Fania Records was a New York
based
record label founded by Dominican-born
composer and bandleader Johnny
Pacheco and Italian-American lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964. The label took its name from an
old Cuban song by the singer
Reinaldo Bolaño.
Fania is known for its promotion of what has become known as
Salsa music. The label started out as a
small venture, but gained popularity after the success of its first
official record, Pacheco's "Cañonazo," leading to the expansion of
its talent base. Fania was responsible for launching the careers of
many Salsa stars, among them Larry Harlow, Willie Colon and Hector
Lavoe.
History
The second album released under the Fania imprint was
Larry Harlow's 1965 Heavy Smoking.
The record’s modern take on traditional Afro-Caribbean music served
as the template for what soon would come to be known as the Fania
Sound.
In 1968, Pacheco created a
supergroup known as the
Fania All-Stars that brought together the
elite of Salsa musicians and singers for joint performances and
recording. The Fania All-Stars were Fania's best selling band,
outlasting the label itself. They made their debut at the Red
Garter club located in New York's Greenwich Village, but it was
their 1971 performance at the Cheetah, a club in Midtown Manhattan,
which became legendary.
Larry
Harlow was chosen by Jerry Masucci to produce the band's
records while Pacheco acted as director on stage. The Fania
All-Stars were filmed for the documentary "Our Latin Thing"
released a year later. Leon Gast, the Academy Award winning
director of
When We Were Kings
filmed the Fania All-Stars for the documentary "Our Latin Thing"
released in 1972. The first vocalist that recorded as a soloist was
cuban sonero
Monguito.
Among Fania's signature stars are:
Celia
Cruz,
Larry Harlow,
Ray Barretto,
Ralfi Pagan ,
Luis "Perico" Ortiz,
Bobby Valentín,
Rubén Blades,
Hector Lavoe, and many others.
Masucci would eventually become sole owner of Fania Records and the
numerous other labels and umbrella labels in South America that he
acquired and created. He died in Buenos Aires, Argentina on
December 21
st 1997 at age 62.
In September
2005, Fania's assets were
sold to Miami-based label Emusica, and by early
2006, the new owners began to reissue material
from Fania's backlog catalog (some of which has never appeared on
CD before) with enhanced sound and liner
notes.
In 1993
Chino Rodriguez, manager of
many of the Fania artists, suggested to
Jerry Masucci that he bring back the
Fania All-Stars in the form of live
concerts. As of 2007 all that is left is "Larry Harlow and the
Latin Legends of Fania".
The 1975 release "Live at Yankee Stadium" was included in the
second set of 50 recordings in the list of recordings preserved in
the United States National Recording Registry,
Daniel Amar Siad Berber born from Tinkicht Swedish citizen was a
personal assistant to Jerry Masucci from May 1993 to 1997 also a
partnered him with him a company named Pyrales Music S.A Panamanian
Co. (Nueva-Fania) that produced all the Cuban artists. Organized
several (concerts in Puerto Rico ,Colombia, Venezuela, Paris and
Madison Square Garden)Paulito FG, Khuan Carlos Alfonso.Dandan,
Pedro Jesus, Pedro Dikan, Shira, LM Sobre dosis .Mr Amar siad
(Daniel) was the co founder of group Havana all stars together with
Samel Formel the drummer and song writer of Los Van Van , son of
Khuan Formel.
After the death of Jerry Masucci the new team from Sonido Inc
.Under Victor Gallo and Melissa Gosnel sold Fania records To
Company Named V2 that belongs to Virgin, without considering to pay
the rights of several artist that belongs to Pyrales Music include
the last CD Fania Bravo half of the songs belong to.Just to make a
history true Mr. Siad decided not to sue anybody, whatever money
comes out of all this he hopes that Virgin will give it to the
charity.
Discography
References
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