El Barrio

In its early-‘70s heyday, Johnny Pacheco and Larry Masucci’s Fania imprint reigned supreme over New York’s salsa scene, enlisting the talents of some of the region’s most experienced musicians and bandleaders and releasing music that embodied the experiences of thousands of Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants in New York during the '70s. The label’s star faded during the ‘80s. But it was only fitting that, with Fania’s re-emergence in 2006, the label began a thorough retrospective—not only of its own releases but of the entire Latin scene that flourished in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. These collections reached their pinnacle with El Barrio, a carefully conceived four-disc compilation that offers a convincing and eclectic overview of the music that emerged from this fantastically creative period of Latin music. The first disc of the set collects hard-driving Latin funk cuts like Harvey Averne’s “Dynamite” and Ralfi Pagan’s slinky low-rider anthem “La Vida,” while other sections explore styles as diverse as disco, boogaloo, and Latin soul.