September 13, 2017

Son Palenque | Kutu Prieta Pa Saraguia

ARTIST: Son Palenque
TITLE: Kutu Prieta Pa Saranguia
LABEL: Palenque
Champeta resulted from the head-on collision of modern Congolese and Antillean pop music styles like soukous and zouk with the wellspring of Afro-Colombian music found along Colombia’s Caribbean coast and especially in the cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla. Much of champeta is created by DJs mixing records of the various styles; Son Palenque’s approach is more organic. Natives of San Basilio de Palenque, home of the first free Africans in America, the band plays drum-driven music built on Afro-Colombian traditions like bullerengue, lumbalu and chalupa, then adds modern instruments on top. On their sixteenth album, veteran Discos Fuentes sax star Michi Sarmiento sits in with them on about half the tracks; there’s also tasty Congolese-style guitar by Franklyn Montano and occasional synthesizer squiggles from Frente Cumbiero’s Mario Galeano. The first four tracks are a master class in champeta: if you’re not moving to this music, better check your pulse to make sure you haven’t expired. The rest of the album is more folkloric, with the addition of electric bass adding funkiness to the proceedings, but just as propulsive. Simply sensational.
TOP TRACKS:    1    2    3    4    6    7    10    11
ALSO RECOMMENDED:    5    8    9    12

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