Various Artists – Saturno 2000 – La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962 – 1983
Analog Africa – 15 April 2022
One of my life’s pleasures is undoubtedly discovering previously unheard music genres, and thanks to those pioneering folk at Analog Africa, another one has just been added to my list. Once again, leaving the titular geographical continent of their name, this time for South America, specifically Mexico, their latest compilation brings to the world the sounds of rebajada.
Their Saturno 2000 – La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962 – 1983 release, number 34 in the series, explores the rebajada scene of Mexico, which in its simplest terms, was the dance-floor music of choice of Monterrey and Mexico City created by the sound-system operators, the sonideros who slowed down the beat of cumbia, a music which although originating in Columbia was reinvented and adapted in Mexico, ‘rebajada’ in Spanish meaning ‘to lower, reduce’.
Having been approached back in around 2009 by San Diego-based Peruvian DJ Eamon Ore-Giron (aka DJ Lengua), who was aware of Analog Africa’s groundbreaking forays into unearthing and releasing psychedelic gems from Africa, the label’s founder Samy Ben Redjeb invited Lengua to compile a collection for his label. A decade later, the resulting album, which is based heavily upon the original mix sent by Ore-Giron, features compositions from Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Columbia, mostly instrumental tracks from the 1970s, but all with pitch control by DJ Lengua himself.
To appreciate how rebajada came to be such an influential style, it is helpful to have the briefest of looks at the history that led to its naissance. Originating in urban working-class barrio neighbourhoods, Mexico’s sonideros met the locals’ need for dancing and socialising, initially, through sound-system parties. This culture became more popular, bringing with it a demand for both better sound-systems and a more diverse musical mix. The latter was addressed by two families of brothers, the Ortegas and the Pereas, who would collect records from all over Latin America and have no problem selling them back in Mexico to sonideros who were eager to ‘out-do’ each other with the latest cuts. The beats of the Columbian cumbia, whilst almost a perfect fit for the dance steps favoured by the Mexicans, who were used to the slower styles of danzón, were a little too fast. Enterprising sonideros began experimenting, and one, Marco Anonio Cedillo, invented a pitching system that enabled record-playing speeds to be slowed down. Simultaneously, and almost unbelievably, in Monterrey, in the north of the country, following an incident where a short circuit to his equipment resulted in his deck only being able to spin at a slow speed, sonidero Gabriel Dueñez found that the ecstatic youngsters couldn’t get enough of this ‘new’ cumbia sound. By this time, the sonidos (sound systems) themselves had taken on a much more professional hue, with names such as Sonido Jazmin, Sonido Fascinación and Sonido Imperial, many founded by the record dealers who travelled the continent in search of potential musical gems.
On this collection, with the exception of contributions from Polibio Mayorga, accordionist, organist and Moog exponent extraordinaire, who worked under the pseudonym of Junior Y Su Equipo, and Sampuesana, performed by Los Dinners, the label claims that most of the rest of the songs on the album were probably never performed as such before, let alone having been released.
The compilation opens with the above-mentioned track from Los Dinners, a Mexican group that was originally released in 1975. Whilst its slightly off-kilter stylophone-like keys, over rhythms provided by drums and guiro seem to chug along, a comparison with the original shows how much effect the pitch control has had. The second offering to have originated from Mexico is a fascinating instrumental piece. Capricho Egipcio from Conjunto Típico Contreras is truly exotic. Military-style percussion introduces what initially sounds like bagpipes of some description, which quickly dissolves into an Egyptian/Middle Eastern vibes, hardly surprising given the title, as organ and accordion evoke camel trains and souks.
The aforementioned Junior Y Su Equipo, hailing from Ecuador, contribute three tracks to this unique album. La Borrachita, the first single released from the collection, makes full use of electronics to produce, at times, oriental sounds, whereas, on Bien Bailadito, Mayorga utilises the techniques available to him to shift continents and re-create panpipe sounds, as DJ Lengua further tweaks the already ‘treated vocals’ of the original with pitch control, to emulate the North American railroad ‘wooh wooh’ sound to great effect. However, it is their 1979 track, Alegrate, which is possibly their most beguiling. Lengua’s treatment of the original ‘plinky’ electronic, jaunty and sunny rhythms exposes a wonderful warmth, as the different electronic instruments/sounds play-off against each other, à la Duelling Banjos, to produce music that is happiness personified.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the cumbia/rebajada relationship outlined above, there is only one Columbian original here, but what a cracker it is. Already released as the second single, and clocking in at 3 minutes 20 seconds, the version of La Danza Del Mono from Lucho Gavilanes presented here (listen below) is much slower than the original 1970s release, with the hand-drum percussion, electric keys, Wurlitzer-effect keys and electronic, (or phase changed), hi-hat weaving intricate rhythms and assaulting the ears from all angles. The sole offering from Venezuela is a similarly intoxicating listen. Infinito from Hugo Blanco Y Su Arpa Viajera sounds like a Morricone soundtrack performed by The Tornadoes or The Ventures, but with the listener transported to La Guajira, as the exotic percussion, claves and shakers evoke desert landscapes, burning skies and cacti. All the more amazing that the phenomenal over-arching sound is actually provided by Hugo’s arpa viajera (travelling harp), not an electric guitar.
The remaining eight tracks all originate from Peru, clearly the driving force behind the project, due in no small part to Pablo Perea from Sonido Arco-Iris, the sonidero who brought Peruvian music to Mexico. Two of these come from Manzanita, who has featured in a previous Analog Africa Folk Radio review here. Research uncovers the fact that Lengua’s treatment of the first of these, Paga La Cuenta Sinverguenza, has rendered it virtually unrecognisable from the original 1977 Sono Radio release. One of the few tracks here to feature voices, in this version, the combination of the deepest of bass vocals with one which is almost falsetto, along with a compulsive rhythm, produces a sound akin to reggae. Manzanita returns, this time Y Su Conjunto (with his band), with a track that will only appear on the vinyl and CD versions of the release. Primavera 71, a sparse sounding guitar-led piece, was later re-recorded as El Jardinero (and indeed featured in the aforementioned Folk Radio review).
Guitars can be heard to feature on several more tracks, most notably Grupo Celeste’s Todo Lo Tengo De Ti Menos Tu Amor, where occasional shredding guitar notes interplay with handclaps, bass notes deep down in the mix behind the group’s vocals, all cutting across bleepy, squonky electronics, and Feito Parrandero from Los Feos, another upbeat track, with repeated guitar patterns being played over insistent percussion beats before the introduction of electronic effects swirling mid-track. This offering is also, perhaps, the best example of DJ Lengua’s use and effect of pitch control, in contrast to the sound of the original.
The overt use of brass makes an appearance on the title track, Saturno 2000, an instrumental originally released, again at a much faster tempo, by Los Santos in 1972. With guitar too, but predominantly percussion, a jazzy, Latin feel is created, much the same as with Pa’ Oriente Me Voy from Los Atamos de Paramonga with its ascending and descending scales, wah-wah effects and very effective deep sounds.
The Mediterranean feel created by Los Gatos Blancos with their El Chacarero side is juxtaposed by the rapid, high-pitched strings, sounding at times much like ululations, whilst the album closer, La Fuga Del Bandido, (the flight of the bandit) from Los Ecos, originally released as a B side in 1975, is nothing short of a minor revelation. Hand drums, jazzy guitar solos, Moog, Hammond organ and Wurlitzer sounds, all capped by some adventurous flute, might appear to be a contrived way to include all available contemporaneous keyboard sounds on one track, but it works; one for lovers of Tontos Expanding Headband and laidback Osibisa. Judge for yourself, this track is available now on Bandcamp here, and will be released as the third single on March 25th.
Once again, Analog Africa have unearthed and made available musical treasures deserving of a worldwide audience.
In keeping with their usual practice, there are extensive liner notes, including a riveting history of Mexican pitch control, (Radson tube amps, heavy-duty Garrard decks), alongside superb archive photographs.
Saturno 2000 – La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962 – 1983 is released on 15th April as a double LP (140g virgin vinyl) with gatefold cover and a full-colour 12-page booklet, CD with a full-colour 28-pages booklet, together with digital download & streaming.
Pre-order on Bandcamp: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/saturno-2000-la-rebajada-de-los-sonideros-1962-1983