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The Atlas Obscura Podcast

San Juan Sounds (Classic)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2024

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

San Juan Sounds is an iconic studio where musicians, engineers, and quite possibly a music-loving ghost carry on the island’s musical traditions, which date back hundreds of years. This episode is produced in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

In a building in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ancalle de la Tanka,

0:11.0

Armando Lopez and his band Epilogio are noodling around.

0:16.0

Oh yeah, I think that one can work.

0:17.0

There's an engineer there with him too.

0:19.0

His name's Mateo.

0:20.0

Tapes are rolling. Let's make a record, brother.

0:21.6

Let's make a great record.

0:23.6

The studio's on the second floor. It's bright with natural light,

0:28.6

and there are black and white checkered tiles on the floor.

0:31.6

Armando and Mateo are trying out various ideas, different drum templates,

0:36.6

basically just messing around.

0:39.4

And it was on a day like this, when suddenly, the old jukebox in the corner of the room

0:48.4

turns on by itself.

0:51.4

We were recording, and it was like, what's that, what's that sound?

0:55.0

And everyone took their headphones up.

0:57.0

Dude, it was, it was freaky.

0:58.0

I said, oh, you know,

1:00.0

la sanito, la bananada, you know, the ghost, I'm sorry.

1:03.0

And they said, no, let the song play.

1:05.0

Let it finish.

1:07.0

Mateo, the engineer, he owns and runs the studio, and he had bought this jukebox from an old man whose wife had just died.

1:14.5

The old man had told him that his wife had loved the old jukebox.

...

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