Various Artists: Saoco! (Vampi Soul/Southbound)

 |   |  <1 min read

Odilio Gonzalez: Sacude Zapato Viejo
Various Artists: Saoco! (Vampi Soul/Southbound)

Subtitled “The bomba and plena explosion in Puerto Rico 1954-66”, this double disc ensures your library of bomba and plena just got a shelf-filler.

For most of us, myself included, this was not an explosion heard round the world but the excellent liner notes – with terrific reproductions of album covers and band shots – fill in the technical details while neatly introducing such legendary figures as singer Ismael Rivera (“in my house [he] was what Elvis Presley was for the gringos”, says rapper Tego Calderon) and percussion player Rafael Cortijo who kickstarted orchestrated bomba and plena styles.

The excellent archive label Vampi Soul – which brought you collections of Nigerian High Life, Cumbia and pre-revolution pop from Iran – offer a lot of upbeat rhythms (30 songs) and rapid Spanish and doubtless to much for uneducated gringo ears.

But once more it is sombreros off to Vampi Soul for another fine archive which sounds vital and alive.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   World Music from Elsewhere articles index

WOMAD TARANAKI 2014: THE ARTISTS' LINE-UP

WOMAD TARANAKI 2014: THE ARTISTS' LINE-UP

As those who have followed Elsewhere would know, we here have long been interested in -- and have written extensively about -- "world music", long before many others. In fact, a quick... > Read more

Various Artists: Soul Sok Sega (Strut/Southbound)

Various Artists: Soul Sok Sega (Strut/Southbound)

A couple of weeks ago we pulled a track from this thoroughly enjoyable (and not a little confusing) compilation to post at From the Vaults.  But this double vinyl (with a CD disc and... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Nicole Thomas and Paula Yeoman of NicNak Media

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE MANAGER QUESTIONNAIRE: Nicole Thomas and Paula Yeoman of NicNak Media

NicNak Media was founded in 2015 by Nicole Thomas and in 2016 Paula Yeoman joined her as a co-director. Between them they have considerable media and music experience: Thomas 20 years in the... > Read more

THE PENINSULA, HONG KONG: A building through space and time

THE PENINSULA, HONG KONG: A building through space and time

Only a fool would try to suggest that a single building – in this instance, worse, a luxurious hotel – could refract the story of city. But let's be foolish, because the history of... > Read more