The Afrosound is Colombia’s reaction to the early 1970’s Chicha movement that was happening in Peru and Bolivia at the time. José María Fuentes saw the popularity of this new type of hybrid cumbia sound and thus created a sort of Discos Fuentes super group.
Produced by Julio Estrada (Fruko El Bueno), Afrosound not only incorporated the Andean guitar laden sound, but mixed in some funk, salsa/son, tropical, disco, and afro colombian rhythms to boot. The result being cumbia party albums from start to finish. These are the kind of LPs you can just walk away from for 20 mins. while you’re djing.
(side note: I think that it is Fruko who is MC’ing for these guys)
I was going to choose the title tract as the second song, which is actually a cover tune from the Andean group Los Mirlos. But I decided on one of my favorite cuts from the album. Afrosound again is putting their own chicha stamp on the traditional cumbia La Magdalena. Here is a good example of how traditional cumbia instrumentation is being swapped for the electric guitar, farifisas (possibly), hoeners, ect. It is a good reflection on how malleable cumbia rhythms can be from past to present and from country to country.
Carruseles (Merry-go-round) is probably one of Afrosound’s more difficult records to find for some reason. And it appears to be one of their most experimental lp’s of the all the ones I will be showing you. I’ve got a hand full of other versions of the song Carruseles and I might put them all up in the future. The Conjunto Miramar and Anibal Velasquez versions are dope. The lyrics to the original song itself are sexually suggestive, but Afrosound’s instrumental is like cumbia/son on an acid trip.
Nevertheless, it’s in my opinion that the tropical sounds mixed with psychedelic guitars would only have made music like this much more affable to the Latin American public, while showing off the exploritory side of a bunch of amazing musicians.
I thought I’d throw in another track off this album. This time with a calypso number. Trying to put in every genre I suppose. Enjoy!
Although some records might be harder to find than others, picking up music from Afrosound isn’t that difficult. Unfortunately, the last time I checked, Discos Fuentes doesn’t sell cd’s online outside of South America. However, you just need to go to a good Latin American cd store and one should be able to pick up a full length or compilation cd of their music. Their popularity and influence is broader than we can imagine North of Mexico.
Anyway, sometimes you can actually judge a book by it’s cover. And if this cover is any indication of what the album is going to sound like, then you know Onda Brava (Brave Wave) is going to be a party.
Someone told me that Vampisoul records is supposed to be putting out an Afrosound compilation. Which will be awesome. So if you have a hard time tracking these songs down, those guys always seem to make it easier. Also, I spoke with Beto from Soundway records a couple years ago when they released The Golden Age Of Discos Fuentes. We actually had a discussion about Afrosound. I bet they will put them in the second time around.
Tiro Al Blanco (slang: awesome, something that is the best) is a cumbia version of Massara’s 1979 Italo-disco hit “Margarita”. This song is probably Afrosounds biggest hit as well. This infectious number has been covered often and may sound like a familiar sample from a Manu Chao song.
Anyway, these are pretty much some of the best Afrosound records I own from the 70’s to the 80’s. I didn’t have much luck with any of their music after this. From what I understand the group went through many different musicians/producers until they disbanded in 80’s. They do a song called Cumbia Arabe (Cumbia of the Arab) which I’ve heard (it’s great), yet it still eludes me on vinyl.
Super Sonido 
That last track is fire!
Thanks
oh yeah! nice selection and great album covers!
great stuff man!
i can’t find caliventura on this album. what album is it on?
should be on la danza de los mirlos lp. i have both a colombian and peruvian pressing. im not surprised if you have a copy without it, fuentes can be inconsistent depending upon which country it was pressed in. also, the different label color usually signifies its country of orgin.
hey thanks for the info. i actually have rescondato but with the cover of la danza on it. that explains my confusion. guess it was a sex sell.
Wow, I discovered your site today at work and hurried home just to sit all evening long and digging all the wonderful music you have so generously shared with us! Sooo many groovy tunes I probably never would have stumbled upon if it were not for this blog. I really enjoy your taste and that you pick such a variety of latin sounds.
I occasionaly post some latin tunes myself over at:
http://www.jonosaudio.blogspot.com
Probably not much that you don’t already have but you are welcome to pop by anyway, for instance at my two attempts at a varied latin comp:
http://jonosaudio.blogspot.com/2009/08/latino-delights-vol2.html
http://jonosaudio.blogspot.com/2007/12/ifeliz-navidad.html
yeah!
afrosound es un tiro al blanco.
thanks!
I love this group Afrosound…I am playing Cumbia now, gurio, bongos and conga and would like to cover some of these songs. It’s like the Ventures meeting Armando Hernandez. Cool site by the way. Thanks for the info.Eric Duran
I meant the guiro…sorry for bad spelling.
Vampisoul is releasing a compilation called “Aforsound of Colombia”:
http://www.vampisoul.com/detail_cd.asp?referencia=108
Various Artists
The Afrosound Of Colombia Vol 1
2XCD Digipack. Barcode: 84350088-61940
3xLP 140 Gram. Barcode: 84350088-61957
Over two and a half hours of funky, hot Afro-influenced tracks from the 60s and 70s golden period of the seminal Discos Fuentes label in Colombia. 43 dancefloor hits provide an irresistible mix of genres: salsa, cumbia, boogaloo, tropical funk, chicha…
To understand what this compilation refers to as the Afrosound of Colombia, you have to acknowledge the profound role of African cultures in Colombian life and music. The story of the Afrosound is a tale of transformation. It tells of the enslaved African peoples who were taken to Colombia, who mixed with Europeans and indigenous inhabitants (by force or choice), and were eventually set free, as well as the escaped cimarrones (maroons) that lived in palenques (fortified settlements) and continued their own traditions. The Afrosound sings of a double Diaspora, first the trek in chains during the infamous Middle Passage from the Motherland of Africa to the so-called New World, then much later, the migration from the plantations to the cities.
This release deals with the unique sounds produced as a result of the inventive mixing of pop and roots that took place in the urban confines of the Discos Fuentes studios, far from Colombia’s coastal regions. For our purposes, the invented term Afrosound can serve as the title of a thrilling and sometimes odd soundtrack that chronicles the diffusion and evolution of the musical culture from those coastal regions as it was brought inland, where it was translated, simplified, mass marketed, manufactured, modernized, “whitened”, globalized, recycled, and then sent back to the world at large, disseminated from the cities of Medellín and Bogotá, where the major bulk of the music production industry resided in the 50s through to the 70s.
To tell the story of Afrosound, you not only have to know about the influence of Afro- Antillean music and indigenous Colombian tropical coastal genres, you also have to know something about the history of Discos Fuentes and musician/producer Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada. Suffice it to say that the coastal area of Colombia shares in common with other areas in the Caribbean Antilles a certain tropical mix of sensuality and syncopation that somehow manages to combine joy and pain in a transporting wave of rhythm and melody that is food for the soul.
The tracks on this compilation were chosen from the vast archives of Discos Fuentes because they are fun, funky, unexpected, crazy, hot. They are not necessarily your ‘typical’ or well known cuts, though the performers might be familiar and in some cases are quite popular today outside of Colombia due to an increasing awareness of the country’s exciting musical heritage. The title of this compilation comes from one of the Fuentes bands, Afrosound, but here it’s taken more as a general term to denote the funkier side of the label’s prolific output in the 60s and 70s. The unifying factor for the collection is that the tracks all have something to do with African roots or influences in one way or another, and they mark a period of sonic experimentation, self expression, upheaval, rebellion and rebirth in the industry, nurtured by Discos Fuentes and its stable of musicians, producers, and engineers.
Extensive notes in English and Spanish written by expert Pablo Yglesias aka DJ Bongohead
Fruko y sus Tesos
Tracks list
1. El abanico (Wganda Kenya)
2. Cumbia de sal (Cumbia en Moog)
3. Dog, Cat (Afrosound)
4. El vampiro (Corraleros de Majagual)
5. Flores silvestres (Fruko y sus Tesos)
6. Sabor (Sexteto Miramar)
7. Fiebre de lepra (Wganda Kenya)
8. Chenchudino (Peregoyo y su Combo Vacaná)
9. Ponchito de colores (Afrosound)
10. El ausente (Fruko y sus Tesos)
11. Suena ahora (Michi Sarmiento)
12. Carruseles (Afrosound)
13. El ascensor (Corraleros del Majagual)
14. Lamento cubano (Fruko y sus Tesos)
15. Yoro (Wganda Kenya)
16. La negra Celina (Golden Boys)
17. Manyoma (Fruko y sus Tesos)
18. La trompeta loca (Wganda Kenya)
19. La cara del payaso (Galileo y su Banda)
20. Caliventura (Afrosound)
21. Chachumbembé (Fruko y sus Tesos)
22. Combate a kung fu (Wganda Kenya)
23. Jungle Fever (Afrosound)
24. El caterete (Wganda Kenya)
25. Tabaco y ron (Rodolfo y su Típica)
26. Salsa con tabaco (Afrosound)
27. Salsa boogaloo (Sexteto Miramar)
28. La lluvia (Fruko y sus Tesos)
29. La sampuesana (Afrosound)
30. Descarga espectacular (Fruko y sus Tesos)
31. Cachucha bacana (Afrosound)
32. María la O (Fruko y sus Tesos)
33. Playa blanca (Joe Rodríguez y su Grupo Latino)
34. El caminante (Fruko y sus Tesos)
35. Descarga vacana (Peregoyo y su Combo Vacana)
36. Rosalía (Wganda Kenya)
37. No me dejan quererte (Fruko y sus Tesos)
38. El eco y el carretero (Afrosound)
39. Los sabanales (Corraleros de Majagual)
40. Ola de agua (Peregoyo y su Combo Vacana)
41. Tihuanaco (Fruko y sus Tesos)
42. Salsa con monte (Michi Sarmiento y su Combo)
43. Nostalgia campesina (Rodolfo y su Típica)
I see “Tiro al blanco” sounds like the massara song, but isnt it also related to the “tiro al blanco” by Los mirlos? I would logical as they seem to cover peruvian cumbia, but I can’t listen the mirlos song so I’m not sure.
hello…awesome blog…are you still interested in cumbia arabe??I have it on a 45. I can rip it and take a photo of it for you to publish…
cheers and thanks for the great music.
farewell,
luis * el discomano.
Hi Luis,
Do you sell your copy of Cumbia Arabe 45?
Best,
pau (pauamigo@yahoo.es)
I love Afrosound, but my favourite is Azuquita!!!, That’s the greatest song to dance :D.
Do you know in which album I can find Azuquita?
en el lp de calor
Where can I get the complete album, not only one song???? Please this is awsome!!!