Panama! - Latin, Calypso And Funk On The Isthmus 1965-75

We Say...

Review by Chris Nickson

Whatever was in the air in the late '60s in Panama, it certainly inspired the music to heights of creativity, with more than a little wonderful, mix'n'match strangeness. From the outright, wholly convincing soul of "New Bag" — conga-powered James Brown-isms with added psychedelic surf guitar — or "Exciters Theme" (a whole new genre — Latin spy music), there's plenty to love here. Los Exagerados live up to their larger-than-life name with "Pamana Esta Bueno Y," where Latin jazz meets a high, wailing bop trumpet to make Dizzy Gillespie jealous, while Los Silvertones create some vintage-sounding calypso on "Old Buzzard" that would be perfectly at home in Trinidad (as does "Rocombey," quite possibly the first calypso song accompanied by a trés). Everything's fair game here, but the biggest delight comes with the funk, as Los Fabulos Festivals morph "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" into a South of the border treat on "El Mensaje," while "Viva Tirado" miraculously welds "I Think I'm Going Out Of My Head" to "Summertime" over a soulfully bluesy groove and makes it seem the most natural thing in the world. There's no shortchanging on the jazz, either, as "Descarga Tentaction" shows, packing an hour's worth of sweaty improvisation into just eight-and-a-half jumping minutes, and raw roots music hits hard on the swinging accordion sound of "Viva Panama," even if the female singer possesses the most exaggerated vibrato this side of a sheep. Gloriously, frantically over the top at times, it's a wild, loving memento of a time when excess was success ... and anything was possible.