Big Willie Style (No, Not That Willie)
On Willie Colón y Rubén Blades' seminal 'Metiendo Mano!' and a Vinyl 101 Guide
There was no question that Fania Records’ 1977 release Metiendo Mano! (‘hard at work’ in English) was going to be the first album featured on First Pressing. From musical geniuses Willie Colón y Rubén Blades, this album is a classic for a myriad of reasons, but namely in that it signaled the turning point for both Colón y Blades and the future of salsa music.
In the 70s, New York was the place for the fiery music genre known as salsa. East Harlem a.k.a. “El Barrio” a.k.a. Spanish Harlem particularly was a hot spot for the Caribbean sounds of Puerto Rico and Cuba as their respective diasporas had created transplant communities that brought the music of their homelands to the United States. Inevitably, these sounds began evolving within their American surroundings.
One of the first and most prominent salsa bandleaders at the time was Willie Colón, a Puerto Rican trombonist and bandleader who exploded onto the scene with El Malo, the debut album he made with Fania Records when he was just sixteen years old. This album also featured another young Puerto Rican by the name of Hector “El Cantante” Lavoe. Lavoe was instrumental for launching salsa into a worldwide sensation, particularly in the States.
If New York was the hot bed of salsa music, then Fania Records was the source of heat. Founded by bandleader Johnny Pacheco and his lawyer Jerry Masucci in 1964, Fania specialized in salsa, which was also considered to be the rock and roll of latin jazz. And there were no bigger stars at that time than Colón y Lavoe. In 1975, after having recorded 10 albums with Colón, Lavoe finally released his solo album La Voz (The Voice) and never looked back. With that, Colón was in need of a new lead vocalist for his band, and there just happened to be a new kid on the block who had been waiting for his big break.
Rubén Blades was a young attorney in Panama with big dreams of being a renowned singer. To get his break, he moved to the United States to work where all the great heroes start - in the mailroom. Blades hustled for $73 a week in the Fania Records mailroom and eventually started writing songs and singing for local bands before finally guest singing on one of the final Colón y Lavoe collaborations. From there, they began working on what would become Metiendo Mano.
People were skeptical at the time about this new partnership - Colón and Lavoe had made such historic moves in the music game that expectations were high. But Blades rose to the occasion. With his vocal dexterity and socially conscious lyrics, he was in a league of his own, breaking away from any comparison to Lavoe or other predecessors. Lavoe sings with the panache of a person who knows they are a superstar. Blades, though, sings with the soul and wisdom of someone urgently trying to get their art out of them.
There’s a deep quality to Blades’ voice on Metiendo Mano that entrances you. Take the lead single from the album “Pablo Pueblo” where Blades starts riffing over the roaming piano: “Leyyyyyy ley ley ley ley di leeeyyyy.” It’s smooth and deep like velvet. As a first time listener, you’re welcome to take a seat or step onto the dance floor. It doesn’t matter which - there’s a little something for everyone.
Blades imbues his lyrics with a social consciousness, often talking about politics, economics, class equality, and civil rights. He was one of, if not, the first person to do it in the salsa genre. It was a total subversion in its own right - a smart song that makes you want to dance to stories of liberating exploited factory workers and finding the American Dream. These prevalent themes would make sense coming from the son of a Cuban mother and Colombian father who grew up in Panama. He and his family historically had lived through some turbulent times that surely made a considerable impression, something that could only be expressed through art. That art, by the way, was this album that resulted in commercial success and a nomination for Salsa Album of the Year.
Yet he revolutionized Salsa by taking it from something that was simply to do with lost loves and other frivolous topics to something to be attentively listened to and considered (Genius.com).
Naturally, it would have made sense for me to write about the other, more well-known Colón and Blades album Siembra, which is the best-selling salsa album of all time. However, I’m more interested in the album that preceded it, the one in which this duo reinvented themselves by discovering who they really were.
I remember that my parents had this album on CD when I was a kid. It soundtracked many weekends for us, especially as I begrudgingly tagged along on my father’s errands. I sadly never paid attention to it, though, as I hid behind my headphones and channeled my inner angst into listening to Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and Staind on my Sony Walkman (I’m honestly baffled by how far I’ve come musically).
It wasn’t until my first dig through my parents’ record collection that I rediscovered Metiendo Mano. I recognized the album cover the minute I saw Colón as a trainer holding up the triumphant boxing-gloved hand of Rubén Blades. It’s like Colón already knew he struck gold again and was crowning Blades as the new heavyweight champion of salsa.
Blades and Colón changed the way people would think about Latin music and the people who made it. Colón gave Latin people a space to be seen and Blades gave them a voice to be heard all the while discovering his own. It’s through this album that I finally began paying attention to the music my father Sal wanted me to listen to for so long. My vinyl copy of this album, previously owned by him, is the record that sparked my passion for record collecting. It’s the record that helped me begin my search for my own voice and connect to the music of the Latin community, my community.
Very recently, I saw Blades live in concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and I gotta tell you - he’s still got it. One of the last icons of his generation, he is still putting on exemplary performances at the young age of 75. When Blades played “Pablo Pueblo” and “Plástico”, literally the crowd went wild, and an immense wave of joy washed over me because I was fortunate enough to experience this show with my mother and sister.
Since my father passed away ten years ago, music has really bonded and connected our immediate family over the years. Together, we have explored our heritage and where our family comes from. We have gone to Cuba and experienced my mother’s homeland, watched documentaries to understand the oppression of the Cuban people, or celebrated our culture through concerts, just like this one. Just like all the other shows, we drank wine, we laughed, and we danced to the rhythms of our people.
It’s wild how music can make your life come full circle. My father owned this record on vinyl. My parents owned the CD of this album and played it constantly. I rediscovered this album on vinyl in my parents’ collection, kickstarting my passion for records and loving salsa music and latin jazz, which helped our family connect more. All of that led us to experiencing this concert together, where we joyously heard over 20,000 people singing in our native Spanish language.
And I know that my father would have loved this show, too.
Recommendations inspired by Metiendo Mano!
Vinyl 101 Starter Guide (Google Doc)
In the past, friends have asked me for recommendations and tips for those looking to get into vinyl records and start their own collection. I built this quick and scrappy Google doc to help people get going. Do you want to go for the beginner turntable or just go crazy on a sound system? Which records are essentials? What are some good stores in the area? There’s no right or wrong way, it’s just a matter of your preference. Whatever you do, just start listening.
The Lost Places of Salsa Music in New York City (Zine)
“Creating physical evidence of Latinx history in the United States is fundamental,” says Marcos Echeverría Ortiz, the founder of Where We Were Safe, a documentary/oral history that focuses on the historic but destroyed salsa music places in New York City. His publication related to this project The Lost Places of Salsa Music in New York City captures multiple 70s iconic places that not only elevated salsa music but also provided safe spaces for the communities that would ultimately be displaced. No doubt Colón, Blades, y Lavoe occupied some of these spaces along with the Fania All-Stars and so many more. Buy it here or here.
Patria y Vida: The Power of Music (Documentary)
Without the social consciousness of Metiendo Mano, we wouldn’t have “Patria y Vida”, the Grammy Award-winning Cuban hip-hop song by Yotuel, Gente de Zona, Descember Buono, Maykel Osorbo, y El Funky that inspired the first citizen-led protests in Cuba in over 60 years. Subverting the Cuban revolutionary slogan of “patria o vida” (“homeland or life”), this song expresses what so many in Cuba cannot: freedom from the Cuban dictatorship. What came before the song, and the history made after its release, is the subject of a powerful documentary I saw at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival this past year. Watch the trailer here. Hopefully, a streamer picks it up for distribution soon.
Estuario Records (Record Store)
Owned and operated by cousins Julian and Eduardo Rosario from Puerto Rico, Estuario in Highland Park, CA, is an air-conditioned sanctuary with a wild giant blue mushroom display and curated collection of primarily esoteric world music, along with a deep Latin section. Outside the store, they host or participate in a ton of local record+book fairs with other Latin vendors, bringing the community together In fact, I picked up my vinyl copy of Siembra at one of the first ones they did with many other Latin vendors. Go visit them and check out their Instagram here.
If you’re new to the world of salsa and Latin jazz, this playlist is an excellent primer as it’s built out of the greatest hits of the genre (IMO) from my record collection.
That’s it for the first volume of First Pressing. Thanks for sticking around, and hope to see you at the next issue.
Until then, happy spinning :)
Kadrian
P.S. Are you going to listen to Metiendo Mano, if so, what did you think? Was there anything you think I should add to the Vinyl 101 Starter Guide? Share your thoughts below!
Kadrian, what a fantastic read! So awesome to see you also plugged the Lost Places of Salsa book. If you’re unfamiliar, check out the Where we were Safe oral history project and map. It’s a great collection of information of the spaces in NYC that were important to the musical movement. It looks best on a computer. http://www.whereweweresafe.org/
What a great first article! This really checked all of the boxes of what I was expecting and then some!
I admire your passion for your culture and for it's music.
I also had Metiendo Mano playing while I read your article and it was a perfect backdrop to the material! I'm not well-versed in salsa music as a whole, but while I was listening to it I just kept thinking of how full of life and passion this genre is.
Keep up the great work!