other blogs, salsa and free cds

Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe : El Dia De Mi Suerte
taken from the album “Lo Mato… Si No Compras Este LP” on Fania (1973)

Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe : Aguanile
taken from the album “El Juicio” on Fania (1972)

Spanish Harlem Orchestra : Sacala Bailar
taken from the album “United We Swing” on Six Degrees (2007)

Over the past year and a half I’ve become so engrossed in the world of Latin music that I’ve actually had to struggle to keep from turning this into a strictly salsa and boogaloo blog. Luckily, there’s a lot of other good music out there to keep me from doing that, but I’ve found that increasingly the records I buy tend to be vintage Latin. And when I’m doing housecleaning or cooking dinner, it’s usually a salsa record that I throw on. Not to mention that my most consistent gig for the past two years has been my weekly Latin night at Bembe (come check it out if you haven’t yet!). That being said, when I first saw the preview for El Cantante, I knew that I would have to see it, despite what I may think about J-lo and Marc Anthony. This past week I saw it (a weekly frequenter of my Thursday nights handed me a bootleg copy of the DVD), and I’ve gotta say, it exceeded my expectations. Marc can actually act, and sing, and aside from a little obligatory Hollywood cheese, the movie represented a powerful pocket in history that still gets so little shine in the mainstream. Of course, for any real fans of Fania, I also have to reccomend watching all these films as well – that’s the real deal raw version.

Seeing the movie prompted me to post some of my favorite Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe sides, and then I found out that some other cats out there beat me to it, and went about one hundred steps further by posting the entire Hector Lavoe discography!. Cop it while you can.

Seeing that blog reminded me that I’m well overdue in updating my own blogroll, so I went and did that (check the list on the right). And it also reminded me why I love the blogosphere so much, and just how big it is, and that it’s important for me to give ample respect to those that deserve it. I had to cut out some of the old blogs that don’t post music anymore, or do so very infrequently, but there’s always so many new ones popping up (and increasingly, they’re doing the whole album – mixed feelings about that). So in the upcoming week I’ll be posting some appreciation for these other blogs that I love, but I don’t really have time for that right now.

Instead, I wanted to share some music from one of the greatest groups keeping that classic Fania sound alive: The Spanish Harlem Orchestra. This group continues to put out music that is, to my ear at least, the most true to that Salsa gumbo first developed by Johnny Pacheco and crew back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Also, I happen to have a couple of copies of their newest release to give away (say thanks to Six Degrees for that).

If you want the new album, answer me this:
What was Hector Lavoe’s birth name?

email answers to: captainplanet@bywayof.net