\u201cTomate Y Alandette\u201d by La Pesada is one of the best tropical records released by Codiscos. Issued in 1978, the album is a \u201cone off\u201d by an all-star ensemble of musicians and singers, many of whom had played with Fruko y sus Tesos, Los Hermanos Martelo and other Colombian orchestras.<\/p>\n
The album showcases a diverse and eclectic range of stylistic modes and genres. There is cumbia, salsa, bolero, son montuno, descarga and even calypso. The arrangements and instrumentation range from flute and violin charanga in a \u201ct\u00edpico\u201d Cuban mode (augmented by a trombone section) to Colombian percussion-heavy cumbia, and from the Willie Col\u00f3n style of brash Nuyorican trombone salsa to the more Cuban conjunto trumpet sound like La Sonora Matancera. Through it all, the jazzy arrangements keep things fresh and swinging.<\/p>\n
Colombian artists were absorbing all sorts of influences, both old and new, from Cuba, the US and Puerto Rico, but putting their stamp on the music with a different perspective coming from their own background, and La Pesada is a prime example of this intriguing tendency.<\/p>\n
The vocals were handled by the excellent Afro-Colombian sonero Hugo \u201cSabor\u201d Alandette who had been in Los Seven Del Swing, and would go on to join Los Chicos Malos and then form Grupo Melao in the 1980s. In addition, Mike Char, who was a good friend of many people at Discos Fuentes and wrote quite a few hits for Fruko, joined as an invited guest, contributing the groove-heavy yet bittersweet \u2018La sigo queriendo\u2019 and singing lead on \u2018\u00c1ngel sonando\u2019. Indeed between Montoya, \u201cTomate\u201d and Char, a number of the songs sound like classic \u201870s Fruko y sus Tesos, but filtered through a charanga lens with a heavy Conjunto Libre influence.<\/p>\n
\u2018Cumbia y tamb\u00f3 (En la lluvia)\u2019 has been an international dance floor staple for many years; there\u2019s nothing like it to get the party started! However, the real salsa bomb is \u2018Hojas secas\u2019! The upbeat calypso on side 2 is a fun version of Alan O\u2019Day\u2019s funky 1977 hit \u2018Undercover Angel\u2019 retitled \u2018\u00c1ngel so\u00f1ando\u2019. Another cover is \u2018El paso de encarnaci\u00f3n\u2019, first made famous by Orquesta Aragon and then Larry Harlow, done here in a faithful charanga t\u00edpica rendition. La Pesada also took Mexican heart throb crooner Juan Gabriel\u2019s 1974 mariachi hit, \u2018L\u00e1grimas y lluvia\u2019 and turned it into a super hot \u2018salsa con charanga\u2019 that features a fantastic electric piano solo from Tomate. The album closes with a fantastic guaguanc\u00f3 dedicated to Cali, the city that loves to salsa, where La Pesada channels Willie Col\u00f3n and H\u00e9ctor Lavoe to great effect. All in all, a very satisfying and diverse collector\u2019s album that receives its first-time reissue here in glorious remastered sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This 1978 album is a \u201cone off\u201d by an all-star ensemble of musicians and singers, many of whom had played with Fruko y sus Tesos and other Colombian orchestras previously. There is cumbia, salsa, bolero, son montuno, descarga and even calypso, including \u2018Cumbia y tamb\u00f3 (En la lluvia)\u2019 which has been an international dance floor staple for many years; there\u2019s nothing like it to get the party started! <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>One of the best tropical records released by Codiscos that receives its first-time reissue here in glorious remastered sound.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":53377,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[195,193,206],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53380","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-colombia-en","7":"product_cat-latin-en","8":"product_cat-salsa-en","9":"product_shipping_class-lp-en-4","10":"pa_formato-lp-en","12":"first","13":"outofstock","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\/53380","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\/53377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=53380"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=53380"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=53380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}