Quick, before you totally tune out… Let me say that this posting is not really about Marc Anthony or his extra-famous, extra-wide booty missus. Certainly they enter the story as tangential characters (and comic relief…), but this is a tale worth reading, so give me a second and I will get to the point. Héctor Lavoe..? Never heard of him? Don’t be dismayed. Most people probably don’t know the name either. Lavoe’s the subject of the biopic starring the rico suavé Marc Anthony (we hear Marc’s just fabulous) produced and partially bankrolled by Anthony’s co-starring über-celeb wife. Now here’s where our story starts to get interesting… While your humble blogster had no idea about Héctor Lavoe (he must be huge in the Latin world, we assume), Lavoe’s Fania Records labelmates Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Rubén Blades, and Celia Cruz are certainly known quantities and some might even have respected places in your music collection as they do in mine. So begins our quest of discovery (yes, there is an epic dimension to this tale, I assure you). A journey, not to know more about Lavoe but to find out about Fania Records itself and how its musicians invented new styles of Latin music: salsa, boogalu, and Afro-Cuban jazz.

The Fania story reads like the classic American indie label tale of the last century. Founded in the early sixties by a musician (bandleader Johnny Pacheco) as an outlet for his own records and a lawyer (Jerry Masucci), it has all the earmarks of the romantic, rags-to-riches indie story: Selling vinyl out of the trunks of cars on the Spanish Harlem streets, signing up young innovative artists, creating new sounds and eventually having hit records.

Larry Harlow’s 1965 Heavy Smoking was the second album released on the Fania label. The record’s modern take on traditional Afro-Caribbean music served as the template for what soon would come to be known as the Fania Sound.

Encouraged by the public’s positive reaction to the groundbreaking rhythms offered on Heavy Smoking and inspired by the creative spirit of the late 60’s, Fania musicians began to mix together the popular sounds of the day with traditional Caribbean compositions. This brand new musical sauce would soon be categorized as salsa music.

Fast forward a few years to the seventies and several new names and musical styles come to the forefront: Joe Cuba, Joe Bataan, The Fania All-Stars, Ismael Rivera, Latin soul, bomba, boogalu… And did we mention the cool ’70s album art?

Intrigued? Download Héctor Lavoe - Mi Gente

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