, this sequel is sensational too. The 42 pages booklet focuses this time on a track-by-track description, before going into more artists' biographies, and makes the physical purchase the only one that makes real sense. Favorites include the mid-60s rolling tropical cumbia of 'El Combo Loco' from Cumbia De Luna, the dancefloor fire of the umptempo banger 'Pompo Del Pilón' from Los Corraleros De Majagual, the explosive salsa and killer piano solo of 'Caleñita' from Michi Sarmiento Y Su Combo Bravo, the Caribbean groove of 'Locura De Mi Cumbelé' from Adolfo Echeverriá Y Su Orquestra, the psychedelic latin funk of 'Batukacuto' from Tita Duval, the disco-cumbia of 'Dale Al Bombo' from The Latin Brothers, the ska-cumbia madness of 'Juana Rosa Manzano' from Los Corraleros De Majagual (with a clarinet line reminding Rod Stewart's 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy'), some psych uniqueness from Afrosound making us ask for albums reissues from that band, and, to close the record, an odd cumbia version of The Bee Gees' 'Staying Alive'.
Don't download this great new compilation of funky, folky & psychedelic tropical bangers with afro-coastal flavors. Buy the CD or vinyl. And the one from the first volume too, if you haven't already!!
Various - The Afrosound of Colombia Vol.2
(2LP/CD) Vampisoul VAMPI15, 2014-11-03
Tracklisting :
01. El Sexteto Miramar - Pachanga Mirama
02. El Combo Loco - Cumbia De Luna
03. Lisandro Meza Y Su Combo Vacana - Juventud Flaca Y Loca
04. Peregoyo Y Su Combo Vacaná - Sabor De Vacaná
05. Orquesta Ritmo De Sabanas - Qué Se Hicieron
06. Los Corraleros De Majagual - Pompo Del Pilón
07. Los Teen Agers - Goza Mi Tamborera
08. Michi Sarmiento Y Su Combo Bravo - Caleñita
09. Banda 20 De Julio De Repelón - Rosalba
10. Adolfo Echeverriá Y Su Orquestra - Locura De Mi Cumbelé
11. Fruko Y Sus Tesos - Achilipú
12. Afrosound - Banana De Queso
13. Wganda Kenya - Fayab Fayab
14. Tita Duval/El Nuevo Ritmo De Bobby Rey - Batukacuto
15. Wganda Kenya - El Nativo
16. Chico Cervantes Y Su Nueva Banda - El Soncito
17. The Latin Brothers - Dale Al Bombo
18. Los Corraleros De Majagual - Juana Rosa Manzano
19. La Integración - Caimán Y Gallinazo
20. Los Bestiales - Yolanda
21. La Bande De La Boquilla - La Rochela
22. Afrosound - Una Abeja En El Semáforo
23. Fruko Y Sus Tesos - Luz En La Inmensidad
24. Machuca Cumbia - Staying Alive
Links :
Buy on juno or munster-records
DJ Bongohead : blogspot | discogs | dustandgrooves
Peace & Rhythm Records : official | blogspot | discogs | facebook
Press Release :
Vampisoul is back with a fresh batch of funky, folky and psychedelic tropical bangers from the deep vaults of Discos Fuentes (and its other properties, Tropical and Machuca). As previously stated in the first volume of this series, the term 'Afrosound' is an invented concept appropriated from Discos Fuentes. If the term seems a bit vague or slippery, rest assured that with this second installment you will come closer to understanding the Afrosound aesthetic. You'll also grow to appreciate the diversity and unpredictability of talent under the Fuentes umbrella.
Afrosound is used to denote a thrilling and sometimes freaky soundtrack that chronicles the acceptance, evolution, diffusion and mainstreaming of the country's rich Afro-coastal heritage over a 30-year period. The music was taken from the Caribbean and largely agrarian savannah departments and transported inland to the country's more industrialized mountain regions, where it was translated, simplified, mass marketed, manufactured, recycled, modernized and globalized (with additives from distant shores). It was then packaged with a sexy lady on the cover and thanks to Don Antonio Fuentes' music mogul vision, sold to Latin America (and later the world at large) in order to make it dance to his beloved costeño rhythms. Through Fuentes and other labels like Codiscos and Sonolux, the raw resources of this Afrosound culture were melted down and shaped into black wax and diffused outward in all directions from the antioqueño cities of Medellín and Bogotá, where the major bulk of the music production industry resided in the 50s through the 80s. This Afro-vibration was sent out from the cold, misty high mountains and bounced back down to the flattened plains, meandering rivers, verdant valleys, steaming jungle and whispering shores of the azure sea, where it was resold to the original regions that inspired it and traveled to further lands beyond the horizon, like Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina. There were also several smaller coastal-based labels like Curro and Tropical that did much the same thing, but maintained a local base of operations for their work. You would have found this sound in little moldy hardware, musical instrument and dry-goods stores, or broadcast on radios in buses, cars, trucks, fishermen's canoes, even lashed to burros. It blasted in bars, hotels, on beaches from transistors. It was played on the booming sound systems at the outdoor black champetero parties under the palm trees and in the palenques, social clubs and house parties in working-class barrios, on crackling loudspeakers blaring from street festivals, in plazas. This incredible stream of black gold adorned and enriched the public airways of Cali, Buenaventura, Cartagena, Baranquilla, to become a symbol of pride and part of Colombia's collective identity.
Afrosound is not really something tangible that can be tied down and bound to a critic's rules. Nor is it some venerable folkloric strain passed down through generations from time immemorial. It's a modern bastard hybrid, syncretic and synthetic, spawned in the studio, co-opted by government, commodified by an industry that could only have been born in the era of the global village. It is more accurate to think of it as a state of mind, a way of creating, playing, seeing and hearing. The unifying factor of this second volume is still the same: African roots or influences and the period of experimentation, self expression, upheaval, rebellion and rebirth in the industry, nurtured by Discos Fuentes and its stable of musicians, producers and engineers.
Original post on Paris DJs