TUNES FOR TUESDAY -- Los Corraleros de Majagual

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Let's continue with the story of Antonio Fuentes and his Fuentes Music Label. In 1954, Antonio moved his label to Medellín. This was a time when many costeños were moving to cities inland carrying their music with them. It is said that at that time in Bogotá the Catholic church questioned the new fashion and trend of respectable people dancing like blacks. Yet, by the 1960s, Fuentes had become the most important music label in Colombia. Twice a year the label released -- and still does -- its Cañonazos Bailables (Cannon Blast or Explosive Dance Hits), a collection of the best of Musica Costeña of the previous six months which sold like hot cakes throughout Colombia.

Now, Musica Costeña was much more than just the well known cumbia. It also included gaitas, porros, merecumbé, and vallenato. Fuentes created a studio-based, all -star band: Los Corraleros de Majagual who played all the genres. The Corraleros included some of the most well known conteño artists of the time, Lizandro Meza, Alfredo Gutierrez, Eliseo Herrera, and Calixto Ochoa. Both the name of the band and the individual artists mentioned remain household names in Colombia to date. They were the musical pioneers that propelled the Costeño rhythms, and even Salsa music, as we will see, to unprecedented levels of popularity.

So here they are -- Los Corraleros de Majagual singing FESTIVAL EN GUARARE.



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