Musica del Alma

Porfi Jimenez- Venezuelan Heavyweight

Walking through the scenic Spanish architecture of the old section of Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, during the summer of 2007 I noticed an aging  metal sign entitled “Bazaar” hanging over a short, sunken doorway.  Upon entering the dark and gloomy room filled mostly with shoes and clothes I noticed an elderly woman sitting on a bench entranced in the making of a colorful handmade textile.  “Tiene algo discos, senorita?” I asked in my then poor Spanish.  “Si, si, si” was the reply I got and she popped up from her bench and pointed beneath the antique wooden object she had been sitting on only to reveal thick stacks of the objects I had been madly trying to track down all morning.   I began to sift through the diverse collection of music, confused at how I could pull out an Alpha Blondy LP, an Eric B. and Rakim 12″, and some random cuban records from the same pile.  Eventually I came across this gem of an album by Venezuela’s Porfi Jimenez, along with some other excellent salsa records.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Jimenez eventually found himself performing and recording in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was a strong advocate of a newly emerging brand of Latin music called Salsa.  Here we focus on his excursion into a funky brand of psychedelic Salsa, with a song called “Echate Pa Ca”.  Love the guitar on this one!

Porfi Jimenez y Su Orquesta: “Echate Pa Ca”
From the El Rico Sabor de Porfi Jimenez LP (Velvet, Ecuador Press, 1973)