FANIA ALL-STARS-SALSA 70s film-NEW DVD

 FANIA ALL-STARS

Salsa (the film)

NEW DVD

SYSTEM: NTSC and PAL (both)

CATALOG#: Vampi DVD-002

DVD SPECIFICATIONS:

NTSC and PAL - Zone Free - Dolby Digital - Scene Selection - Surround 2.0 - English - Subtitles: Spanish

DESCRIPTION:

It’s the start of a massive stadium gig: Dressed in white suits, silk shirts and jumpsuits, the FANIA artists are feted like gods. The crowd go crazy! This concert at Yankee Stadium on 24^th August, 1973, was the next move in Fania boss Jerry Masucci’s scheme for WORLD SALSA DOMINATION. Yet, despite the amazing achievements of "Our Latin Thing", when Masucci first broached the idea of the Yankee Stadium gig, everyone thought he was insane: Yet, the Yankee Stadium bulged with over 40,000 fans. The concert was just one of the significant ingredients in the film: Released in 1976 and directed by Masucci and "Our Latin Thing"’s LEON GAST, (director of Muhamad Ali´s "When We Were Kings") the movie combined live footage from another massive Fania All Stars show in 1974 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Archive footage as well as reportage from television journalist, Geraldo Rivera, was also inter-cut with the performances. SALSA broadened the agenda and investigated Salsa’s African heritage and showed how Latin music was a part of American culture. Esteemed Latin authorities, Max Salazar and John Storm Roberts, were hired as the movie’s researchers, with Geraldo Rivera as the narrator/presenter. Rivera’s role in the film was to explore the music’s voyage and evolution from Africa, via slave ships, to the Caribbean and into the States, and to debunk the Hollywood image of Latinos which surfaced in a myriad of mawkish musicals.

THE FANIA ALL STARS line-up for the NY and PR stadium gigs differed slightly from "Our Latin Thing".  This time, all the vocalists at the concerts were Fania solo acts, not part of an orchestra. They included Cheo Feliciano, Justo Betancourt, Hector Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Cruz and Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez.  CELIA CRUZ sang too: and her rendition of "Bembe Colora" is absolutely mesmerizing, she delivers an ecstatic performance. Also here are, of course, Ray Barretto, Roberto Roena, Nicky Marrero, Willie Colon, Barry Rogers, Larry Harlow and many more, including spectacular appearances by Jorge Santana, Manu Dibango, Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer and Mongo Santamaría. Distributed by Columbia, the film was a triumph, accomplishing the desired goals of promoting the label, the artists and the whole salsa concept.  It was the high summer of FANIA.