In the mid 1960s Latin teenagers in New York’s Spanish Harlem neighborhood
created a new style of music called Latin boogaloo. The sound was a mix of the
Cuban music they grew up with and American R&B like James Brown and Hank
Ballard. It quickly caught on and before long the young purveyors of this new
sound were taking business from the likes of Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, and
Eddie Palmieri. Soon the established acts reluctantly joined the craze and
recorded a smattering of Boogloos. However, many of them were not happy about
it. In general they felt it was beneath them. Eventually a small group of the
most powerful people in the Latin music business conspired to kill off the
Boogaloo and make way for the burgeoning Salsa craze. Concert promoters, DJs, and
venues were bribed to turn away any and all Boogaloo business. As soon as it
came, it left.
Secret Stash Records is proud to present this double
LP compilation of rare and hard to find Boogaloos. Each track has been selected
with the help of veteran Boogaloo producer Bobby Marin. To help tell the story
of the untimely demise of the genre, Secret Stash enlisted the services of
legendary concert promoter and illustrator Izzy Sanabria (the man responsible
for the artwork on most of Fania’s releases) to write liner notes.
Additionally, all of the artwork for the album is comprised of rehashed
versions of Sanabria’s now famous Boogaloo concert posters of the 60s. As
always, each hand numbered, hand assembled double LP set includes a free
download of the entire album and a re-sealable dust bag.
