Californian-born Roberto Gyement is a truffle pig for long lost sound jewels in the latin Caribbean. In Panama and Colombia he’s been sniffing for rhythms like Cumbia, Porro or Descarga, which are little known in the western hemisphere. After a thorough selection and delicate remastering, they get released by the british label Soundway Records. His most recent compilation goes by the name of CARTAGENA! Cumbia and Descarga sound of Colombia. It is the story of recently deceased label-founder »Curro« Fuentes.
Since your »Panama«-Compilation, which was released five years ago, you deliver rare grooves from the Caribbean of the Sixties and Seventies to a latin-loving audience and DJs. Calypso, Cumbia, Salsa and so on – why does an American devote himself to this genre?
Roberto Gyement: Ten years ago I had nothing to do with latin music. My heroes were Black Sabbath and Run DMC. But in 2009 I moved to Costa Rica for six years, which is the home of my father. In order to extend my visa, I had to travel to Panama every three months. These trips were about to change my life: I was already hooked on latin sounds, so I visited a radio station in some panamanian border town, where I bought thousands of old LPs and Singles. They had tons of records. I had to transport my purchase to Costa Rica in turns, and people were looking at me suspiciously: »What does this guy want with all those records?«
But there’s a long way from being a record collector to a compiler for Soundway Records…»It is our mission to find the original recordings, and if possible, also the masters. After that we present the music and its story in a loving way«
Roberto Gyement
Roberto Gyement: No. Although it was a coincidence, this went hand in hand from the beginning. I sold some of the singles via ebay to pay for my travels to Panama. One of the buyers was Miles Cleret, the owner of Soundway Records. He suggested to me to make a compilation of Panama-sounds. We wanted to present the best of strange A- and B-sides at Soundway, which had not been available up to that moment. Some of the tracks on the panamanian records were completely unknown outside the country’s borders. It is our mission to find the original recordings, and if possible, also the masters. After that we present the music and its story in a loving way.
As you finished with Panama after three Compilations, you went over to the neighbouring country Colombia. Why that?
Roberto Gyement: Well, I was actually looking for an old peruvian piano player, Alfredito Linares, to interview him for a music magazine. On my search I got to know Will Holland aka Quantic, who introduced me to the characters of the local music scene. This made me plunge into a whole new world. One recurring name within all this was the one of the record label Fuentes: A family-run business for ages. It stands out due to a high quality of recording, a high quality of pressing and beautiful cover art. They have really done a fantastic job. My first colombian compilation was entirely devoted to these recordings.
Roberto Gyement: All the tracks on this record were produced and recorded by him. First, using his own brand »Discos Curros«, then as head producer for Phillips in Bogota. He was a rebel. But he really knew a lot about music and he played music himself, too. And he always had an ear for pop music: Uptempo to dance to. He got all the main characters of Cumbia-Bigbands like Lucho Bermudez and Pacho Galan to come to the capital and he could just dispose of their music. This is when all the incredible Bigband-Cumbia-records were produced. But Curro didn’t stand the metropolis in the Andes for too long: too cold, bad food, like he used to say. So he opened his own record studio in Cartagena in the late Sixties.
So, this is where the name of the compliation comes from. How does the Cartagena-Sound differ from the sound of the Andes?
Roberto Gyement: Curro changed his concept on the coast. Away from big Orchestras towards the street. The sound is simply smoking. These young musicians of the »Super Combo Curro« wanted to play Salsa real hard. They were raised in the streets and were playing in strip-clubs in the red-light-district of Cartagena and Barranquilla. And Curro introduced them to experienced brass players of the orchestras. Local young stars like Michi Sarmiento or Carlos Roman characterised incredibly powerful brass sequences, which sound to me like the upcoming apocalypse. The percussions are incredible and the recordings just beautiful. This mix of style was something truly unique and was distributed on the Candelarios-Curro-Sequel, which you will now find on our compliation.
