Salsa Dj Guachi Guaro’s Home on the Net

Charangamania with Nestor!

I love the style of charanga, those sweet melodies with airy flute and earthy violins just take me away. The music dreams are made of. For a great article about this genre have a look at www.descarga.com.

This article is about Nestor Torres, a musician who has been a part of so much in his career, from salsa to jazz and pop music. A magnificent musician born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, he has played with who’s who of the business and any business and in countries from Colombia to Senegal. Read more about him at his home page.

The album that I am presenting here is called Colombia en Charanga from 1978. This is actually Nestor Torres’ first solo album and one that seems largely unknown, maybe because it has not been on CD yet? It is strangely missing from his discography on various sites on the net.

Musicians is an all star casting including:

Hector Madera (Guiro)
Joe (Papo) Boine (Bateria)
George Maysonet (Congas)
Eduardo (Guagua) Rivera (Bass)
Eddie Drennon (Violin)

The credits for piano is strangely missing, but it appears to be Joe Madrid on the piano on this release as it was recorded in 1978 in Colombia by Polydor/Philips and released under the Zeida label. It was later released under the Color label in the US. I have both the Zeida and Color pressing and they both sound great, though the US one is a trifle thicker. See also Joe Madrid’s home page.

Phew! Done with all the technicalities, I just have to say what a crazy BOMBA of a release this is! Definitely top ten of my favorite charanga albums ever. Not just in quality of the musicianship but also in the ingenuity of the project as a whole. What Nestor has done is to take classic colombian folk tunes in cumbia and transform them into superbly danceable charanga-salsa, some would say danceable charanga-latin jazz.

The music on this album is simply beautiful from start to finish. Every track is lovely and I recommend just letting it play from beginning to end. The perfect theme music to a sunny Sunday afternoon in the park or on the patio with that perfect cup of tea to go with it.

The tracks that are winners for me in salsa clubs are:

• La Piragua This classic of classics penned by Jose Barros done in such a way that I just flipped out hearing it. This is deep stuff. Starting with a brief cumbia interlude it quickly changes to a swinging driving charanga/son. The piano and bass break mid tune is a moment to remember. Note how important Eddie (Guagua) Rivera’s work on the bass is to really give this break it’s oomph in the gut-feeling. This song is almost instrumental, but with coro. I just love that “Son … El Sooooooon”. Then Joe Madrid tears it up on the piano again with a sweet solo going straight into a groovy bass solo moment for Mr. Guagua again before that irresistible montuno comes back on. I think I have to stop here, but this one’s a winner people!
• Cartagenera It is really hard to pick a favorite among La Piragua and this tune. They both kick some major culo. This one is simply amazing for the way they include a mozambique rythm in the breaks and into the main swing of the tune to great effect. Lovely piano solo again from Mr. Madrid. The flute work of Nestor Torres himself is the last ingredient that brings it all home!
• Colombia Mia Another sweetie of a charanga number. Very swinging instrumental but with nicely sung coro “Colombia, Tierra Querida”. And Colombia certainly is a dear friend of mine..! Listen to that piano solo… That’s sugar and spice for you right there, brothers and sisters
• Las Pilanderas is a swinging charanga-son montuno. Mostly instrumental but with various changing coros through the song.
• La Pollera Colora starts with an amazing guaguanco intro, one of the coolest I’ve heard and the bass line that Eddie Guagua lays down is killer. Then it goes a bit mellow for my tastes, but is a good sweet charanga number with nice violin solo by Mr. Drennon.
• Cumbia En Nueva York Now if you ever wondered how cumbia-jazz would sound like — here is the answer! This is more a straight cumbia, but very cool. Love the intro and the piano solo.

All in all an amazing LP that should have its place in the history books and not be forgotten as it now seems largely to be.

Now I’m off to have some great tea and some charanga dreams,
- Guachi

5 comments February 23rd, 2009

Surfin’ The Panamerican Wave!

This is a bunch of funky fellas out of Colombia, one of the main gold mines of salsa. Onda Panamericana is the name of this group and the album is called “Bamba Oe!” on the CBS label.

Certainly, just looking at the cover tells the tale of good things to come, as we see the whole group come blasting out of a trombone. Which is exactly what this stuff is — bad to da ‘bone! Strong trombones and heavy piano coupled with a tight bass player and campanero and you have a good start.

However, the names of these guys have been hidden to protect the guilty… All I know is that Joe and Luis Eduardo are the singers and Arturo Mora, Luis Zuniga and Miguel Rodriguez are arrangers on this project. Musical director is Gabriel Munoz.

• La Vida Cara is the main track for me on this album. Slamming from start to finish, but surprisingly modest in tempo which is perfect for a full dance floor just getting their grooves on to a totally dura track with their partners. I simply love their playful in-the-moment additude. The breaks are as tight as a poor scot and the swing is just perfect. The highlight moment for me is the breakdown into the piano solo. It almost feels like the song is about to change into a jazz swing number but then the congas pick up and the piano comes back with that strong montuno and we know it is the real deal. Life certainly is rich thanks to Onda Panamericana. La Vida Cara…
• Together I just can’t refrain from mentioning this track even though it is a soul/funk number and not salsa, but this cover of Ray Barretto’s Together is just dynamite! Right from the words go (”You dancin’ very good soul?”). The perfectly imperfect english is such an icebreaker for me and I just fell for this track even though I wouldn’t play it in a salsa setting.

  Similarly, the track Una Vida may be exactly what some people are looking for. Very interesting track, but alas not salsa.

• Sister Sue This boogaloo just has to be mentioned. What a catchy song it is! Boogaloos are rare in salsa clubs except for the fast ones like Alfredito Linares and Sonora Carruseles. Certainly, boogaloos deserve to be played along with salsa, after all, they were part of the scene back then, so why not now? And I mean not just the boogaloos that are intended as Cha-Chas, but real boogaloos that you dance boogaloo moves to!

  Anyway, the killer moment for me is the break where they go clapping “And now we lickin’” “Now we smokin’” “Have some more” “Have some more!”. Definitely have some more and more, people. I’d love to see that done live!

The rest of the album has more tough salsa tracks with taste and swing:

• El Recluta is a song about not wanting to
  serve in the army. Knowing that in this case it is the colombian army, as opposed to for example the swiss’, I certainly feel for you brothers… Love those breaks.
• Que Se Voltee El Mundo Similarly swinging salsa with nice breaks.
• Bamba Oe is a salsa with a nice mix of rythms, it even goes into an afro rythm mid song. Nice.
• Machaquera is another sweetie and suave guaguanco.

These songs are more the kind of tracks that can be part of the bread and butter of a salsa night, but for me, the track La Vida Cara is what brings in that exclusive caviar or foie gras to make life richer (did you catch that one?). The saffron of salsa if you know what I mean.

So, there were quite a few songs that I just had to write about. Did I mention that I really like this album?

Hasta la proxima,
- Guachi

3 comments February 15th, 2009