Various Artists - Super Disco Pirata: De Tepito Para El Mundo 1965-1980 (2LP)

A fascinating audio-visual glimpse into the little-known sonidero subculture of Mexico City's marginalized barrios, featuring a wild soundtrack of old-school tropical bootleg dancefloor classics. Full 28 page booklet tells the story with informative notes and amazing graphics. During the 1980s, a group of music dealers and record collectors from Mexico City joined forces to create a series of illegally manufactured vinyl records containing rare and highly-sought hits from Perú, Ecuador, Colombia and beyond. At the time, Mexico City’s dance-party scene was ruled by the sonideros, a highly developed network of mobile soundsystem operators.

The popularity of the sonideros led to a growing demand for tropical music, as their fan base became increasingly hungry for the “exclusive” hits associated with particular sonidos. Additionally record dealers were getting frustrated with the music industry constantly “feeding” them streams of mediocre records and from this frustration came the idea of compiling and manufacturing LPs on which every song was a hit: “no matter where the needle dropped, it had to be a song capable of igniting the party.”

These bootleg compilations – known as “pirata” – were pressed during graveyard shift on recycled vinyl in editions of no more than 500; they were cheaply produced and sold just as cheaply to people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford them. They were played extensively in every corner of Mexico’s heavily-populated barrios where, in addition to educating the ears of the youngsters, they also promoted some of the best tropical music recorded in Latin America.

a1. Afro Oriental

2. Cumbia De Los Bee Gees

3. El Tequilazo / Canelazo

4. Palenque

5. La Quinta Sinfonia de Beethoven

6. Venus

7. Lamento de Cumbia

8. Ritmo de Cumbia

9. La 3a De Los Toquecitos

10. La Noche

11. El Compae Nunes

12. La Luna y el Pescador

13. Tanto Tienes, Tanto Vales

14. A Bailar El Son Satanico

15. Cumbia Tropical

16. Hagan Ruedas

17. Eso Es Con Velas

18. Cumbia Del Amor

19. Malinga

20. Platico Chino

21. La China Maria

22. Te Gusta Como Azucar

23. Cumbia Candelosa