Latin Record Label Polishes Up Its Gold
Tito Puente, Celia Cruz Among Artists Whose Albums Are Being Remastered

By Ernesto Lechner
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 4, 2006

The cover of the 1971 album "Cheo," by legendary salsa singer José "Cheo" Feliciano, depicts him standing by the sea in his native Puerto Rico with a pensive expression. He had just emerged triumphant from a harrowing struggle with drug addiction, a common affliction among salseros of his generation.

"Cheo" was Feliciano's comeback album and his debut as a solo artist. To this day, it remains the most successful of his many recordings. It is also the kind of resounding artistic statement that salsa -- a creatively bankrupt genre these days -- lost the power to create a long time ago.

"Cheo" is one of 30 discs reissued recently by the seminal record label Fania. The company, which can be best described as the Latin version of Motown, changed hands last year and has undertaken a groundbreaking remastering and repackaging campaign. The new Fania will reissue about a dozen releases a month until it reaches a self-imposed ceiling of 300 discs culled from the label's catalogue of 1,300 albums.

Notable artists in the Fania canon include Tito Puente, Celia Cruz (at her vocal peak of the mid-'70s to early '80s) and recently deceased conguero Ray Barretto, as well as the holy trinity of salsa: singer-songwriter Rubén Blades, vocalist Héctor Lavoé and trombonist, arranger and composer Willie Colón.

For the first time, a label is doing these artists justice.

"The Fania catalogue represents a cultural and social responsibility that we take very seriously," says Giora Breil, chief marketing officer with Emusica, the company that purchased the Fania assets. "Since our acquisition, we have been trying to build personal relationships with the artists, producers and arrangers who helped create this music."

Founded in 1964 by Dominican bandleader Johnny Pacheco and the late impresario Jerry Masucci, Fania and its subsidiary labels documented the New York salsa explosion of the '70s, the moment when Afro-Caribbean music hit a commercial and artistic zenith by mixing Cuban dance formats with big band jazz and gritty R&B stylings.

"It was a very special time," says Pacheco, who, at 71, still performs with his own band and at Fania reunion shows. "Back then, there was a lot of competition in the Latin scene, which is the best thing that can happen to a musician. We were all hungry. We wanted to play."

Because it remained fiercely independent through the advent of CDs, Fania released discs of substandard sonic quality, transferring many titles directly from LPs instead of the original recording tapes. It paid little attention to the preservation of one of the most remarkable archives Latin music has ever known.

Talks of a Fania buyout circulated among tropical music aficionados for years. The catalogue was finally purchased by the Miami-based Emusica for an undisclosed sum. Universal Latino is distributing the releases in the United States.

The sound is not pristine -- like a vintage wine, it retains the roughness and warmth of the original sessions. Among the treasures:

· "La Voz," the 1975 solo debut by the late Puerto Rican singer Héctor Lavoé -- probably salsa's most transcendent (and still underrated) voice. Produced by musical partner Willie Colón, the collection includes Lavoé hits such as the joyful "Rompe Saragüey" and the mystically tinged "El Todopoderoso."

· Eddie Palmieri's "Vámonos Pa'l Monte," a 1971 masterpiece of manic salsa and dissonant jazz. The title track delivers a memorable moment of pure Latin psychedelia: Eddie plays heavy electric piano chords while his brother Charlie introduces a sinuous melody on the organ. When Ismael Quintana starts singing, all hell breaks loose.

· Enveloped in lush string arrangements, Cuban diva La Lupe belts out bitterly melodramatic ballads on the 1969 session "La Lupe Es La Reina (The Queen)." "Puro Teatro" is a three-minute Latin soap opera -- alternately beautiful and hysterical.

· 1970's "Fuego En El 23," by La Sonora Ponceña, one of Puerto Rico's most revered orchestras. Led by keyboardist Papo Lucca, La Ponceña emphasizes tight arrangements and velvety piano solos.

· Rubén Blades and Willie Colón's 1978 musical manifesto "Siembra." For years, the best-selling salsa album of all time.

More than just a label, Fania was the expression of a particularly fruitful time in Latin music, a gentlemanly club of like-minded artists. "We helped each other," Pacheco points out. "The star singers would sing backup choruses on other people's records. We'd get together at the office just to come up with new songs and have a good time."

Consider the personnel listing on Feliciano's "Cheo" album. Backup vocals were done by Pacheco and three celebrated singers: Palmieri's lead vocalist Ismael Quintana, Justo Betancourt and Tito Puente veteran Santitos Colón. On the piano was Larry Harlow, a formidable bandleader in his own right. Pacheco was enlisted to play congas on the record when Ray Barretto didn't show up as scheduled. As Pacheco wistfully recalls: "It was a beautiful movement."