Mas Que Nada

En El Callejón

My girlfriend and I just got back from a whirlwind trip back to the states, where I got a chance to play a few gigs, see some old friends (often mining their music collections…), and stopped in New Hampshire to see the folks and get my hands on the 300+ CDs that I was forced to leave behind when leaving for Paris two years ago.

One disc that I’ve been missing for quite a while is this Verve reissue of “Patato y Totico,” an album originally released under Carlos “Patato” Valdes’ name in the 1968. The recording has since been hailed as one of the definitive rumba recordings of the era. In the words of Henry Fiol (on descarga.com):

“When I was learning to play conga in the late ’60s, participating in the rumbas which were common then…this was the record. All the rumberos knew it, and I had most of it memorized and under the cap as well–especially Totico’s vocals.”

Of course, considering the line-up (Patato, Totico, the Cadavieco brothers, Cachao on bass, and none other than el ciego maravilloso Arsenio Rodrí­guez on tres), it’s no wonder that it became a legend. I had heard it at least twenty times in the back seat of older cats’ cars on the way to gigs before I finally heard that it was being reissued on CD.

What always attracted me to the album, in addition to the phenomenal playing, are the little quirky elements, like the coro on “El Callejón”:

“Llegó Superman, bailando guaguancó.”

When Superman is doing it, then you really know EVERYBODY is doing it, I guess.