El Violento

‘El Violento’? Julio Ernesto Estrada, aka Fruko, who ran for Colombia’s senate in 2013? One hopes not. The veteran of over 40 albums for Colombia’s Discos Fuentes probably earned a few monikers in his time, but maybe the most apt would be ‘El Prolifico’ (The Prolific One). The trouble is that Fruko and his well-drilled Tesos were so consistent and so dependable that it’s hard to pinpoint highlights. Even that similarly hard taskmaster James Brown made a few duds. Vampisoul’s latest reissue, from 1973, is no better and certainly no worse than many others in the Fruko canon. True, there’s ‘Nadando’, which would be a hit for Fruko’s discovery Joe Arroyo, arguably Colombia’s greatest salsa vocalist; there’s ‘Salsa ‘Na Ma’’ with its pounding piano, crackling cowbell, sparkling brass and organ-led descarga jam; there’s the cogent ‘Lamento Cubano’, which says it all in three crisp minutes; and there’s the final, ambitious, seven-minute ‘Mosaico Matancero’ divided seamlessly into a number of sub-titled components. All good, in other words. But there’s no immediately discernible USP – other than the suggestive title, which probably refers to the sheer relentlessness of the dance-oriented music. No room for soppy ballads here.