Hoe het komt weet ik niet maar op de een of andere manier
heb ik een zwak voor de zang van oudere mannetjes. Dit is zo’n
geval. Hij zingt op een wat monotone manier en toch luister ik er
heel graag naar. Juancho Polo Valencia leefde van 1918 tot 1978
en liet een mooie stapel platen achter waarvan we er reeds zo’n
vier hadden. Meer van zijn werk wacht op plaatsing alhier.
Van deze is geen jaartal bekend, op Discos Fuentes..

I don’t know how and why but somehow I have a certain weekness
for the voices of older men. This is such a case. He sang in a kind of
monotonous way but I really like listening to him. Juancho Polo
Valencia lived from 1918 till 1978 and left us quite some records
of which we have seen four so far. More of his work is waiting to
get posted one fine day. No year of release on this one, on
the great Discos Fuentes..

tracks ;

01 – Por aqui por alla
02 – El carruaje
03 – El pajaro de la serrania
04 – Carmen
05 – Pablito romero
06 – La tonada
07 – Problemas de frontera
08 – La prima
09 – Alicia
10 – Estela

Have you ever fallen in love with a voice without knowing who it
belongs to ? That is what I have with the lady that sings on this here
record. When in 1993 the cd Cumbia Cumbia 2 was released I got
completely captured by track two. It is called ‘Soledad’ and was
played by ‘Combo Los Galleros’. Today I think I discovered who
was singing. I strongly suspect Lucy Gonzalez who does vocals
on this elpee. I’ll add Soledad so you can shine your light on it
and compare. What a great voice she has, I’m sold..

Ben je weleens verliefd geworden op een stem waarvan
je niet zeker weet wie het is ? Dat heb ik met de zangeres
op deze plaat. Toen in 1993 de cd Cumbia Cumbia 2 uitkwam
was ik op slag tot over m’n oren van track twee. Het heet ‘Soledad’
en werd vertolkt door ‘Combo Los galleros’. Vandaag denk ik haar
gevonden te hebben in de persoon van Lucy Gonzalez die de lead
vokalen op deze schijf voor haar rekening neemt. Ik voeg Soledad
er aan toe, dan kun jij er ook eens naar luisteren ter vergelijk.
Wat een heerlijke stem heeft dat mens..ik ben om..

tracks ;

01 – La ruana engolilla
02 – Luna playera
03 – La aventurera
04 – Cienaga de oro
05 – El carnaval
06 – Maquencal
07 – Carnaval en valledupar
08 – Las vueltas de pello
09 – Maria estela
10 – La negra ines
11 – La del tatuaje
12 – Jose dolores

We kennen de grote Ramito, jibaro uit Puerto Rico en hadden reeds
vele van zijn albums. Dit keer eentje van zijn broer Luis Morales Ramos.
Hij speelt hier met de koning op Cuatro Maso Rivera en el Conjunto
Cuerdas del Plata op Boricua Records. Leuke verrassing voor de liefhebbers
en minder bekend. Ramito heeft nog een broer, Juan Maria, die zanger was.
We hopen ook van hem eens een plaatje te vinden. Luister snel naar luisito..

We all know Ramito, jibaro from Puerto Rico, and had a bunch of his albums.
This time a record by his brother Luis Morales Ramos. He appears with the king
on cuatro, Maso Rivera and el Conjunto Cuerdas del Plata on Boricua Records.
A nice surprise for lovers of the genre and lesser known. Ramito has another
brother, Juan Maria, who was also a singer. We hope to find one of his records
some day as well. For now listen to Luisito..

tracks ;

01 – Por el nacimiento
02 – Despidiendo el año
03 – La ancianita
04 – Gobernador por un rato
05 – Todas son buenas
06 – En un beso la vida
07 – Feliz año nuevo
08 – Confusion
09 – Tu castigo
10 – El hombre macho no llora
11 – Rendido de amor
12 – En casa de tio fello

Efrain Gonzalez was hier al eerder maar na het beluisteren van
beide platen slaat de twijfel toe. Is dit wel dezelfde Efrain Gonzalez ?
Zoveel zullen er niet met deze aparte naam rondlopen maar de sound
is zo anders op dit album dan op het vorige.. Hoe dan ook, hier is de
Cubaanse tres het instrument van zijn keuze en hij brengt er een scala
aan stijlen mee, het beluisteren meer dan waard..

Efrain Gonzalez was here before. However, after hearing both albums
one doubts if this is the same Efrain Gonzalez. There can’t be that many
guys with the same name, would you think ? The sound of this album is
so different from the previous.. One way or the other, on this record
Efrain plays the Cuban tres and brings us a choice of styles,
at least worth a couple of spins..

titels

01 – Desolacion
02 – Que buenas son las costeñas
03 – La cumbia cafetera
04 – Las hermanitas
05 – la figura del sapo
06 – La orgullosa
07 – Mi guajira colombiana
08 – Y no volvere
09 – Hombre negro
10 – Te necesito
11 – Oye caraqueña

El Acordeon del Diablo.
A couple of years ago I discovered this little film at Youtube.
The story of Francisco ‘Pacho’ Rada made an unforgettable
impression and ever since I’ve been trying to find his music.
Shortly my buddy Sanjay came back from Colombia and
brought back this album which pleased me enormously.
The story starts with this rumour, a German ship full of
acordeons was told to be wrecked at the Colombian coast.
It is said that this is how the acordeon landed up at the
atlantic coast of Colombia where earlier they had only
made music using strings, rhythm and flute or gaita.
I was struck by the passage in which the old Pacho Rada
tells about his poverty despite all the songs he wrote.
Songs that made guys like Alfredo Gutierrez very rich,
Alfredo’s face speaks for itself when listening to the
poor old man. Hope you can follow a little Spanish,
enjoy watching and listening..to Francisco el hombre.
By the way, it is still unclear to me if there’s a link
between the old Pacho Rada and Pachito Rada Ortiz.
Check https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_el_Hombre
There is a lot of discussion going on about the true story,
one believes it, the other doesn’t, see for yourself..

Francisco „Pacho“ Rada Bautista * 11 Mai 1907 in
Las Mulas Magdalena , † 17 July 2003 in Santa Marta.
He was told to be the originator of
the ‘Vallenato’ we know today..

tracks;

01 – Sipote luto
02 – Sinforoso
03 – La licorera
04 – Boveda blanca
05 – La ñatica
06 – El colombianito
07 – Las tres hermanas
08 – Al leon de granada
09 – Pablo hernandez
10 – El criminal

tracks;

01 – Annbal Velasquez y su conjunto – Dominique
02 – La sonora Cienaguera – La piojosa
03 – Nelson Diaz y le combo de Duque Palomino – Que me coma el tigre
04 – Los corraleros de Majagual – El dentista
05 – Pianonegro – La Lancha
06 – Lisandro Meza y su conjunto – El guayacan
07 – Calixto Ochoa y su conjunto – La ombligona
08 – J. Nuncira y su orquesta – Juan de Acosta
09 – Pedro Laza y sus pelayeros – El bure
10 – Pedro Laza y sus Pelayeros – La Pringamoza
11 – Conjunto Variedades – El baile de la pluma
12 – Rufo Garrido y su orquesta – Entre chanza y chanza
13 – Horacio y Edmundo Rojas – La Maya
14 – La sonora Cordobesa – La mafafa
15 – La sonora dinamita – Si me perdio la cadenita
16 – La sonora Cordobesa – Roberto Ruiz
17 – Ariza y su conjunto – Sabanalarga
18 – Los Lideres – La mula baya

Always a thrill to find records on the Machuca label, and when
it concerns work by Manuel Caraballo it’s extra nice. Today these
two lucky events fall together nicely with this 1975 album. Lovers
of vallenato will understand my enthousiasm and download this
record straight away. Twelve songs covering styles like merengue
( the Colombian one ), son, paseo, parranda, pasebol & paseaíto.

tracks;

01 – Mujer traidora
02 – Miseria cruel
03 – Sombra corrompida
04 – Despecho
05 – El lambon
06 – La ley del guajiro
07 – Honores al almirante padilla
08 – Prestame a tu mujer
09 – El profanador
10 – Quiero a mi tierra
11 – Paloma mala
12 – Valledupar tiene grandeza

Parranderos were travelling musicians, taking their instruments
under the arm and going ’round from bar to bar to play their songs
for the public and earn a few bucks this way. The lp we have for you
today is one by Efrain Gonzalez y sus Muchachos, it is his first
appearance here at the GG but it’s a good one. Singers are Esteban
Salas, Agustin Polo and Buitraguito.( we’ve seen him before ) On
the obscure ‘Bambuco’ label, as usual they forgot to put a
year of release on the label or backsleeve, if
anyone should know, can you tell us ?
Meantime, just get it, play it and
tell your friends about it..

tracks;

1 El burrito
2 La camisa por fuera
3 Vana espera
4 La puerca
5 La burrita de ño manue
6 Marquesa
7 La pata pela
8 Ron y cerveza
9 Las golondrinas sincelejanas
10 Solo tu negro
11 El guayabo
12 El cuento

Today’s contribution concerns an album by Guillermo de Jesus Buitrago.
He turned into a historic figure in Colombian ‘parranda’, living from 1920
to 1949 his music is still being played by many. When I first discovered
his work, I guess it must have been in 2003 or 4, it hit me instantly. It
was after I wrote to Discos Fuentes to ask them where to find their cd’s
somewhere here in the Netherlands. They wrote back to me that there
was just one little record shop in Amsterdam that had bought a bunch
in the past. I hurried to the city and found quite some Fuentes stuff there.
It was on the same visit that I found this cd. I didn’t know it yet and on the
way home in my car when I played it first time, I remember it like yesterday.
It struck me like lightning, I wept tears of happiness that day. Since then
I have been searching for his albums and finally found two. Sanjay is the man
that brought them from Cartagena, thank you so much buddy. Discos Fuentes
later sent me the magazine they made about Guillermo Buitrago, you may
find pictures in the file. Big shame Buitrago died at 29 years of age,
he would have made far more fantastic records if he had lived longer.
If you understand Spanish take a look at the video I found about
the last guitar of this historic musician. By the way, if you
think the music sounds a bit dusty, no wonder,
it’s from before 1949..

tracks;

1 Regalito de navidad
2 Palomita mensajera
3 Yo no monto en avion
4 El amor es un collar
5 Las sabanas
6 Luis eduardo
7 Rosa valencia
8 La peste
9 Pacho y abraham
10 Los enanos
11 El brujo de arjona
12 Moralito

Albums like this are hard to find over here
in the Netherlands ? We are so lucky to have the
guys in our network that bring home these rare lp’s from
Colombia. Rufo Garrido and José Pianeta Pitalua are the
guys that lead this Orquesta. It remains a mystery why
Colombians keep using these B-models at the sleeves
of wonderful albums like this one.
I found some footage to help you get an other
impression, watch & listen..

tracks;

1 El colombo americano
2 Agárrate
3 Muchacho galán
4 Dos ma
5 Gózalo mi amor
6 Timba y tambó
7 Yo no quiero perra
8 Catana
9 Brincando el carro
10 Que toque rufo