Orquesta Harlow
Referred to as “El judio maravilloso,” the Marvelous Jew
Larry Harlow was a Brooklyn producer and arranger who put out some of the most fire Fania sides during the great salsa craze of the 70s
He had traveled to Cuba in the 50s and studied with some of the greats, and his dad was the bandleader at the Latin Quarter
This joint has some unusual violin parts that harken back to Ashkenazi traditions
Ismael Miranda on vocals (PR), responsible for most of the singing for Harlow’s group and for the Fania All-Stars
Saborrrrrrrrr
Lyrics in this one talk about how the guanguanco rhythm form the basis of rumba, son, merengue, and samba (the last one is a dubious claim haha)
If you want to start a brawl, ask a Puerto Rican and a Cuban about where the sounds that became “salsa” have their origin
You’ll see them fighting in the comments of every YouTube video
Not so much predated
Obviously hard to pinpoint when a new musical style emerged
They’re all products of the black Atlantic
The world the slaves made
Samba is sometimes considered to come from reconcavo baiano
But it might be most accurate to say it really emerged in Rio, in estacio. Not the favelas of escaped former enslaved persons, but in the encounter of West African rhythms such as maxixe and lundu dragged on the murderous middle passage, with European polka, choro, and others
For more, see Robert Farris Thompson
But afaik, guanguanco and son montuno from Cuba (which are generally accepted precursors of Mambo, rumba, and then salsa) couldn’t really be said to be origins of samba. Though they share roots in what Western folk call West African “religions” (also really a misnomer)
Back to the music: I mixed up two different songs in my head. This is the one with the violin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6QSuXjdBVQ
also super dope — check about 4:00 in
Lyrics in this one appropos of our current situation (“I lost my wallet, don’t have any money anymore”)
Louis Kahn on violin
In his introduction he’s called “the OTHER marvelous jew” 😉
Special note for the Professor: Harlow apparently also had a master’s in philosophy from the New School!
Definitely the way I process the world and my mental health. As the kid knows, I call my YouTube playlist “Prozac” cuz it’s helped me deal with depression. And I’m kinda worried about slipping back into deep depression with quarantine, so the music is a way to cope and escape