“Only 50 Years Ago, Johnny Pacheco’s Spicy Salsa Made History.” | daily menu

50 years ago, an event occurred that marked a milestone in tropical music. Many wonder how the famous movement that ended up adopting a marketing and commercial name was orchestrated only for the different rhythms that had already existed for many years, such as guaracha, son, guaguanjo, mambo and brass band. and boogaloo and other Afro-Caribbean sounds that would eventually adopt the name “salsa”.

It was 1964 when Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci, a North American of Italian Jewish descent, founded the record label Fania.

Both Pacheco and Masucci made a financial contribution and the Dominican musician also pooled his talent together bringing together the best musicians and singers in the New York environment in a short time.

Since then, elite musicians and singers have been signing for performances and recordings by orchestras such as Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, Joe Bataan, Bobby Valentine, and Willie Colon, among others.

In 1968 and 1969, the LPs of Fania All Stars were published, recorded live in a shed called the Red Garter, which served as Fania’s first meeting place.

In the musical encounter, the stars of the moment in Fania were enhanced by musicians from the Tico Alegre All-Stars, such as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Riccardo Ray, Jimmy Sabatter and more.

The two albums, Live at the Red Garter, Volume One and Volume Two, feature jazzy downloads with a little salsa.

Three years passed, and on Thursday August 26, 1971, their stars reunited, now in the Cheetah Club Room, for a ball with a neighborhood perspective that would be filmed as part of a documentary called Our Latin Thing. Latina), directed by Leon Gast, with the meeting of Hispanic musicians and singers, where the musical movement called “El Sonido de Nueva York” will begin.

Now there was a big difference with regard to the earlier, jazzy-themed encounter, as the music for the two albums and the resulting film ‘soundtrack’ were of vital importance to this historical document.

On that occasion, Fania did not ask for reinforcements from other record labels for her project, since she had artists under her tutelage who had sufficient musical solvency, New York audience recognition and respectable record sales.

Fania’s primary purpose in shooting the film entitled Our Latin Thing and recording the concert at the Cheetah was to promote the so-called New York sound and bring her product to theaters in the North American city. and Latin people in the Caribbean and the Americas thereby promoting their artists and the company’s music catalog.

On August 24, 1973, exactly 50 years ago, the Fania All Stars met for the third time in a spectacular concert at Yankee Stadium attended by over 40,000 spectators.

This 1973 concert featured Mongo Santamaría and Ray Barretto on congas. Larry Harlow on piano, Dominican Johnny Pacheco on flute, Louis on trombone, Nicky Marrero on tembalero, Ray Maldonado and Victor Paz on trumpet, Yomo Toro on cuatro, Roberto Rowena was the bongo player and Bobby was the guitarist Valentine with singers Justo Betancourt and Ismael Quintana. The guest star was Celia Cruz.

The aim was to exploit the meeting and shoot the second film, which was simply titled “Salsa”, where this name would be adopted as a marketing and commercial concept, and where the beats detailed above would definitely be called “Salsa”.

We do not intend to change the history of the use of the term salsa, which has been mentioned in records since 1925 when it was used by Ignacio Pinheiro with Septeto Nacional in the song “Échale salsita”, as well as by Ray Barreto in his album “Salsa y dulzura”, which was The Lebrón Brothers himself from During “Salsa y control”, and in Venezuela, Federico Betancourt with Combo Latino was one of the first, if not the first, to release an LP titled “Llego la Salsa”.

However, the term gained traction when broadcaster Fideas Danilo Escalona incorporated it into his radio show titled “The Salsa, Flavor and Pemby Hour” referring to Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz’s suggestion in an interview that he did, but it was not a marketing and commercial concept, rather it was based on a condiment The tomato sauce he advertised on his show.

Undoubtedly, the general marketing and commercial name called “salsa” came from Fania All Star.