Latin Soul & Latin Funk

Latin soul, including boogaloo (bugalu), shing-a-ling, jala jala, and pata pata (after the Miriam Makeba song), is one of New York's best-kept cultural secrets. A music-and-dance phenomenon that swept New York City and beyond in the mid-1960s, it was also the sound of half of Harlem through the mid-1970s. Unlike Afro-Cuban music, which combined centuries of African and Spanish musical tradition, Latin soul reflected the disparate ingredients of the decade, including social turmoil. Latin percussion, soul melody, and often ruinous lyrics along the lines of "C'mon baby, dance the boogaloo" slowly gave way to hipper developments and occasionally inspiration. The use of conga with bluesy bass lines became ubiquitous in funk and soul jazz, however.

Many people believed a little boogaloo went a long way, and as with any fad there was much repetition, redundancy, and ripping off of others' riffs. It was the last Latin craze before salsa (which was developing simultaneously), yet the first not to require learning new steps! That was the conventional wisdom, anyway. In fact, the boogaloo had been around since at least the late 1950s, when it was called guajira. Most boogaloo is simply a modernized guajira with English lyrics. By 1975 Latin had embraced disco.

As a fad, New York Latin soul came straight from the kids in El Barrio (Spanish Harlem), who for years had assembled on corners and sung popular doo-wop and soul hits for their own amusement. Much "Latin soul" is just popular soul and sweet-soul ballads sung by Puerto Ricans. Some groups even emulated the most popular Motown acts. But boogaloo was a recording revolution of its own in the mid-1960s, at least in New York City. The old guard (the previous generation) dismissed it as brash, simplistic, "American" music (although so was their cherished jazz); conversely the kids could no longer identify with the stagnating mambo and charanga styles. When boogaloo faded, some took it as proof that it had been merely a passing fad, while others blamed tragic business errors.

After the first boogaloo records hit in the dance clubs, some of the old dogs on the reluctant spinster labels Fania and Alegre got into the act and made a handful of the better records. But George Goldner's Cotique label set the high marks for the style with the most progressive and risk-taking albums. His patent trombone sound defined Latin soul, and he developed most of the best, original bands. Over a few critical years, these "kids" buried the awkward pop of "boogaloo" and ushered in the hip funk of true Latin soul. The struggle between commercial pop impulses and more artful, progressive Latin and Latin jazz continued, however.

For a time Cotique was the only Latin label taking chances on new, younger acts. These kids sang about pot, LSD, hippies, and whatever else it took to get across "the message." Chollo Rivera sang about his love for the blues as expressed in soul. Cotique served as the Blue Note of Latin soul but failed to survive the bad business deals that ruined the top Latin labels. Fleshing out the top tier were a few micro labels such as Fonseca, Swinger (Fania's token pitch to youth), and the tiny but fantastic Speed (which picked up where Cotique left off), but their output failed to surpass even the paltry offerings (under-pressed tax write-offs, some claim) on mainstream, non-Latin labels such as Decca and Columbia. Fania had Monguito Santamaria, Bobby Valentin, Larry Harlow, Ralph Robles, Joe Bataan, Ralfi Pagan, and a few others in addition to the mostly half-hearted efforts by the old masters.

Few albums are entirely boogaloo (or Latin soul), the rest being usually primordial salsa, guaguanco, or Latin jazz. The trend met with fierce resistance in its heyday, but periodic revivals do occur. The old-guard defenders of "roots" Spanish music are making their peace with it, and general collectors appreciate Latin soul as hip, early, cross-cultural pop -- not to be shunned as either bogus Latin or bogus soul. A proud product of New York City, Latin soul reflects "the place to be" in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Latin soul gave rise to heavier Latin funk and funky Latin rock. After giving up on the U.S.A., Perez Prado returned to Mexico City to record some deep funk under looser expectations than with RCA. El Chicano and War emerged from the Los Angeles "chicano" scene to dominate FM radio stations. In New York, Harvey Averne came up with an original sound combining Latin soul, funk, and rock. As with fellow New Yorkers Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, Averne was rediscovered during the "acid jazz" movement of the 1990s.

Buying: Very little Latin soul or Latin funk sold well enough to be considered common. Records on Latin labels rarely sold beyond New York City, and the more obscure records had a tough time even there. None should be taken for granted. Joe Cuba, El Chicano, and Tito Puente all made classic best-sellers that anyone can find, however. Advanced collectors should look beyond Fania/Tico/Alegre to Cotique (ideal for European tastes), which remains undervalued.