Mambo Loco (Analog Africa AACD 067CD, 2010)
Mambo Loco is a collection of music by Anibal Velasquez, the legendary accordionist from Barranquilla in Caribbean Colombia. Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb selected the music from the archive of Industrias Fonográficas del Caribe.
Living in a port city in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, exposed Anibal Velasquez to a variety of tropical music, which included traditional Colombian genres such as cumbia, vallenato and pompo as well as Cuban dance styles such as guaracha and rumba. Anibal liked to experiment and made changes to the traditional Cuban format. His brother José replaced the traditional bongos used in Cuban music with a traditional Colombian drum called “La Caja” which he modified by adding “radiografias médicas” (x-ray films) over the drum.
Anibal Velasquez’s accordion-driven guaracha captivated numerous fans. Velasquez had several hits and was very popular during the 1950s and 1960s with Los Vallenatos de Magdalena and his own conjunto (band), which included his elder brother Juan, a gifted musician in his own right, and his younger brother Jose.
Mambo Loco is an essential recording that introduces the listener to coastal Colombian music of the highest caliber.
Buy Mambo Loco.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
