Emusica Acquires Fania

http://www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2006/february/features/born_again.html

http://www.cduniverse.com/sresult.asp?HT_SEARCH=XLABEL&HT_SEARCH_INFO=Fania+%28USA%29&HT_Search_Name=Fania+%28USA%29&cart=314227756&ShowSort=1&style=music&SortOrder=Year

Sonora Poncena - Fuego En El 23
Ray, Richie - El Sonido De La Bestia
Blades, Ruben - Bohemio Y Poeta
Colon, Willie - Siembra
Cruz, Celia - Celia & Johnny
Colon, Willie - El Malo
Pacheco, Johnny / Pete "Conde" Rodriguez - Los Compadres
Rodriguez, Pete "El Conde" - I Like It Like That
La Lupe - Es La Reina
Harlow, Larry - Yo Soy Latino
Valentin, Bobby - Rey Del Bajo
Lavoe, Hector - La Voz
Betancourt, Justo - Leguleya No
Puente, Tito - Para Los Rumberos
Rivera, Ismael - Maelo
Palmieri, Eddie - Vamonos Pa'l Monte
Pacheco, Johnny - El Maestro
Roena, Roberto - Apollo Sound 5
Palmieri, Charlie - El Gigante Del Teclado
Tipica 73 - Charangueando Con La Tipica
Barretto, Ray - Acid
Cruz, Celia - Cuba Y Puerto Rico Son...
Miranda, Ismael - Asi Se Compone Un Son
Feliciano, Cheo - Cheo
Bataan, Joe - Riot
Ramirez, Louie - Ali Baba
Brothers, Lebron - Salsa Y Control
Santamaria, Mongo - Solrito
Cuba, Joe - Bang! Bang! Push, Push
Orquesta Inmensidad - La Salsa De Hoy

70s Salsa (was The Fania Label 1970-1980: S/D)

I haven't heard a lot of the albums that are included in this first batch of remasters, but of the ones I've heard, I think Cheo is great (but you have to be able to deal with some boleros). Cheo Feliciano is probably my favorite Latin singer all around, even though his best work is from the 60s through the early 80s. Siembra is obviously a must-have (and there's even a thread about it). I think I've probably heard everything on La Voz, even though I don't have that actual album, and it's more great material. Vamonos Pa'l Monte is very good, but I don't like it quite as much as other Palmieri material from around the same time. I don't like the Pacheco album, but I don't like his sound that much in general. El Malo doesn't excite me too much, more of a matter of historical interest, to me (Hector Lavoe's Fania debut with Willie Colon).

I'm very interested in hearing:

Sonora Poncena - Fuego En El 23 (One of my favorite bands, though this might be from before their sound took a more distinctive turn.)

La Lupe - Es La Reina

Valentin, Bobby - Rey Del Bajo (maybe, I will need to check the track listing)

Betancourt, Justo - Leguleya No (probably--I'm interested in hearing more of his singing in a big band setting, rather than the conjunto setting I've mostly heard so far)

Rivera, Ismael - Maelo (Possibly. I wonder what's on this)

Roena, Roberto - Apollo Sound 5 (probably want this--I've heard some of it, and although he's not very well known outside Latin music circles, he's pretty good, an amazing bongocero)

Palmieri, Charlie - El Gigante Del Teclado (I finally got to hear a bunch of his albums last year, and I think this would be worth checking out without previewing it first)

Brothers, Lebron - Salsa Y Control (title track is very good, although I like the live version from a couple years back better)

Are you a real person, or are you just an ILX regular under a different name taking pity on my lonely thread?

I have Joe Bataan and some traditional Colombian music too, cumbias etc. The CD I have is not spectacular though.

Other threads to check out:

Rolling Salsa Thread 2006
Rolling Salsa 2005 Thread
Salsa Thread 2004
Is anyone here listening to salsa? Other Latin music?

Surely that helps very little.

Santiago, Adalberto: Adalberto
Lavoe, Hector: De Ti Depende
Colon, Willie: Fantasmas
Cruz, Celia: Homenaje A Beny More
Barretto, Ray: Indestructible
Blades, Ruben: Maestra Vida Vol. 1
Colon, Santos: Siempre Santitos

Barnesandnoble.com has audio clips up for the first batch (that I listed upthread).

Protel Records
10544 NW 26th Street Suite 104, Miami FL 33172
305-599-2011 FAX 305-599-1086
Email: [email protected]

Incidentally, I am pretty sure "Pete Rodriguez" is not the same as Pete El Conde Rodriguez," though someone at cduniverse, or maybe even Emusica, seems to have confused them.

Cruz, Bobby: Aguzate
Santamaria, Mongo: Blackout
Colon, Willie: Canciones Del Solar De Los Aburridos
Lavoe, Hector: Comedia (1978)
Colon, Willie: El Juicio (This is a terrific album from start to finish, with Lavoe on vocals.)
Rivera, Ismael: Esto Fue Que Trajo El Barco
Fania All-Stars: Live At The Cheetah Vol.1
Blades, Ruben: Maestra Vida Vol. 2
Sonora Poncena: Musical Conquest
La Lupe: Reina De La Cancion Latina

That Justo Betancourt album I mentioned earlier sounds really good, based on some audio clips. I will probably start buying things again in May, after I've moved to a new apartment in April. (Ha, I will probably order a batch of CDs as soon as I get my computer hooked up in my new apartment.)

Also, it appears that they got more than just Fania, because the Lebron Brothers were on Cotique, La Lupe and Joe Cuba were on Tico, and I think Pete Rodriguez and Richie Rey were on Alegre. Very interesting and encouraging that they may have also gotten these archives. Fania is great, but a lot of the best 60s latin came out on smaller labels like Cotique, Speed, Kubaney, etc. I'd also like to see some of classic Decca records get reissued. Johnny Zamot and Manny Corchado come to mind right away. Bataan's Ghetto label also contained some incredible latin soul releases but I have no clue who holds the rights to those.

I certainly don't. I think that's just crazy. Most of the boogaloo stuff is mildly amusing and that's it. It doesn't have as deep a groove as the best salsa. This isn't just a matter of prejudging the genre. I don't hate boogaloo. I'm more than willing to give it a chance. I just don't usually end up liking it much.

Also, it appears that they got more than just Fania

They bought up everything Fania owned the rights to. Fania bought out a lot of other labels a long time ago (starting in the 70s, I think).

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/a...Profile78?;;51

Remastering recordings by the masters of salsa

ED MORALES

April 2, 2006

This spring is a special one for fans of the golden age of salsa. The classic recordings made by the Fania record label are being re-released by Emusica, a company based in Miami. The label, founded in the '60s by the late Jerry Masucci, not only produced most of the all-time great salsa albums, but during its dominant reign it acquired rival labels such as Tico and Alegre. In mid-March, Emusica released the first 30 - out of a catalog of 1,300 - albums in this project.

The new releases went under an arduous remastering process after the discovery of multitrack tapes in a facility in upstate New York, improving on the previous versions

of Fania CD reissues. They include many

of the seminal albums by key Faina artists Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Héctor Lavoe, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco and Larry Harlow.

The albums all came with reproductions

of the original covers, photos from Izzy

Sanabria's old Latin NY magazine, and liner notes in English and Spanish by musicians

such as Bobby Sanabria and scholars such as Juan Flores.

The albums chosen for this batch of

releases reflect Emusica's knowledgeable

handling of the material they acquired.

While many of the albums, such as Blades' and Colón's "Siembra," Cruz and Puente's "Cuba y Puerto Rico Son," Barretto's "Acid" and Lavoe's "La Voz," are obvious essentials, there are many more obscure treasures.

Charlie Palmieri's "El Gigante del Teclado," originally an Alegre release, is an often forgotten jewel. So are La Sonora Ponceña's "Fuego en el 23" (originally released on Inca), Típica '73's "Charangueando" and Ismael Rivera's "Maelo."

Although Fania is famous for being the

codifier of salsa, some of these releases

feature related genres like bugaloo (Pete

Rodriguez's "I Like It Like That," Joe Cuba's "Bang! Bang! Push, Push, Push" and Joe Bataan's eclectic "Riot!" whose amazing cover reminds us of the politics of the era), Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz's "pop-salsa" ("El Sonido de la Bestia") and La Lupe's astonishing "Es la Reina/The Queen," boleros recorded with orchestral strings and brass. Mongo Santamaría's "Sofrito" is best described as mellow Latin jazz.

Most of the music here is boosted by the magic of studio remastering (although Orchestra Inmensidad's "La Salsa de Hoy" sounds slightly tinny) and will sound like a revelation in your car stereo or portable music player. But nothing beats the thrill of rediscovering how tight Larry Harlow's band was (check out Sal Cuevas' funky bass playing), how powerful Ismael Rivera's spell was, and what a delight a song like Charlie Palmieri's "El Pan Sobao" was. These records allow you feel the sights, sounds and smells of Latin New York in the '70s, and that is priceless.

http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-fflatin4680785apr02,0,19723.story?coll=ny-features-print

Sonora Poncena: Determination
Rodriguez, Pete: Este Negro Si Es Sabroso (2006)
Fania All-Stars: Live At Red Garter Vol. 1
Fania All-Stars: Live At The Red Garter V.2
Barretto, Ray: Rican/Struction
Colon, Willie: Corazon Guerrero
Colon, Willie: Crime Pays
Fania All-Stars: Live At The Cheetah Vol.1
Lavoe, Hector: Recordando A Felipe Pirela
Colon, Willie: Solo

Damn, I just bought "Este Negro Si Es Sabroso" at the beginning of the year. Determination is the first Sonora Poncena remaster they've done from the period in that band's career that most interests me. (I think Crime Pays is a compilation of collaborations with Lavoe, but I can't remember.)

The legendary La Lupe deserves her own thread!

Fania staff artist Izzy Sanabria created many of the groundbreaking Fania covers. For this album, he plays on the translation of salsa as a food condiment.

Salsa doesn't come in boxes, however. Although sugar comes in a box that looks a lot like that (hey isn't "azuquita" just the Spanish word for sugar made into a diminutive?).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060200342_pf.html

This is about right, although it makes the situation sound worse than it was. Actually, most of this stuff has made it onto CD at some point, and a fair number of those earlier CD reissues were had okay audio quality (although a lot of them didn't as I've said myself). But I've had no problem getting CDs by Willie Colon, Ruben Blades, Hector Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, Larry Harlow, etc. It's not like they were that lost to time.

Like nearly all Fania albums, "Siembra" was recorded in a Manhattan studio. Your local record store will probably shelve these CD's in the world music section with all the other non-Anglophone stuff, but salsa is homegrown American music, as much a part of the indigenous musical landscape as jazz or rock or hip-hop.

I'm glad Jody Rosen got this assignment.

But still, mostly a good article, and it's nice that the writer turns to some specific recordings. (Also, he starts the article by mentioning one of my favorite albums, so points for that.)

(Why is there an accent over the "e" in "Lavoe"? I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it that way except one Cuban music historian, and I don't think I've ever seen it written that way.)

I just bought Michael Stuart, plus Fania Palmieri and Colon releases tonight.

http://phillysalsa.tripod.com/cdreviewrewind.htm#March_2006

I wouldn't necessarily trust David Ortiz's opinions on everything although he certainly knows more about salsa than I ever will. Anyway, his opinions seem pretty independent. This is quite interesting: "Bobby [Valentin] knew by leaving Fania that he was taking a big risk, but he also knew that Fania had its’ favorites and the bands from Puerto Rico weren’t among them. Other PR bands felt the same and left the label during the late 70’s. . ."

http://www.7digital.com/stores/listing.aspx?shop=385

Willie Colon: Asalto Navideno
Willie Colon: Asalto Navideno 2
Fania All-Stars: Fania All Stars Live At Yankee Stadium 2
Cheo Feliciano: Felicidades
Hector Lavoe: Feliz Navidad
Ismael Rivera: Feliz Navidad
Tipica 73: Into The 80's
Tito Rodriguez: Mambo Madness
Justo Betancourt: Pa Bravo Yo
Bobby Y La Compania Rodriguez: Salsa At Woodstock Recorded
La Lupe: They Call Me La Lupe
Tito Allen: Untouchable

Mongo Santamaria: Afro-Indio
Joe Bataan: Saint Latins Day Masacre
Tito Puente: Tito Puente And His Concert Orchestra
Orchestra Harlow: Harlow Live In Quad (A good pick for those interested in Larry Harlow.)
Fania All-Stars: Live At Yankee Stadium 1
Hector Lavoe: Strikes Back (Very good late career material, with a brooding undercurrent.)
Eddie Palmieri: Superimposition (I haven't heard this, but will probably get it soon.)
Willie Colon: Top Secrets
Adalberto Sanitago: Adalberto
Willie Rosario: El Bravo De Siempre
Orchestra Harlow: El Judio Maravilloso
Ricardo Ray: Jala Jala Y Boogaloo
Johnny Pacheco: Los Amigos
Tommy Olivencia: Plante Bandera
Ray Barretto: Rhythm Of Life
Tito Puente: The King
Various Artists: Que Viva La Salsa (This is probably a new compilation of old material, but I'm not sure.)

Emusica sells Fania:

NEWSFLASH...
Descarga.com has received confirmation that the venerable salsa label, FANIA, has just been SOLD. Emusica, who had purchased Fania in 2005, has sold it's assets to Signal-Equity, the very same group that recently purchased West Side/Seeco. I recently spoke with a representative of Signal and, although few details were offered, I can say that they seem very respectful of the catalog and appear to be committed to doing the right thing with this historically significant material. Look for more formal announcements and release plans later this summer/early fall. And while the 400+ existing Emusica/Fania titles are still currently available, experience tells me that there might be scarcity of product until a re-reissue plan takes effect. Distribution channels are still, as of yet, unknown. We will do our best to keep you posted as more details about the Fania turnover unfold. In the meantime, you might consider stocking up on titles you are missing...
FANIA

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db

I hope this doesn't adversely affect the ongoing remastering/reissuing process.

Kinda surprised by this news, as Emusica just sent me a bunch of promos.

Well hang on to them, they are now collector's items.

New e-mail/sales pitch from descarga.com re Fania

THE CLOCK IS TICKING...
Current Fania Stock to Phase Out
As you probably have heard, the classic salsa label Fania has recently changed ownership. The existing 400+ Emusica/Fania titles are now phasing out and will not be available until - if and when - the new label, Codigo, begins to reissue them. Some titles are already gone. Consider this an advance warning: many of these titles might be very hard to get for some time. Place order as soon as possible to insure best possible fill.

Fania/Codigo is starting to put out more reissues. I'm somewhat puzzled by their choices. Is Siembra really that hard to come by these days? Maybe it is. If they want to go ahead and reissue all the stuff Emusica recently reissued, that would be fine with me, actually, as I didn't buy much of what I wanted from those waves of reissues, and now they are difficult to find at a reasonable price. (It seems that dealers snapped them up with the idea of re-selling them for a nice profit.)

Very interested in this Kako album, particularly because I'd like to hear more of Azuquita's singing from this era: http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/23988.10?x6toY6mU;;397

Don't know exactly what kind of brujeria they are up to over there.

I need this for sure.

I just ordered that, along with a few other CDs. Judging by the audio samples I heard, the accompaniment is a bit different from what I'm used to hearing, so I'm particularly interested in hearing it. It sounds like it's got more of a jazz/early rock sort of sound to it.

There's a track from the Kako reissue here:

http://soul-sides.com/2010/05/kako-live-it-up-giveaway.html

It looks like new remastering just isn't being done. They are recycling previously remastered/reissued material, while lots of other titles languish and wait to be remastered.

not only that but someone somewhere has been clearing out the old emusic stock.

back in the jan sales i started by picking up our latin thing vol 3 set and have now ended up quite a few of the remastered reissues from the emusica days as i like the way they did them (original covers + decent liner notes + good remastering) .

vamonos pa'l monte - eddie palmieri
la voz - hector lavoe
wanted dead of alive - the joe cuba sextet
leguleya no - justo betancourt
es la reina - la lupe
ali baaba - louie ramirez
acid - ray barretto
el sondido de la bestia - ricardo ray
bohemio y poeta - ruben blades

glorious stuff.

basically i have come to realise that any of the emusica reissues should be purchased upon sight ..

Is there a good Fania/70s Salsa history to be had? Would love something akin to Shapiro's Turn the Beat Around or Love Saves the Day.

Wish there was but not that I know of.

These are the only two I could find on Amazon, neither looks particularly promising:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Salsa-Chronicle-Translation/dp/0807858595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333404094&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Salsa-Spoken-History-Music/dp/1588340805/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Faces of Salsa is a good book, but it's not what you're looking for, no. I'm not aware of anything quite like what you want. It remains an under-documented genre. (Where is the really in-depth salsa record guide, for instance?)

There is some mention of that scene here: Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever by Will Hermes

Love Goes... looks pretty great. Admirable in scope, Fania anecdotes should be gravy.

Ended up picking up a handful of emusica reissues after work today thanks to this thread. Record Mart in the Times Square subway has some choice selections and great staff.

Cool. Did The Meetles happen to be busking nearby as you left the store?

No Meetles, just school groups.

Wish I was around for the original Record Mart.

I guess I was around, but it didn't want to know from Latin music back then. Not quite, actually, I think I went in and bought a few Soda Stereo CDs at some point. The past is a foreign country, etc.

Faces of Salsa has some nice chapter length bios on certain artists, but as Rudiph says, it's not the Fania/70s salsa story

Again not exactly what you are looking for, but I recommend the memoir of the late Irv Greenbaum, In One Ear, And In The Other. He was the engineer on a lot of Fania dates and many other recordings as well, so you get anecdotes involving Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Boris Karloff and James Brown. Be forewarned that it is basically self-published so you will see some mistakes whited out, although I think the misspelling "Myles Davis" is allowed to stand.
http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/20553.50

Some great leads. Thanks!

Will report back after digging in to some of these.

As long as we are recommending things that aren't really what you want, the introduction of Lise Waxer's City of Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves, and Popular Culture in Cali, Colombia says some sensible things about salsa qua salsa in relation to Afro-Cuban music, etc. I also like her brief breakdown of informal "schools" within Fania era salsa.

http://books.google.com/books?id=O0OBl7LLaJUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Wow, that sounds good!

When are they (whoever they are at this point) going to reissue things that need to be reissued, rather than putting out more fucking compilations.

On air this week is “Fania at 50,” our encore of last year’s Afropop Worldwide program brimming with stories, interviews and music from the prolific, taste-making salsa label out of New York, founded in 1964. If you have any feel for Latin music, you’re going to love this. Produced by Morgan Greenstreet.

afropopworldwide

I hope they make a point of playing material that has gone back out of print (or never made it into print with the recent reissues).