Continuing a journey we started with our \u00a1Saoco! compilations, the series Saoco Now! presents current recordings which celebrate the legacy of key figures of Puerto Rican music from the 50s and 60s. On this second 7″, we are proud to feature the first recordings by La M\u00e1quina Insular, a plena band which carries on this tradition of street music, still very much alive in Puerto Rico. The band’s director, plena maestro and requinto virtuoso H\u00e9ctor “Tito” Matos, is one of the leading examples of a movement that has revitalized the plena genre in Puerto Rico during the last decade, taking it back to the street corners of the island’s neighbourhoods. Featuring the traditional instrumentation of tambourines, g\u00fciro, tumbandero and the back-up of a clarinet, La M\u00e1quina Insular play a repertoire of classic and new plenas with the strength and rhythm typical of the best of the genre. Written by Tito Matos, ‘Somos la plena’ is a manifesto about the vitality of street and communal plena which lists the genre’s great figures and iconic neighbourhoods. Sung by Luis “Lagarto” Figueroa, ‘Ven a bailar’ is a composition by the patriarch of bomba and plena, Rafael Cepeda, author of Cortijo y su Combo’s first hit, ‘El bomb\u00f3n de Elena’, among many others. A current favourite among the new generation of pleneros, the song achieves a vintage flavour in this rendition by La M\u00e1quina Insular, worthy of such a classic title. La M\u00e1quina Insular is:
\nH\u00e9ctor Tito Matos – director – pandereta seguidor, pandereta requinto on ‘Ven a bailar’, g\u00fciro, timbita de plena, tumbandero, coros and lead vocals ‘Somos la plena’ .
\nLuis Lagarto Figueroa – pandereta requinto on ‘Somos la plena’, coros and lead vocals on ‘Ven a bailar’.
\nErik Noel Rosado – pandereta punteador & coros.
\nJoksan Joko Ramos – pandereta seguidor.
\nGuillermo Willie Cubero – pandereta seguidor.
\nRicardo Pons – clarinet and coros. Recorded at El Padrino Recording Studio by Julio Gonz\u00e1lez.
\nRecording Assistant – Miguel de Gracia.
\nExecutive Production – Yannis Ruel.
\nMixed at Rolo Recording Studio by Rolando Alejandro.<\/p>\n
Photo by Antonio Zayas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Second release of our 7″ series “Saoco Now!”, featuring current recordings which celebrate the classic legacy from Puerto Rico’s rich history of dance music. These two tracks are the recorded debut of La M\u00e1quina Insular, one the key bands in the revitalization of the plena genre in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45411,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[193,205,206],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43325","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-latin-en","7":"product_cat-puerto-rico-en","8":"product_cat-salsa-en","9":"product_shipping_class-default","10":"pa_formato-7-en-2","12":"first","13":"outofstock","14":"purchasable","15":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/43325","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\/45411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=43325"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=43325"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=43325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}