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!

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.

a yerdarlingdaily mixtape: LAS CHINAS

I’m happy to present “LAS CHINAS,” an hour of Spanish-language listening lovingly handcrafted by yers truly. Inspired by a request for Spanish-language recommendations from the early-to-mid 1900s, I pulled out what I had, and like any good music nerd, kept searching for more, long after I had a completed tracklist.

The resulting set focuses on the 1950s and 60s, with a few outliers before and after. You’ll hear Cuban doo-wop, Mexican bolero, Peruvian tango arrangements, Texan chicano soul, bugalú, big band, cumbia, flamenco, rumba Catalana and fado. (Yes, fado—Amalia Rodrigues is such a force that I did include one Portuguese track.)

I took the photo on the cover last summer in the hamlet Cuilapan de Guerrero, outside Oaxaca. These flower-bedecked bailarinas are Las Chinas. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD (m4a file with tracks and artwork, 50MB)

tracklisting:

Los Pájaros - Turubao de Los Pájaros (1967)
Dimas - No Llores (196?)
Compay Quinto - Que Sera (Mi China) (1967)
Los Destellos - Elsa (1970)
Aurita Castillo Y Su Conjunto - Chambacu (196?)
Lita Nelson - Algo se me va
Margarita Sanchez - Romance de la reina juana (1962)
Paco Ibáñez & Carmela - Que nadie sepa mi sufrir (1969)
Los Zafiros - Y Sabes Bien (1967?)
Los Rondels - La La, Te Amo (1968)
Los Tres Caballeros - El Telefono (1957?)
Eydie Gorme & Trio Los Panchos - Luna Lunera (1966)
Elvira Rios - Noche De Ronda
Niña de los Peines - Amapola en un trigal (fandango) (1929)
Dolores Vargas “La Terremoto” - A tu vera (1962)
Los Amaya - ¡Qué mala suerte la mía! (1970)
Noel Petro - Cabeza de hacha (196?)
Toña la Negra - Oracion Caribe (1961?)
Amalia Rodrigues - Barco Negro (1955)
Chavela Vargas - Piensa en mí (1991)

dig deeper into Spanish-language music blogs:

WestTexDigs // Quitarayas // Arturo Discos // Tardes de Guateque // Voces, Guitarras y Maracas // Mexicovers // Cuchyfritos

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!

Los Strwck — La Doctoriza

from La Doctoriza (1970)

Another incredible left-field pick from Mining the Audio Motherlode. This time, it’s the sounds of Guadalajara in the 60s — psychedelic cumbia beat with garage organ and a wicked fuzz guitar that kind of explodes out of nowhere on this innocent sounding tune. It will hit you upside the head. Here’s the great writeup from Waxidermy, too funny:

For the last 15 years I have been trying to find out what Los Strwck translates to in English to no avail. I suspect it loosely means “Mariachi Fuzz Box”. I found this LP in East L.A. in the early 90s and it’s dropped many a jaw over the last 15 years. The tunes start innocently enough, sounding like a band that might walk in to the local Mexican Restaurant on any given Friday night, hoping for tips from half drunk patrons. But the guitarist has a surprise in store. He is ELECTRIFIED……and he has a fuzz box, and you can bet he’s gonna use it Amigo. I’d pay big bucks to have seen the faces on those unsuspecting diners as chainsaw sounds lurched out and strangled them mid-enchilada. This band has other LP’s….lots of other LP’s….but none of them sound like this. Grab some chips and the hottest of hot sauces and enjoy.

The fuzz master in question, Carlos Robles, was 20 years old at the time of these electric wailings, and he actually posted to Waxidermy, saying he’s glad people are still digging his tunes today. Grab a vinyl rip at Sangrepesada: Rescatando el Rock Mexicano.

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!

Los Wawancó — No Te Vayas Corazon

Los Wawancó es una agrupación musical de música tropical formada en la Argentina con músicos de diversas nacionalidades como Costa Rica, Perú, Chile y Colombia, siendo la primera agrupación en su género en tener tan diversas nacionalidades e influencias musicales, más adelante se le uniría uno de nacionalidad argentina, se considera como parte importante de la cumbia en latinoamérica debido a que muchos temas compuestas por sus miembros han sido regrabadas en Perú, Colombia y México, en particular en la Cumbia argentina.

En el año 1955, las universidades argentinas albergan a cientos de estudiantes que llegan de toda América Latina. Un grupo de recién llegados tiene muchas ganas de divertirse y menos ganas de estudiar medicina.

Se juntan a tocar muy seguido, hasta que un día consiguen fecha: el restaurante bailable Tom y Jerry, en Vicente López, por invitación del empresario Francisco Trimboli.

Equipada con camisas floreadas prestadas, la primera formación tuvo a Rafael Aedo, Enrique Salazar y Hernán Rojas (Colombia), Carlos Cabrera (Perú), Pedro Rojas (Perú), Sergio Solar (Chile) y Mario Castellón (Costa Rica). Los chicos hacen una mezcla de los ritmos de sus países: cumbia, merengue, guaracha. El integrante argentino que se incorporó después fue Miguel Loubet (piano).

Aurita Castillo y Su Conjunto — Chambacu

I love this song. Could listen to it all day on repeat. Well actually I do.

[SORRY — posted the wrong audio before! “Cumbia de los pajaritos” by Los Mirlos — will post that another time]

Los Destellos — Tu Donde Estas

Los Destellos (“The Sparkles”), considered the founders of Cumbia Peruana, according to one of the most trustworthy sources out there, the great Super Sonido. Check his blog religiously for old vinyl rips like this. It’s great.

This particular track isn’t cumbia… more 1960s style love ballad with some great guitar.

If you want more Los Destellos, you got it, courtesy Super Sonido.

DJ Lengua — Cumbia Squares

from his self-titled EP (2008)

I’m a big fan of DJ Lengua. He has a great sensibility for reinventing old cumbia vinyl gems with his beats. Check out an interview and a longer mix at Anthem Magazine. Here’s a clip:

Like my friend Moi always says, “Ask not what cumbia can do for you, but what you can do for cumbia!” I grew up listening to a lot of different music from Black Flag to Toots and the Maytals. Growing up in Tucson, I would go to a legendary record store called PDQ and I started to pick up a lot of border funk type music like Manny Perez and Los 7 Modernistas. That store has since been sold and has gone down the tubes but there was a time when you could find all this amazing music. Also, when I would travel to Peru, I would pick up a lot of cumbias as well as more traditional stuff like huaynos and saya from Bolivia. My family in Peru is into huaynos and Afro Peruvian music as well as cumbias and all kinds of other music. So for me, yeah, I think in a lot of ways it’s like comfort food.