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Alt.Latino

Remembering Johnny Pacheco Of Fania Records

Alt.Latino

NPR

Music

4.5673 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week's episode examines the story of the force behind a social movement. Johnny Pacheco crafted a legacy of cultural pride and stellar musicianship for Fania Records, imprinting his own genius in the minds and hearts of generations of musicians to come in the process.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

When the survivors of a mass shooting at a newspaper went back to work, everything was different, even email.

0:07.3

What if someone's sending us more death threats or what if somebody sends me a death threat and I don't see it?

0:12.3

And then somebody comes and kills all my friends.

0:14.7

And it's my fault because I didn't read the email.

0:16.7

That's this week on the Capital Gazette series from NPR's Embedded.

0:22.6

From NPR music, this is Alt-Latino.

0:25.7

I'm Felix Contreras. Fanya Kumbara Kumbama, Hey mamma, eh mama

0:38.3

and

0:39.3

Ma'i

0:41.3

Myra

0:43.3

Records was as much a social movement

0:45.3

as it was a musical phenomenon.

0:47.3

Literally blasting out of New York's Latino community

0:50.3

for almost two decades,

0:51.3

from the 1960s through the 1980s. Fania was synonymous with

0:56.3

cultural pride as well as top-notch musicianship, lifting Cuban and Puerto Rican dance music to its

1:02.6

highest form. And one of the main forces behind that legacy was Johnny Pacheco, Fania label co-owner,

1:09.8

musical arranger, musician, and cheerleader. Johnny Pacheco, Fania label, co-owner, musical arranger, musician, and cheerleader.

1:12.6

Johnny Pacheco died on February 15th in New Jersey from pneumonia at age 85.

1:17.6

And this week on Alt-Latino, we're going to hear from three Fania studio musicians who, between them, played on hundreds of Fania recordings.

1:25.6

What's up, everyone? Hey, my God.

1:28.6

What's up, Marty?

...

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