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LP
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VAMPI 174LP
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2023 repress. "A La Memoria Del Muerto is Fruko Y Sus Tesos's second album, released in 1972, and features exclusively the soaring and soulful vocals of Cali native Edulfamid Molina Díaz, aka 'Píper Pimienta', Fruko's previous vocalist Humberto 'Huango' González having left after the first album Tesura (1970). The record is a mix of spirited cover versions and authentically Nuyorican-sounding originals with a Colombian twist. . . . Produced and engineered by Fruko's uncle Mario "Pachanga" Rincón, the album has an uncompromisingly stark, hard sound that is appealing to today's collectors of 'salsa brava' just as it was impactful on the Colombian scene when it was made at the beginning of the 1970s. Unlike the first Tesos album, with a two trumpet line-up and fairly simple arrangements, this more mature recording added another trumpet and two trombones for a more robust brass attack. Additionally, instead of basic salsa, there are many different rhythms - guaguancó, bomba, plena, oriza, bolero, cha-cha-chá, descarga and Latin soul. Though Fruko's sound at this stage wore its New York, Havana and San Juan sources on its sleeve - Willie Colón, Javier Vázquez, Richie Ray -, at the same time the album has a uniquely Colombian approach to these influences with the bounciness of coastal music like cumbia being felt throughout. The title song is a 'guaguan-plena' version of Dominica Y Su Conjunto's original 'Acuyuye' hit of the same name from a decade earlier. Following that is Fruko's take on Cuban pianist Javier Vazquez's driving salsa dura anthem 'Mi Verdadero Son'. . . . The side finishes out with more cover versions: the double-entendre 'La Fruta Bomba' by Cuban trovador Maximiliano "Bimbi" Sánchez Y Su Trío Oriental and the fiery rumba gitana 'Achilipu'. . . . Side B kicks off with one of Fruko's favorite Afro-Cuban artists, the conguero and Santería singer Silvestre Méndez, with 'A Bailar Oriza'. After a wild descarga (jam session) track, we are treated to a fun pair of cover tunes: Johnny Zamot's 'Bomba Africana' and the old Afro-centric chestnut by folkloric Cuban rumbero Alberto Zayas, 'Baho Kende'. . . . The record finishes off with another Fruko original written with his Discos Fuentes colleague Isaac Villanueva. . . . This reissue features as a bonus the Latin soul track 'Tihuanaco' (a cover of Peruvian pianist Alfredito Linares), which appeared on the US edition of the LP." --Pablo Yglesias, aka DJ Bongohead
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