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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/

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Thanks so much for the kind words! I love that website. I really wanted to go to their one night only exhibit in LA but couldn’t. Glad you love the site too!

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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!

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thanks so much for the kind words! so happy that you listened to this incredible album. definitely check out the playlist as it's a nice, well-rounded playlist of the salsa hits, especially those from Fania Records, which is just a legendary label. i'm waiting for the proper documentary and biopic on Fania one day. happy spinning!

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I'll give that playlist a listen! And I was also curious about Fania Records as I hadn't heard anything about them before reading your article. From the sounds of it, they have a lot of interesting history!

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Fania Records was founded in the late 50s and had its prominent peak in the 70s and featured artists from all over the Latin diaspora - Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe, and so many more. Marc Anthony and J.Lo did a movie about Hector Lavoe's life called El Cantante but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

check out the website here - they have a pretty robust archive if you want to dig deeper.

https://fania.com/

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