An in-depth look at the 1970s catalogue of the Uruguayan label Macondo and the roots of Subtropical music: bomba, cumbia, guaracha, merengue, porro, plena... 21 tracks by essential names such as Sonora Borinquen, Conjunto Casino, Combo Camag?ey, Sonora Cienfuegos, Grupo Maracaibo, Grupo Antillano... Compilation and notes by Nandy Cabrera aka Selectorchico. Talking about Subtropical music could be seen as heresy but it's necessary heresy. Necessary in order to start telling the story of this music born in the Caribbean but performed from the south, with its own characteristics and temperature. We're talking about a peripheral phenomenon: the Uruguayan independent label Macondo and its discography linked to the 70s Montevideo dance music scene. Here we have a selection of some of the most prominent and best recordings created and released by Macondo between 1975 and 1979. Artists sought to emulate tropical music styles popular in Caribbean and Central American countries like Cuba (guaguanc?, guaracha) Puerto Rico, Panama (bomba, plena, merengue) and Colombia (porro, vallenato and, of course, cumbia), but within this process of adaptation and hybridisation there are elements, procedures and codes that spawned a music that possesses a post-territorial identity and universe of its own.
