Afrosound

La Danza De Los Mirlos

Label: Vampisoul

Genre: Freestyle / Nu Jazz / Funk / Afro

Availability

LP €22.99

Dispatched within 5-10 working days

Afrosound was born from the desire of Discos Fuentes vice-president José María Fuentes to come up with a domestic version of the emerging African and Latin rock sounds coming from outside the country, inspired by groups like Osibisa and Santana. The mission was to emulate the guitar-heavy tropical sounds emanating from Perú and Ecuador at the time. According to various sources, the 1972 tune ‘La danza de los mirlos’ (by Peru’s Los Mirlos) emerged as a great success in Colombia and with it a new way of interpreting the country’s most famous musical export, namely cumbia, through a Peruvian perspective. Fuentes executives convened an expert crew of musicians the following year to create this type of music for the domestic market because they sensed a potential for similar success.

Afrosound would cover not only ‘La danza de los mirlos’ and name their debut LP after the song in 1973, but they would also faithfully reproduce the unique sound of their guitar hero Enrique Delgado. The first Afrosound recordings were made with a fantastic rhythm section consisting of talented musicians that had played with Fruko y sus Tesos. Initially the vocals, when there were any, were handled by Wilson “Saoko” Manyoma, Joe Arroyo or Jaime Ley under the direction and musical arrangements of Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada, who also played bass and composed several numbers. To add to the hippie vibe, there were plenty of whacky improvised vocal asides (called ‘inspiraciones’), plus custom fuzz, wah-wah, flange and echo effects boxes for the guitar and keyboards. A barrage of odd sounding synths, drum machines and other electronic flourishes were sprinkled in to spice up the proceedings, providing a competitive edge that made the Fuentes sound so unique.