El Güiro de Macorina
Johnny Pacheco y Su Charanga · 1961 · from the album Pacheco y Su Charanga · written by Johnny Pacheco & Louie Ramírez
Flute, violins and a dance craze: the charanga sound that got New York dancing to pachanga, from the man who went on to found Fania.
- pachanga
- flute and violins
Why it matters
Dominican flutist Johnny Pacheco formed his own charanga in New York in 1960 and signed with Alegre Records. The debut album, Pacheco y Su Charanga (1961), sold 100,000 copies in its first year, and El Güiro de Macorina, which he wrote with Louie Ramírez, was on it.
It was the time of the pachanga, a bouncy dance music out of Cuba that took over New York's dance halls in the early 1960s, played by charangas like Pacheco's.
A few years later Pacheco co-founded Fania Records with Jerry Masucci and became the musical director of the Fania All-Stars: the label and the band that gave salsa its name in the 1970s.
What to listen for
- The charanga sound: a flute (Pacheco's own) and violins where a salsa band would have trumpets. It's lighter and brighter than a horn band.
- The güiro, the scraped gourd of the title: charangas use it to keep a steady pattern under everything. Once you've found it, you can feel the beat through it.
- Pachanga was party music, lively and light: a good song for simple, playful turn patterns.