The 1973 album \u201cEl Violento\u201d was the fifth full-length salsa LP led by Julio Ernesto Estrada Rinc\u00f3n, aka Fruko, and the second credited to Fruko Y Sus Tesos. Though it did not contain hits like \u2018A la memoria del muerto\u2019 or \u2018El Preso\u2019, it\u2019s a collector\u2019s item today in places like the US, Europe and Japan, perhaps precisely because it is obscure yet full to the brim with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers that never let up from start to finish (hence the title, which translates as \u201cThe Violent One\u201d).<\/p>\n
A mix of originals and interesting covers, the LP is \u201call killer and no filler\u201d, purposely designed to set the dance floor ablaze. It features Fruko\u2019s two main vocalists that took over from the first pair of Humberto \u201cHuango\u201d Muriel and \u201cP\u00edper Pimienta\u201d D\u00edaz, namely the beloved duo of \u00c1lvaro \u201cJoe\u201d Arroyo and Wilson \u201cSaoko\u201d Manyoma.<\/p>\n
Los Tesos were a talented \u201cwild bunch\u201d who listened to their fearless leader, with Fruko holding down the bottom end on electric bass, Hern\u00e1n Guti\u00e9rrez in the piano chair, the Villegas brothers on hand percussion (Jes\u00fas tickling the bongos and Fernando slapping the congas), augmented by Rafael Ben\u00edtez on timbales and an ace horn section of Freddy Ferrer and Gonz\u00e1lo G\u00f3mez (trombones) and Jorge Gaviria and Salvador Pasos (trumpets).<\/p>\n
The super aggressive sound comes directly from the South Bronx playbook of Willie Col\u00f3n. The snarling trombones and soaring trumpet are somewhat sweetened by a nice little Puerto Rican cuatro guitar solo. Sonically lightening the mood somewhat, \u2018Nadando\u2019 (\u2018Swimming\u2019) is a bouncy tune in the \u2018Mercy\u2019 genre (basically a hybrid of pop, funky soul, cumbia and salsa, in the style of Nelson y Sus Estrellas), gleefully sung by Joe Arroyo.<\/p>\n
The beats are complex and ever changing, with a little bit of mozambique, conga, bomba, jala jala and of course salsa thrown in for good measure. The side closes out with a brilliant, uptempo salsa reworking of the venerable ranchera chestnut, \u2018T\u00fa, s\u00f3lo t\u00fa\u2019.<\/p>\n
Side two explodes with the frenetic descarga jam session \u2018Salsa na\u2019 ma\u2019\u2014which is exactly that: nothing more than the hottest \u201csauce\u201d to make the dancers go crazy. Fruko\u2019s tune is dedicated to the Latin community in New York that listens to salsa from everywhere and dances to it so fervently on the weekend. The relentless percussion propels the listener along at breakneck speed as if hurtling down the Bronx Expressway, demonstrating that Fruko y Sus Tesos have mastered the \u2018violent\u2019 form of urban salsa that was having its transnational moment in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
While \u201cEl Violento\u201d may not be as well known as some Fruko records, it certainly deserves a new look and should be assessed on its own merits as a very powerful, confident entry in the historical evolution of Colombian salsa dura.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An undeservedly obscure Fruko album from 1973, full to the brim with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers that never let up (hence the title, \u201cThe Violent One\u201d). <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n The record is a pleasing mix of originals and covers and contains the anthems \u2018Tronco seco\u2019, sung by Wilson Saoko, and \u2018Nadando\u2019, a hit for Joe Arroyo. But there\u2019s a whole lot more, including hot holiday tunes and the stomping descarga \u2018Salsa Na\u2019 Ma\u2019. <\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n This album is \u201call killer and no filler\u201d, designed to set the dance floor ablaze!.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":110458,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[195,193],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-110459","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-en-3","9":"pa_formato-lp-en","11":"first","12":"instock","13":"taxable","14":"shipping-taxable","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/110459","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\/110458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=110459"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=110459"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=110459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}