Salsa and beyond.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: MUSIC NOTES

Hector Lavoe La Voz (Fania 773 130 008-2)

Willie Colon Solo (Fania 773 130 053-2)

Celia Cruz & Willie Colon Celia y Willie (Fania 773 130 216-2)

Charlie Palmieri El Gigante del Teclado (Fania 773 130 005-2)

Ray Barretto Hard Hands (Fania 773 130 091-2)

Johnny Pacheco Tres de Cafe y Dos de Azucar (Fania 773 130 209-2)

Virtually any discussion of the urban-accented tropical dance music craze of the 1960s and '70s that became known as "salsa" will draw heavily from the legacy of Fania Records. This long-defunct firm based in New York City nurtured the new stylistic hybrid, developed its most important young exponents, and successfully promoted the music, the culture it represented, and its leading personalities to a world hungry for this jazzy update of traditional Cuban dance music. Although the term was despised by many veteran musicians who came of age decades earlier, during the era of the Cuban mambo and cha-cha-cha, salsa as a stylistic connotation has survived and has become a permanent part of the global music vocabulary.

After many years of absence from the marketplace, dozens of fabled Fania releases have been remastered, packaged with new liner notes and photographs, and issued on CD for the first time. Fania and several subsidiary labels had a virtual monopoly on Afro-Cuban dance music artists for almost three decades, recording a mixture of New York-bred Latino talent such as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon, and Ray Barretto, as well as such significant artists from abroad as Cubans Mongo Santamaria and Celia Cruz, Dominican Johnny Pacheco, Puerto Rican Willie Rosario, and Panamanian Ruben Blades, among many others.

While any attempt to single out a mere handful of significant titles for mention is the definition of an exercise in futility, the six titles referenced here offer a good cross-section of the classic Fania sound, front salsa dura, which proudly proclaims its cultural origins through relentless Afro-Cuban rhythms and swinging orchestrations, to productions that reflect the influences of soul music, rock, and other contemporary forms.

Thanks to the recent release of El Cantante, a feature film starring modern salsa crooner Marc Anthony and actress Jennifer Lopez, a worldwide audience is being reacquainted with the life of vocalist Hector Lavoe, one of salsa's most effective ambassadors. His powerful and emotive voice and adroit choice of repertoire made Lavoe truly a talent for the ages, as he demonstrates on...