Latin Lovelies

Right. After yesterday's donkey-based distractions, I am going to have another go at getting into the spirit of things in time for the Notting Hill Carnival.

Here are a couple of calypso/soca numbers from the 1980s. Both feature men falling for the charms of ladies from Latin America - from Mexico and Panama respectively.

First up is the greatest calypsonian of all time, still going strong after over 50 years, the Mighty Sparrow. This is "Margarita" from his 1983 album which is appropriately enough called "The Greatest".

Many of his recordings are much easier to get hold these days, with a huge amount available to download on Amazon etc, but that seems to include very little of his 1970s and 1980s work except in re-recorded form. If you can ever track down this particular album it is well worth the effort - as well as "Margarita" it includes such classics as "Capitalism Gone Mad", "Prophet Of Doom" and "Phillip My Dear", which tells of the time Michael Fagin broke into Buckingham Palace and found his way to the Queen's bedroom. I must post that for you some day.

Our second tale of Latin love is "Companero" by Mighty Gabby. This was released in 1989 on Eddy Grant's Ice Records, and I assume that is Eddy you can hear on backing vocals.

That is a song about a lady from Panama, and as a bonus here is some calypso from Panama. This is from an album with the snappy title of "Panama 2 - Latin Sounds, Cumbia Tropical and Calypso Funk on the Isthmus 1967-77" which, together with Volume 1, is available on eMusic and probably elsewhere. Here is Sir Jablonsky with "Juck Juck Part 1".

To finish off, here is Sparrow in concert a couple of years ago: