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Fania Records // Back to El Barrio

New York’s Fania Records has been called the Latin Motown, but the Latin Def Jam or the Latin Blue Note work just as well. It is the label that defines Latin music, especially the genre that Fania called “Salsa”. The richest seam of Latin music is to be found on the Fania family of labels that include Vaya, Alegre, Tico, Inca and Cotique and large parts of the combined catalogue are now being made available again in all their re-packaged and re-mastered glory. Almost anyone who was anyone in Latin music appeared at some point on a Fania imprint as band leader or band member or guest.

Jerry Masucci, Johnny Pacheco, Celia Cruz, Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodriguez

Like many people, once the Latin bug hit me it profoundly and very quickly took hold. The swing, the sabor, the invention and sexiness of a music initially born out of the meeting of melodies and styles imported into Cuba by the Spanish; and their encounter there with the majesty of the African drum - plus the injection of a gritty urban edge added by New York based Boricuas (Puerto Ricans), epitomise, to me, the joy of being alive and communicating that feeling to the rest of the human race.

Both Puerto Rico and Cuba have valid claims to being the birthplace of Salsa and it’s fair to say that both islands played a massive part but it’s clear that the term was born in New York and apparently patented by Italian/American lawyer Jerry Masucci who founded Fania with Dominican born composer-bandleader and flautist Johnny Pacheco in 1964.

Fania eagerly picked up on the sounds coming out of New York’s Spanish Harlem and the Bronx and quickly began to sign up local talent, including Willie Colón, and Hector Lavoe while they were still teenagers. Soon to join the Fania roster were enduring legends such as Larry Harlow, Rubén Blades, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Ismael Rivera and Celia Cruz in what was a vivid period in Fania’s history and in New York’s history.

Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe

You get the impression that however difficult it may have been to establish themselves the label was aware of the cultural and historical significance of their activities and made sure that key events and live shows were filmed (however amateurishly) so we can sit in the comfort of our own homes and watch and marvel at the musicians in their youthfulness; see the likes of Ray Barretto playing for free in the street for children, families and street bums while fire hydrants are let off to cool down the dancers in the searing heat of long-ago New York summers. Bona fide Latin legends playing neighbourhood street festivals – how completely, magnificently joyous (and common-place) it appeared to be.

Fania All Stars live at the Cheetah in the 1971 documentary Our Latin Thing directed by Leon Gast

Salsa had a new sound and a new place in the life of the city, many of the songs documented life in El Barrio and the struggle for Latino identity. The music Fania released was what Willie Colon called ‘a kind of urban folklore’ – sometimes political, often ground-breaking and always made for the dancefloor. The 60s were the high point for the specifically New York fusion between latin and black R‘n’B that took the name of bugalu (or boogaloo) with hits like Pete Rodriguez’s I Like It Like That or Joe Cuba’s Bang Bang but Fania also released violin and flute led charanga ensembles, classic Latin Jazz as well as straight-ahead life-affirming salsa.

Chart hits through the 1960s and 70s, from La Lupe’s Fever to the landmark 1978 album Siembra (Willie Colon & Ruben Blades) took Latin music made in New York to global audiences. From clubs like the Cheetah, the Fania All Stars went on to sell out the Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Gardens and toured internationally. They performed to an ecstatic 80,000-strong Kinshasa crowd prior to the historic 1974 ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ heavyweight boxing clash between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.

Celia Cruz and the Fania All Stars performing Quimbara – Live in Africa

I got into salsa in the 80s so was lucky enough to catch many of the Fania greats while they were still on top form and I count my blessings but, thankfully, the music is all now available. There’s no excuse, you don’t need to be able to dance or speak Spanish. You only need ears, an open mind, a heart and a soul. Come on back to El Barrio.

Gerry Lyseight

This month’s new releases include:
Ismael Rivera – Greatest Hits
Willie Colon & Ruben Blades – Siembra (featuring previously unreleased bonus tracks)
Fania All Stars – Live in San Juan 1973
Machito – La Herencia

www.fania.com

Photos courtesy of the Fania archive

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// ALSO

• Ray Barretto
• Ruben Blades
• Fania Records
• Calle 13
• Joe Bataan & James Pants live at Cargo 11 June plus dates in Leeds and Birmingham
• Latin Music USA: the Barbican and BBC Four go Latin
• From Mambo to Hip Hop, A South Bronx Tale
• Soul Power The Film,
• The Cuban diaspora, Buena Vista Exile Club



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