Hector Lavoe (sp?) is a salsa GOD!

What about me?

that man was a human trumpet, with a criminal tinge. an amazing artist. he was fucking sublime

Mete la mano en el bolsillo
Saca y abre tu cuchillo y ten cuidao
Pónganme oído en este barrio
Muchos guapos lo han matao
Calle Luna, calle sol.
Oiga señor si usted quiere su vida
Evitar es mejor o la tienes perdida
Mire señora agarre bien su cartera
No conoce este barrio aquí asaltan a cualquiera
En los barrios de guapos no se vive tranquilo
Mide bien tus palabras o no vales ni un kilo.
Camina pa'lante no mires para el'lao

OR


Aquel que abuela tiene
Oye mi voz que retumba
Y si muerta tu la tienes
Vete, llorale y rezale a la tumba
(Canción para mí abuelita)
Abuelita tus refranes me hacian reír
Ay! Abuelita de mí vida
Como yo te quiero a ti
Abuelita! Abuelita!
Por mi madre! Por mi madre!
Que tu eres la mujer más bonita
Abuelita tus refranes me hacian reír
Agua que por la rivera mira que bonita va
Así es el pelo de Abuela
Blanquito y Bonito de verdad
¡Abuelita!


he was like the abraxas from steppenwolf no hesse’s demian

he covered the whole range

the way he sang these lyrics was something else. fuck!

ETA

of course EL CANTANTE was where he ascended

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BNo0vkEYWRc

this here is the key of keys”

Me paran, siempre en la calle
Mucha gente que comenta
"Oye Hector! tu estas hecho,
Siempre con hembras y en fiestas!"

Y nadie pregunta
Si sufro si lloro
Si tengo una pena
Que hiere muy hondo

Yo soy el cantante
y mi negocio es cantar
a los que me siguen
mi cancion vine a brindar

that’s just— when you hear it it’s something else, or you’re dead inside
plus for literary types it has hints of lope de vega

spent half the morning listening to a bunch of different versions of this brilliant thing

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i7B2v3jnH5w

La calle es una selva de cemento
Y de fieras salvajes cómo no
Ya no hay quien salga loco de contento
Donde quiera te espera te espera lo peor
Donde te quiera tes espera lo peor
Juanito Alimaña con mucha maña
Llega al mostrador
Saca su cuchillo sin preocupación
Dice que le entreguen la registradora
Saca las billetes saca un pistolón, pum
Sale como el viento
En su disparada
Y aunque ya lo vieron
Nadie ha visto nada
Juanito Alimaña va'la fechoría
Se toma su caña
Fabrica su orgía.
La gente le teme
Por que es de cuidado
Pa' meterle mano
Hay que ser un bravo
Si lo meten preso
Sale al otro día
Porque un primo suyo
Está en la policía.
Juanito Alimaña
Si tiene maña es malicia viva
Y siempre se alinea
Con el que está arriba
Y aunque a medio mundo
Le robó su plata
Todos lo comentan
Nadie lo delata
Y aunque a medio mundo
Le llevó la plata
Todos lo comentan
Nadie lo delata
A la la ley ley ley ley
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive Juanito Alimana
Cuando el era muchachito
Las cositas te pedía
Y si tu no se la daba la mangaba
Como quiera la cogia
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive juanito alimana
Ese, ese tumbao lo quiere
Si lo ve mal cuesto,
Anda cuida tu cartera,
Ese si que sabe eso
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive Juanito Alimana
Si, el otro día le encontré
Y Guillermo el me decía
Tumba kilo que tu quieras
Por mi primo es policía
Oye, con que ya ve el diablo
Se tira su disparada
Y aunque la gente lo vieron
No lo ratean porque nadie ha visto nada
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive Juanito Alimana
El rey de la fechoría
Ayer me dijo facundo
Todo el mundo lo conoce
Oye ven al bajo mundo
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive Juanito Alimana
Mira mira le da mano
And ella no tiene un callito
Ese nunca ha trabajado
Y siempre anda bien bonito
En su mundo
Mujeres, fumada, y cana
Atracando vive Juanito Alimana

^

On CD? Not LP? Why do you hate music so much?

complexo de vira-lata, as the brazilians call it

anyway, back to the music



this is the transition between cuban danzón and the modern mambo. unlike the excitement of pérez prado, this is slower and mellow, with flute (arcaño was a flutist). the legendary cachao came up through arcaño’s orchestra. pérez prado later heard this, added his sound, and shook the world.

the danzón started as XIX century european music that got progressively africanized and you can hear some of that here

I've actually been meaning to get this for a while now.

JPEGMafia :cool:

i checked that on soundcloud yesterday but didnt have the environment for it. will give it a try again today.


meanwhile, listend to this today during my morning hike



compilation of old cuban music. some hilarious guarachas there, if you speak the language. a satanic mambo! (way way before metal). and some insane congas with an old-timey percussion that will shake your calzoncillos :D (oh, one is about baseball, and starts with that baseball song, then becomes about sex, ha ha ha)

been getting a lot of 90s flashbacks from this

Ohhh, I see, you're trolling... How ingenious. Yeah, no, we have plenty of that already, so

Haha.

this weekend on the highway i had an itch i needed to scratch and played a couple of times this gringo-friendly compilation of os mutantes which was the first thing that popped in my player when i requested the band.



now the thing won’t leave my head.

it’s funny to revisit this old hipster darling from a latin american perspective because i really wonder how it sounds to those who might view these sounds as “exotic” rather than familiar. and sure the back cover mentions john cage and the beatles, but i find a lot more santana in them than some people would like to admit is there.

and also it’s a *very funny* album. do you guys get that it’s hilarious or is it just, you know, “interesting”?

The only one I'm familiar with is their eponymous debut.

"Panis et Circenses" is one of my favorite songs by anyone. The song breaks down so they can enjoy a cup of tea. What's not to like?

I don't understand a single lyric, but the album makes me smile.

funny story, that’s not their song, they just played it in the tropicália album. caetano veloso and gilberto gil wrote it.

but of course the way they play it is fucking mental. very beatlesque for sure, and by that i mean, full of baroque harmonies and trumpets, lol.

the lyrics are a sort of surrealist thing about how this person wants these fantastics thing but the people in the dining room are just worried with being born and dying. which was a dig at the brazilian bourgeoisie of their time, living under a military dictatorship.

by hilarious i didn’t mean just the lyrics though, but there are plenty of musical jokes. i mean you can hear it as “avant garde serious business” or you can hear it as a bunch of kids on lsd having a good time. i mean from the ridiculous opening march tune in panis et circenses it’s like the monty python credits.

their musical juxtapositions aren’t just good-sounding, they’re also mocking all manner of musical fundamentalists and intolerant ideologists of their time. for maximum lols i like “el justiciero”. ha ha ha ha. which is a parody of leftist interpretations of popular suffering, cast in a musical mish-mash. kinda like “el zorro”. but yeah, the lyrics are important in that one.

but from their first album, not to be a contrarian (eh, who am i kidding, im a fucking contrarian), i enjoy bat-macumba the most— that’s also a gilberto gil song and the lyrics are a joke/pun with african religions and severian’s favorite superhero batman. not the modern serious heavy as fuck batman but the colorful campy one from the 60s which was probably seen in black and white in the souths.



but yeah. it’s all in joyous good fun. plus that scratchy guitar like some sort of electic boogaloo (the 60s music not the 80s movie). check out the 2 songwriters i mentioned if you’re curious. veloso & gil.

the genius of os mutantes i guess was to play other people’s songs while under the influence and tear them to ribbons while keeping the melodic core intact. which is great. (see also: “baby” in that record)

Highway 61 Revisited

ooh, good way to start the morning

—

and it was great yeah. but i still like the rolling stones cover of like a rolling stone the best. yes, i have very vulgar tastes. im actually listening to a bunch of covers of that right now. hendrix, etc. great great fucking song.