Friday Drive
Friday July 24th, 2020 with Trevor Walker
Mostly Panamanian Afro Latin Caribbean Ride

In 2016/ '17 I was contacted online by a fellow digger from Poland wondering if I was interested in browsing the catalogue of music he had picked up while digging in Panama, comprised mostly of Cumbia, some Salsa, Calypso and a little Reggae, predominantly Panamanian 45's and some LPs from the 1970's. Needless to say, as a "black crack" addict, I was very interested and proceeded to browse the sound clips links provided. After a couple of weeks of listening, I sent a list of the records of interest and a few weeks later a box of well loved (ie: played "often" by their original owners leaving some a little crunchy) LP's and singles arrived. I've wanted to feature my acquisitions on the "Friday Drive" but was always hesitant, not wanting to overstep and maybe offend the "Barrio Latino" show gang by playing a full show of afro latin vibes from the Caribbean. Fast forward 2020 #covid shutdown, Juliano and Pedro haven't been able to produce a show for the station, off site, since March and as you may have noticed, Friday Drive has been extending to two hours to fill some of the gap, in the interim. Well, "Friday Drive" has now been permanently extended to a two hour slot. With all these circumstances coming into play, I felt the timing was right to kill to birds with one stone. Featuring some of the afro latin music I've been hoarding and hopefully provide some Latin vibes that I've definitely been missing since March, with "Barrio" off the air. Some of the "Cumbias" featured on this episode are played in a "Monterrey" Mexican style of Cumbia, where they significantly pitch the records down, which I find, very significantly effects the whole vibe of the genre, creating a new and unique sound. The slowing of Cumbia was first mentioned to me by, "Analog Africa" label founder, Samy Ben Redjeb when he played Mercury Lounge earlier this year. I was then further intrigued by recently watching the movie: "I'm No Longer Here' (Ya No Estoy Aquí)", which features the music, the fashion and the dancing and then further reading and article by Vice as well as a short youtube documentary. I hope you enjoy this all 7" vinyl special! Some links are provided below: Vice article: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/j5j7q7/in-monterrey-life-moves-to-the-rhythm-of-cumbia Film review: https://remezcla.com/features/film/review-netflix-no-longer-here/ Discogs seller: https://www.discogs.com/seller/Ingenio/mywants?ev=hxiiw