VA - Boogaloo Pow Wow - Dancefloor Rendez-Vous In Young Nuyorica (2006)

A scorching compilation which brings to the table the brilliant, hybrid, jostling array of styles which burnedup Latino dancefloors in Sixties New York. Sassy soundtrack from when salsa was cool and cutting-edge. There is no literal Spanish translation of "cool" but the sound of New York Latino dancefloor music from the 1960s is surely the original meaning of the word. Listen to hombres like Machito, Ray Barretto and Joe Loco and you can hear the Cuban vibe being reimagined and funked up for a new generation. Son, mambo, cha cha cha and jazz flirt with rhythm and blues and soul to get morphed into the explosive beat of boogaloo and shingaling. Spin this 17-track collection and you'll hear the wail of the big city and the hustle of Harlem's clubland in its heyday. Political protest was on fire, civil rights were on the agenda and cultural pots were melting and boiling over. This is the soundtrack of a moment when new energies burst forward and Latinos found their style.