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Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe: La Murga de Panama
08/09/07
Marc Antony and Jennifer Lopez are starring in a movie called El Cantante, which I plan to see this weekend. It's based on the life of Puerto Rican-American Salsa great Hector Lavoe. In researching Lavoe on Wikipedia, I came across this paragraph:
In late 1970, Colón and Lavoe recorded the first of two "Asalto Navideño" albums, featuring Puerto Rican folk songs such as Ramito's jibaro song "Patria y Amor" (renamed "Canto a Borinquen") and original compositions.[12] The album, which also featured Puerto Rican cuatro player Yomo Toro, is regarded as an all-time salsa classic, still selling strong more than 35 years after its recording. It also gave the Colón band its signature song, "La Murga", an ode to Panama's musical festivals that transposed a rather simple bass guitar line to trombone, producing a by-now classic salsa riff as a result.
It so happens that La Murga is amongst my top ten Salsa songs and one of my favorite songs of any genre. The Murga is from Uruguay, according to Wikipedia, but in the song, Hector insists it's from Panama or, at least, that Panama has its own version. I don't know- maybe Latins ran out of names for music styles (they should really sit down and settle this matter). Anyways, its a wonderful song with Hector in full voice and the band pumping out some booty-shaking rhythms. Nice guitar stuff in the video.
Willie Colon Murga
Montevideo, Uruguay Murga
Proving once again that women don't care about looks.
3 comments
Just want to clear out something about the murga. A murga in Panama is not really a music style, but rather a music ensemble, mainly of wind and percussion instruments (not too different from a salsa band, but probably 5 times larger). They tend to play in Carnival and other festivities, and move around town (rather than play at a given location). This is what Colón refers to, as they do play a specific type of music, which (since the famous song) has also been referred to as murga. 
From Ana:Hi, I am an Afro Panamanian, who resides in New York City. The term murga really refers to the first frenzy, or beginning of a festive occasion that includes music. These occasions always include a band,a large crowd,and lot of dancing. I wont be surprised that there are murgas all across Latin America, especially because of the many regional festivals that Latin American countries are famous for. Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe's song is really "La Murga de Panama". I believe it is in honor of Panama's carnivals, where the murgas with the bands, floats, and queens represented the commencement of the carnival season. Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe, and most of the Soneros of that period, delighted us on many occasions with their beautiful and joyful music. Those were some of the best moments, any Panamanian who grew up during that period, today, reminice. The good old days of good music.
AND THEY ARE BORICUAS. I UNDERSTAND THEM BECAUSE THE MY FIRST FLY WAS FOR PANAMA AND I HAD A LOT OF FUN.I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE PEOPLE. 
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