According to Fruko, Wganda Kenya was formed at the request of Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Fuentes in 1974. Fuentes came to Fruko with the proposal to assemble a group with an African and Caribbean sound in order to appeal to the Coste\u00f1o Colombian market and also inject a little international exoticism into the label.<\/p>\n
Fuentes wanted to create their own domestic version of the rare (and often unidentified) African and Antillean records played on the Colombian coast in the outdoor pic\u00f3 sound systems in cities like Barranquilla and Cartagena, as well as opening up their markets to international tastes.<\/p>\n
Fruko was happy to comply, becoming the bandleader and bassist while his pianist from Los Tesos, Luis \u201cTomate\u201d Mesa, was recruited to play various electronic keyboards. Venezuelan singer Joe Rodr\u00edguez was tapped to play drums, Mariano Sep\u00falveda of Afrosound played guitar, Jos\u00e9 \u201cCholo\u201d Gallardo of Los Diplom\u00e1ticos played saxophone and several Tesos manned the percussion section. Various Fuentes regulars became the vocalists including Jaime Gal\u00e9, Luis Carlos, and Joe Arroyo.<\/p>\n
In keeping with the exoticism and fa\u00e7ade of foreignness, the vocalists often sang in made-up languages that approximated Indigenous Colombian, Haitian Creole, Papiamento from the Dutch Caribbean or Nigerian Yoruba; at other times they invented Spanish lyrics that mimicked the original foreign language ones, often in a humorous way.<\/p>\n
Wganda Kenya, like almost all Fuentes acts, cut plenty of non-album singles and cover versions that ended up on \u201cBailables\u201d compilations but it was the runaway success of a 45 with their interpretation of the Haitian song \u2018Homenaje a los embajadores\u2019 released in 1975 that motivated the Fuentes studio team to continue with the project and begin releasing complete albums under the band\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
In 1976, Discos Fuentes released the self-titled \u201cWganda Kenya\u201d album and it is thought by many to be their first full-length record, which technically speaking, in Colombia at least, it was, but if you take into account the Miami Records release of \u201cWganda Kenya \/ Africa 5.000\u201d the year before, it actually isn\u2019t the band\u2019s debut solo album.<\/p>\n
Whichever way you look at it, this record you are holding in your hands now has become a collector\u2019s favorite waiting to be reissued, and it\u2019s not hard to understand why since it\u2019s full of so many Afro-Funk, Congolese rumba and Caribbean-flavored dance floor burners.<\/p>\n
All the tunes on this record, including the bonus tracks, are covers, and they include interpretations of songs by Haiti\u2019s Original Shleu Shleu (\u2018El evangelio\u2019), Guadeloupe\u2019s Combo Moderno (\u2018An Nous Dans\u00e9 Tumbel\u00e9\u2019), and the Paris-based Le Trio Africain Los Makueson’s (\u2018Yoro\u2019), among many others.<\/p>\n
Like its sibling band Afrosound, Wganda Kenya was ahead of its time, anticipating current contemporary global Afro-Latin-funk in a prescient way that is finding more and more fans across the globe.<\/p>\n
This special edition reissue contains two non-album bonus tracks from the same period that appeared on 45s and various artist compilations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wganda Kenya was a group formed by Discos Fuentes under the idea of developing an African and Caribbean sound in order to appeal to the Coste\u00f1o Colombian market and also inject a little international exoticism into the label. <\/p>\n
This 1976 album has become a collector\u2019s favorite waiting to be reissued, and it\u2019s not hard to understand why since it\u2019s full of so many Afro-Funk, Congolese rumba and Caribbean-flavored dance floor burners. <\/p>\n
Special edition reissue containing two non-album bonus tracks from the same period that appeared on 45s and various artist compilations, as well as an insert with liner notes. Pressed on 180g vinyl.<\/p>\n
First time reissue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":105790,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[195,193],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-109312","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-colombia-en","7":"product_cat-latin-en","8":"product_shipping_class-lp-lp-7-lp-cd","9":"pa_formato-lp-en","11":"first","12":"outofstock","13":"sale","14":"taxable","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/109312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=109312"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=109312"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=109312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}