It’s a Good, Good Thing: The Latin Soul of Fania Records

Fania Records was started by Dominican musician Johnny Pacheco in 1964 with the idea of getting Latin recordings made by himself and his compratiots in New York City handled more equitably. With the rise of confidence in NYC’s Latino community – they would become known as Nuyoricans due to the dominant Puerto Rican populace – Fania became a launch pad for new adventures in Latin music. First there was boogaloo, which mixed Cuban son and mambo with African American R&B and doo-wop. This developed into salsa and Fania became the dominant force in a musical revolution. Fania produced many stars – Joe Bataan, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón et al – and this compilation (either a pricey boxed five-CD set or a not-exactly-cheap double-LP set) is, essentially, a Best Of boogaloo (plus a few rarities). The music is often very elemental – like doo-wop and hip-hop it’s often carried by enthusiasm over technique – but exciting. Those who know the Nuyorican scene well will likely complain this package overwhelmingly focuses on boogaloo as opposed to demonstrating how salsa quickly sprang forth from boogaloo and became the dominant popular Latin music of the next three decades. Still, as an insight into Fania’s 1967-1975 era this is a remarkable document.