Panama! 3 — Calypso Panama, Guajira Jazz & Cumbia Tipica On The Isthmus 1960-75

Bits and pieces of Panama's prolific musical past have only survived through the scratched vinyl owned by the protective music-loving record collector hands. These tunes are compiled on Panama! 3 - Calypso Panama, Guajira Jazz & Cumbia Tipica On The Isthmus 1960-75.

Labels like Sally Ruth, Artelec and Tabago, which produced both full-length and seven-inch singles are all long gone, but intrepid Panamanians brought in worn/over-played recordings that were transferred to digital files by Britain's Soundway Records.

This is the third volume of unearthed music from the tiny isthmus nation that links North and South America. While the title of this volume includes Tipica and Guarjira jazz, there's a particular focus on the various forms of calypso played by a variety of Jamaican expatriate acts who made their home in the cities of Colon and Panama City.

Panama also attracted cultural influence from Africa and South America, as well as a heavy American influence. So there's a lot of samba, soul and jazz rolled up in these calypso songs. In fact, one of the track titles — Orquesta De Armando Boza Con Manito Johnson's "Samba Calypso" — illustrates this hybrid.

Since the the master tapes were not source of these recordings, the sound quality is a bit dodgy. But this only adds to the exotic nature of these songs. The compilation's opener, Lord Panama And The Stickers' "Fire Down Below" best illustrates this, as the drumming and at times of the vocals tend to take a back seat to a lo-fi sheen.

Ruben Blades, one of the first recording featuring Panama's greatest and best-known singers, is a special treat. Blades was the featured singer on Los Salvajes Del Rimo's cover of "St. John's Guagaunco" before he left for America in the late '60s.

There's some politically tinged lyrics sung in Spanish and English on this compilation. Lord Cobra's "Colon, Colon" decries the loss of people moving from the once populated title city, while Sir Valentino's "Masters Are Gone" recalls the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and its impact on the underprivileged mass of this Latin American country.

For listeners wanting expand their musical education, the compilers of this volume, which include Quantic's Will Holland, mine the differences between Boogaloo, Tipaco, Guaracha and Cumbia genre sub-categories, to help you get educated on top of entertained.

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