Friday Playlist: Eternity in a Single Slap

Exploring Latin Soul Through the Conga Drum

Here’s a short playlist companion to this week’s piece about the new Craft Recordings compilation It’s a Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records.

I found myself focusing on the effortlessly cohesive live rhythm section performances, and then specifically on the role of the conga drum — as pulse signifier and field general and wisecracking responder to the proceedings. In the intricate communication of Afro-Cuban rhythm sections, it’s possible to learn a ton about groove dynamics just by following what the conguero is doing. Especially when that conguero is Ray Barretto or Mongo Santamaria, both featured here.

That new set is disappointingly ballad-heavy, short on the intensity the musicians of Fania brought to son montuno and boogaloo — an approach to timekeeping that spread quickly through jazz and R&B and creative musics of many genre designations. And it overlooks some Fania-associated acts like the LeBron Brothers, one of the underloved pioneering ensembles in this space; the great Psychedelic Goes Latin LP is alas MIA on Spotify.

The playlist skims the surface of this legacy, and should be regarded only as a starting point: It’s possible to spend days following the recorded exploits of Ray Barretto, from his sideman work on Prestige to his contribution to countless Fania classics to his own massive discography.

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