The first song I’d like to share is another personal favorite, “Nina” by Los Mozambiques. The song was composed by Panama’s great Jaime Murrell, a transcendently soulful singer from the working class barrio of Calidonia who for the last 40 years or so has dedicated himself to his own compelling version of Gospel music. The song, which reminds me a lot of Curtis Mayfield, does not appear on an LP.
Los Mozambiques had a seemingly fractious existence from roughly 1967-77 that spanned a number of bands including Loz Mozambiques, Los Mozambiques de Ernesto Atherley, Los Nuevos Mozambiques, and Nueva Vida, had an embarrassment of riches in a stunning trio of singers that included Eduardo Williams and the golden-throated Carlos Martinez. I’m still piecing together the band’s history and will post more when I can fill in some key details.
The next song is “Black Llovell” by Conjunto Organo Tropical de Colón on the Llovell label. This lovely song, which is hard to classify genre-wise is listed as a Tamborera (and it’s a super funky Tamborera) and the composition is credited to “M/ Beliz Alonso Black L.L.”
Finally, here is Almafuerte/Woodstock en Panama with “Ritmo Pa Goza.” See a bit of info on them in my earlier Psych post. I saw a 45 of this song on a Nicaraguan press of Onda Nueva – not sure if Woodstock did, but a number of combos toured Nicaragua before the devastating 1972 earthquake, playing for “El Vampiro” Tachito Somoza, who said of his own people “I don’t want an educated population; I want oxen.”
Disfruten!