Michi Sarmiento y su Combo Bravo — Que Vida Llevo

from Salsa Con Monte (1970s?)

This album is packed with amazing dancefloor tracks from the Colombian salsa bandleader Michi Sarmiento—a native son of Cartagena, on the Caribbean.

Grab it at Mi Melodia, where the motto is “No mas reggaeton!” Soundway also has an excellent compilation of Michi’s 60s and 70s stuff, Aqui los Bravos!

Ana y Jaime — Jerusalem

from Es Largo El Camino (1968)

This album is a magical masterpiece of psychedelic folk, from Colombian brother and sister duo Ana y Jaime Valencia Aristizábal. They recorded this when they were just 15 and 17 years old, respectively. Ponder that as you listen to the killer fuzz guitar on this track…

Afrosound — Tiro al Blanco

from Tiro al Blanco (1981)

The second track in today’s double feature: Massara’s ‘Margherita’ redone by Colombian psychedelic cumbia group Afrosound. It’s an absolute masterpiece of jungle dance music. If the song sounds familiar, it’s probably because Manu Chao sampled or copied the riff in a number of his hits.

Regarding the racy cover art—Afrosound was incapable of releasing an album without a partially naked lady on it. See for yourself at Super Sonido, one of my favorite blogs and the #1 spot for rare and obscure Central and South American 45s. (Thanks to Sonido Franko for this track!) Go give it a spin…

Ernesto Torrealba y su Conjunto los Araucanos — Teresita

from Ensueño Larense (1960s?)

A sweet set of harp-led ballads by bandleader Ernesto Torrealba, in tribute to Venezuela’s Lara state and the Venezuelan bandleader Antonio Carillo, by whom all these songs were written. The harp is an essential element of bands playing joropo or música llanera, the music of the grasslands of Colombia and Venezuela.

For something a little bouncier, check out Torrealba’s ‘Cumbia Sobre El Llano.’ Harp + cumbia = delectable.

Cimarrón — Joropo quitapesares

String music at its finest from the Colombian llanos or plains. Musica llanera or Joropo is typically characterized by the harp…an instrument that conjures the sound of wind on the prairie. I’d say this is more Steve Vai than rustic plains minstrel, but some truly tremendous playing from these boys. The percussive harp technique is remarkable. And stick around til the end for tap dancing like you’ve never seen.

For more music from los llanos with a cumbia bent, see this post on Ernesto Torrealba.

Ernesto Torrealba y Su Conjunto — Cumbia Sobre El Llano (1981)

A slow chugging cumbia from Colombia, with fading organs and a racing harp that conjures up dusty visions of the llano. Sonido Franko describes it best over at his blog Super Sonido, a clearinghouse for all good things cumbia, boogaloo, descarga, garage:

In Colombia, Los Llanos (the plains)are the vast agricultural lands of savannah that stretch all the way to Venezuela. Both the vallenato and cumbia originated in the northern Caribbean coast - whereas a different type of music from the plain region developed around the instrument of the harp. Musica Llanera, or so it’s called, never really got the attention that other musical genres did of the day. However, Ernesto Torrealba seems to have melded the two genres together quite well.

Cumbia Sobre El Llano is a quasi-reflection of what typical Musica Llanera is about: music with a rhythmic drive and vocals that verge on over sentimentality. But what other instrument can actually sound like the wind hitting the brush and savannah like the harp can? Possibly a testament of how bounded a music is to its own environment. Enjoy!

mutualbenefit:

Cumbia en Moog - Cumbia de Sal  (mp3)

Even the music of Colombia was not safe from the moog treatment back in the analog synthesizer heyday.

I snagged this off of a great compilation of cumbia music from Vampisoul

Synthesizers really give a whole new face to cumbia. And I like it!