Indian Actries Bopobs

The farce of the Fania All Stars at Yankee Stadium

begin with the incontrovertible fact, as would the lawyers and people in need of faith:

Jerry Masucci came up a day that would be nice to make a kind of homage to the fabulous concert Cheetah 26 August 1971 reissuing a meeting of the Fania All Stars (or Fania All Stars, because they are both ways) in a place that had an almost mythological for New York: Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Ta loco

they whispered.

But he did. On August 24, 1973 managed to put more than 40,000 people in the arena of Babe Ruth, with a great show promised a before and after. The roster consisted of nothing more and nothing less than a Typical 73, Mongo Santamaria, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and as close magnificent, the Fania All Stars, in salsastar fucking big plan, and I serve it with everything. Orate

, told.

Johnny Pacheco recalled in an interview that fewer words words, half went all shitty because basically they were not sure that people were going to go. Jerry had invested in the epic $ 70,000 at the time (other versions say that the madness was 280,000), of which only fifty thousand had been intended to rent the stadium for that day.

Fania All Stars San Juan de Puerto Rico, not at Yankee Stadium. Eye. (Code Music)

And there, like good movies, certain conditions must be respected to the letter:

The concert would be in half of the regular baseball season, so the field could not be used only to place a huge stage between first and third bases, and the public to Sandungue in the stands. Desperation one in the field of play, but was on the mound, and sit, suspended the show and pay a fortune to the clause contract.

They said okay.

I could get-if anyone does, I pass them, porfa, Typical recordings of the Gran Combo and I have seen something that they played a terrific documentary that was Leon Gast about the subject and which I do not talk. disc Mongo, at least, is phenomenal.
was the perfect appetizer for what came next.

's when Fania All-Stars reach the stage that there are two stories running parallel, because they share the essence but have differences in size, which is necessary to qualify. Let's see, César Miguel Rondón, in his Book of the sauce, which create an infallible says, ensures that the FAS could barely touch Congo bongo, a discharge with elephantiasis written by Larry Harlow, who had as a main course with a conversation between Ray Barretto on congas and Santamaria.

Watch the video , which is exciting but is poorly edited, and understand what I speak. It's a frenzy.

The other side of the story says that before Congo bongos, the orchestra played several songs, including a set of typical music, and that when they started the second half, with elements of soul and rock, everything collapsed within me inside me ...

I have not even seen any videos of those early songs. If someone has, you know.

describe: a half of Congo bongo people, those bastards more than 40,000, said the stands were really cool, but now they wanted to take a stand next to the stage that was beyond the home .

and turned to the field.

The result is that you're thinking: the police arrived on the scene, fell rolazos as rice, the show suddenly stopped, put the musicians in a safe, stole up to the microphone and ended up paying Masucci $ 35,000 penalty.

In all this madness we must applaud the attitude of Pacheco: see the minute 7, when Alex Masucci, capitoste brother, Johnny yells desperately to send to stop the affair, the crowd is behind outside yes, as if it were a demonstration, while on stage nervousness ensues. Initially Pacheco is unfazed, but such is the insistence of the other decides to end the song. That's right: with coda and fanfare that befits a subject of that caliber, and not rush me, baby, that the thing was playing the best to come to annoy you .

the end it ends music, people shouting and waving flags of Puerto Rico while receiving palo pa rumba by the cops. A voice, know who, states the end: Okay, folks. It's over, the concert is over! The detail is that the presentation of the Fania All Stars was done in English, but the show was suspended in English, which is not without significance, eh?

End of story more or less official.

The farce appears two years later, when Fania Records decided to release a double album called: Fania All Stars, Live at Yankee Stadium, and 1 2 . César Miguel gets angry enough in his book when he states that such a move the industry was making fun of the good faith of music lovers, because none of the recordings of the two discs, and see that no songs were taken from the concert, that Celia Cruz, for example, was not even in the stadium and then appears singing two songs.

disc except that it uses recordings obtained at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico in November of that year ... but says that the only thing in there at Yankee Stadium is the cover photograph.

Other versions, which come from Code Music, current owner of the recordings, confirmed that Volume 1, Pueblo Latino is the original concert, and the rest of the songs were taken from the show in the Roberto Clemente. And, Volume 2, Hermandad Fania (sung by Bobby Cruz), My Weakness (official presentation of Ismael Quintana Fania) and Take off pa'lla (with Justo Betancourt) from the arena of the Bronx. That the quality of recording of the concert in San Juan had been better, we decided to include the other songs (How rich my drum sounds, Ismael Miranda, I guajiro, with Santos Colón, Goddess of rhythm and Bemba Colora, Celia; Mi people, with Hector Lavoe, and Congo bongo). But if the latter song was already a full version, which published a year before the disk Latin - Soul - Rock , why not wait to put it on the double album?

At least, that if he had his pedigree in the making.

once asked him to Larry Harlow what had been the original songs from Yankee Stadium and looked away, refusing to confirm the list. I spent two days trying to find that answer on the internet and have not seen any source to confirm the species.

even sent a tweet to Willie Colon and men have not answered.

So I decided to see the videos on Youtube: none of them displayed the members FAS with the clothes they wore at Yankee Stadium, although they are playing the songs that claim to have played on that occasion. The subject is almost for an episode of X Files goes latin.

Until someone clarifies it in detail, I think I will prefer the version of Cesar Miguel.

At this point one may wonder Text: and that such determination in a case that happened almost 40 years? If Fania Records decided to lie and make recordings that were not, let them.

Yes, indeed. Marketing goes a long way and, ultimately, these two discs were the result of a strategy sales. Trying to get benefit to the loss that the suspension of the concert.

The problem, little detail is that these two discs were chosen in 2003 by the Library of Congress to integrate the National Recording Registry Collection , which includes the most important recordings made in the twentieth century together. The other Latin music that is there is Dance Mania, published by Tito Puente in 1958.

So what do you do? Calling the Library of Congress and tell them that they made a little mistake in this classification include discs with Pinocchio's nose? What lured them badly?

Frankly, for a time these gentlemen WASP pro-establishment intellectuals take seriously the term salsa, go and choose an album that is not what it says. A pity.

How would you react in this situation? Would you use the phone? I leave the number of Public Affairs at the Library, if you want to report it anonymously: +1 202 707 2905. Below is also the comments box, because I can have been wrong and, indeed, these four songs are from the concert. Which would not take the hint of farce continues.

Sigo esperando las pruebas.

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Confirmación del día jueves 24 de marzo

Las pruebas llegaron. Un reportaje del Public Broadcasting Service de Estados Unidos (muchas gracias, Melania querida, por pasarme el dato) confirma lo que ya se había dicho palabras arriba: Fania All Star sólo tocó Congo bongó antes de que los más de 40.000 espectadores colmaran el campo de juego del Yankee Stadium y el concierto tuviese que ser suspendido; el propio Jerry Masucci reconoce haber invertido 280.000 dólares en esta epopeya; Héctor Lavoe se quedó frío en el dugout, esperando su presentación formal as a soloist, Alex Masucci left with the suitcase full of money before the situation became much more apprehensive, the friendly assistants stole even the piano he played Harlow, Celia Cruz was officially introduced at the concert of Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico and was not present at Yankee Stadium. And
albums 1 and 2 took Fania Records are a complete lie.

you accept the Library of Congress call collect calls?

The lie does not always have short legs: 4 years ago discovered in a warehouse of New Jersey a lot of unreleased recordings Fania Records and West Side Latino; discs had never seen the light. What a wonderful thing. They also found, oh surprise, the entire recording of concert Roberto Clemente Coliseum in late 1973. Nothing, I blew the dust, remastered, the packed, they put the label novelty, rarity , and the street.

obviously not clear that more than half of the concert had already been published in the disks of Yankee Stadium ...

because marketing is taking to long.

At least the sound is much mejor y destacan -por su ausencia- las manipulaciones de estudio que sufrieron las grabaciones cuando las lanzaron en 1975 diciendo ser lo que no eran. Hasta en eso fueron un poco piratas, porque llegaron a meter sonido de público donde no había.
Típico de los años 70.