Papita Frita

Hola familia and friends, I hope everyone is well. Here is the track list for this week:

Willie Bobo "Shing-A-Ling Baby" (MGM)
Tito Puente "Oye Mi Guaguanco" (TVO)
Lord Cobra y los Hnos. Duncan "Love Letters" (Soundway)
Joe Bataan "Magic Rose" (Fania)
The Harvey Averne Dozen "You're No Good" (Atlantic)
George Guzman "Y No Sabia Bailar" (Fania)
Joe Cuba Sextette "Wabble-Cha" (Seeco)
Ray Barretto "Trompeta y Trombon" (WS Latino)
Pete Rodriguez y Su Conjunto "I Like It Like That" (Alegre)
Azuquita "California" (Vaya)
Download file here

Good stuff, no? Check out that third song in particular.... it comes off this AMAZING album, Panama! 2. You have to pick this up...you HAVE TO. It's an arepafunk requirement. It is available on vinyl, CD, and on iTunes. Here is the link to the store. Roberto Ernesto Gyemant does an excellent job on the liner notes. Seriously, on iTunes you can get this album for 10 bucks and you get 20 carefully selected songs with the digital booklet - all fire, I'm telling you - you won't want to skip a single track. That sounds like a steal to me.



Guess what?! Fania Records has some new releases scheduled in the next couple of months. First up... Tito Rodriguez, "A Man And His Music," out 11-3-2009. Check out this video.

til next time, Peace!

No excuses LA

If you call Los Angeles, Califas your home then you absolutely must make it out to the California Plaza in downtown at noon or at 8pm this Friday, August 14th to catch Totó La Momposina LIVE for FREE. This event is brought to you by Grand Performances. Check out their site for more info...

Also, I am going to go check out Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro at the Echoplex on Saturday the 15th. Should be a dope show... for all things Quantic, check out his site.

Oh and I almost forgot... The LA Salsa Music Festival at the Greek Theatre on August 22nd. Don't miss it... every year so far its been pretty sick. This year the headliner is El Gran Combo.
Get more info and buy tickets here.

Lots of good music, right in LA. Don't sleep!

Ciao

Jamón y Queso

A new look plus new music! Finally!

What's up mi gente... I know your starving for some arepafunk. Tranquilos... I got you.

First off - Caminito Serrano by Jaime Llano Gonzalez. Afrosound has a really dope version of this song too. This one reminds me of Chicha which is a cool, psychadelic cumbia sounding music from Peru. Check out Chicha Libre, a Brooklyn-based band thats got an awesome sound.

Mambo en España by Orquesta Riverside is one I have been saving for a special occasion. This is some good music that will never grow old. I know you'll love it.

I end the set with the Fania All Stars playing El Raton. In the liner notes there's a clip from the New York Post that sums up all the excitement from the night that this song(among others) was recorded live at Yankee Stadium. It's nuts.... Just to give you an idea of how crazy this show must have been... Mongo Santamaria, Tipica '73, and El Gran Combo warmed up the crowd....

En serio? For real? Arr ju kidin me? Just picture that, all those guys are opening up the show, then you got the Fania All Stars showing up with Manu Dibango and Jorge Santana. Holy chit, its no wonder 40,000 fans rushed the stage and the show had to end early.

Yankee Stadium, August 24th, 1973. Wow

Here's a video of El Raton being performed live in Zaire. Enjoy.

Alright, be good. Peace!

Andy Montañez at the Conga Room

Attention all Angelinos... Andy Montañez LIVE

Thursday, August 6th
Conga Room at LA Live
800 W. Olympic Blvd

I'm sure its gonna be a great show so try to make it out!

Peace

Johnny B. Bueno

Yo! If you've been checkin' the site for updates mil gracias for your support and I apologize that I haven't posted anything for a second. I'm a perezoso, I know! Now that midterms are over and I have time to slack off until finals, I am going to re-design the site and you should have a fresh looking site plus a new episode within the next week. Palabra!

Don't forget to catch up on any episodes you might have missed by checking out the archives page.

http://www.arepafunk.com/archives.html

Peace,
Johnny

Lentejas con Arroz

Eavamaria, I am pretty bad at this blogging thing. I have had this slow jams set ready for more than a week, I just haven't made time to post it up. True old school tracks - my grandma and Nana (my grandma's aunt) were totally groovin' and singing along to this in the car the other day when we were out and about. That's how I know its good. =)

So, I just got back from the Hollywood Bowl. Poncho Sanchez, Eddie Palmieri and Sergio Mendes were performing. AMAZING. I had so much fun. Those of us who live out here in LA need to take advantage of the Hollywood Bowl being in our backyard- it is so wonderful.

There was a rapper that performed with Sergio Mendes and his band. I'm not sure if I liked it. I am a huge hip hop fan and some of my favorite performers are hip hop artists (Crown City Rockers, Living Legends, Zion I), but I still think that I would have preferred Sergio without the hip hop addition. It's weird - I'd go see this MC again because he was good, but I think he sort of diluted the latin groove on stage. It's like adding ice cubes to your wine (I've heard of people who do this). Yeah, I guess its refreshing but I'd much rather have my wine without the ice. You be the judge... check out H2O on his myspace.

I will be including some Eddie Palmieri on the next podcast so don't forget to come back soon. I am going to get better with my consistency here, en serio! =P

Peace!

Aguardiente Estraight II

In case you missed the first Aguardiente set, find it in the archives (March 7, 2009).

This is some great music to dance too. I even threw in some merengue. Seriously, be careful with this en la oficina... you will end up out of your chair shaking it.

Coming up soon is a 'slow jams' set. Be on the lookout!

Peace

Arroz con Frijoles

Ay caramba, I've fallen behind again! It looks like my education is getting in the way of your weekly arepafunk. To make it up, I've used some of the good stuff I've been "saving" to impress you.

Here is the play by play...

This week we have George Guzman opening it up with Diggin' Rice N' Beans. With all the food related lyrics in both ingles and spanish, I thought it was perfect to kick things off.

Yo vengo soltando chispas, yo vengo hechando candela... I love the catchy lyrics on Pete Rodriguez's track Soltando Chispas. Great dance tune.

After Joe Bataan's Muchacho Ordinario, you'll hear three boogaloo grooves by Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, and Joe Panama. Great stuff!

Nat King Cole's Ay, Cosita Linda is a classic. If your looking for a new album to pick up, be sure to check out the Nat King Cole tribute album Re: Generations that came out earlier this year. Here's the link to the iTunes store.

A couple of weeks back I know some of you were really diggin' El Pito by Joe Cuba, so I included Bang! Bang! which has that same fun energy.

Next up is Willie Colon's The Hustler, the title track from his 1968 album. Look forward to some great solos.

And last but not least is a live song by the Fania All Stars at Yankee Stadium. Congo Bongo features Mongo Santamaria and Ray Barretto on the congas with Hector Lavoe and Cheo Feliciano on vocals. I only wish I coulda been there to see this!!!

Bueno, its back to studying for my final.

Peace!

Arepa con Queso

Yo! I've been really bad at keep this blog and the podcast up-to-date on a weekly basis. I apologize to all of you that visit weekly. I should be back on track now.

The good news is I did some record hunting and picked up some great stuff while I was in San Francisco this past weekend. I look forward to showing off some of these great finds in the coming weeks.

Arepa con Queso is a set I put together right before I left for my little vacation to Sacramento/SF. It is made up of all Colombian music. The last four songs were written by the legendary Rafael Escalona who passed away on May 13th. Click here to learn more about his life. QEPD

Peace.

Birria

The Cinco de Mayo holiday inspired me to dig through my collection for some music from Mexico.

I selected mostly songs written by Mexican composers but performed by artists I've featured before on my sets. You'll find some fun covers of La Bamba and Cielito Lindo by Arsenio Rodriguez. We also got Perez Prado with Rebeca (written by Wello Rivas) and Maria Bonita (written by Agustin Lara). I had to include a couple Javier Solis tracks just because I like those particular songs so much.

I hope you enjoy this set. It's a bit slower than a typical arepafunk set, but don't worry, next week you won't be able to keep still.

Hasta la proxima! Ciao

Patacón Relleno

Yo! Mi gente, arepafunk is back with a great set. Since I missed an episode last week, I made sure that the tracks I selected this week were extra special.

Some of the highlights include Joe Panama's Soul Sister, Larry Harlow's Las Luzes (with Ismael Miranda Jr. on vocals) and Carlos Argentino singing Tu Rica Boca.

As part of the Jazz at the Bowl series this season, Eddie Palmieri will be performing at the Hollywood Bowl on July 8th. For those of you in LA, you won't wanna miss it. Sergio Mendes and Poncho Sanchez will be playing that night too. Should be amazing - see you there! Tickets went on sale yesterday, check it out.

Colombianisate!

Ciao

Please estay tuned...

Qui'bo! You may have already noticed there was no arepafunk update this past weekend. I am experiencing technical difficulties but as soon as I'm back up and running I will be sure to hit you with an extra set to make up for the one I missed. Thank you for the visit and stay tuned...

Peace!

Café de Desayuno

I'm not sure what you'll think of the first track by Tipica '73. It's starts off slow (give it like 2 minutes to pick up). In the liner notes we learn that all tracks on this side of the album are the "concert" tracks, where the group has the opportunity to stretch out and "perform without the time or tempo restrictions of dance music." I just love how the violin and electric guitar sort of duel at around the 6 minute mark. La Tipica '73 were pretty famous in the 70's and early 80's - the funny thing is that they were formed by a bunch of guys from Ray Barretto's band (you might have noticed arepafunk loves Barretto).

Next you have San Lazaro by Celina y Reutilio. This woman has so much soul in her voice, and her hubby Reutilio is sick with it on the guitar. Did you know that, in the UK, Celina is known as the "Queen of Cuban Country Music"? Bueno, now you know.

Despues sigue una cumbia de Peter Delis. Delis was awarded a gold record by Discos Fuentes for this album (pictured). This was a big deal because never before had a foreigner received this award in Colombia (Delis es argentino).

That last track goes out to all the ladies that look so good in their minifaldas. Cambia el paso, que se te rompe el vestido. =P

Jaja, Okay my people. Take it easy.

Arroz Chino

So this week I found a set of 45's that belong to my Pops. You know when you find a dollar in your pocket? Well, it was something like that. Except, I did cartwheels. Maybe you do cartwheels too when you find a buck? No se.

Anyway, the first selection for this week came from that stack of 45's. It's a song called Pesebre by Grupo la Droga. I couldn't find any info on this group on the net (fun name though). This track is funky - I can't get enough of it.

There is a funny intro to Sono Sono by the Alegre All Stars - it's the voice of Kako , the timbalero. Cheo Feliciano provides the vocals on that track and then you hear him again on the next track El Pito by the Joe Cuba Sextet. Back to back Cheo - you can't beat that.

Charlie Palmieri's Tiene Sabor will make you wanna dance if you weren't already. Be on the lookout, he plays the melodica towards the end and it sounds so dope.

Saludos a Michelle, who I caught checkin' out this blog. Gracias chica! Atleast I know someone is reading this =)

Alright friends of arepafunk, have a great week.

Peace.

Papas Chorreadas

Every time I hear "El Negro Bembon" I have to move the needle back to the beginning and hear it again. I'm not sure if it will have the same effect on you, but I can't help myself.

There's is a little of everything in this mix. I hope you enjoy the variety.

Peace