Discos Fuentes is a record label based in Medellín, Colombia, South America. Founded in 1934 in Cartagena, Colombia, by Antonio Fuentes Estrada, Discos Fuentes was the country's first notable record label.
Initially working alongside the radio station La Voz de Laboratorios Fuentes (later Emisora Fuentes), Toño Fuentes, himself a musician who had studied in Philadelphia, United States, sought to establish a record label devoted to exploring regional music and recording technoligies.Wade, Peter (2000). Music, race, & nation: música tropical in Colombia. University of Chicago Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-226-86844-8. Archived from the original on April 5, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2011. The label played an instrumental role in introducing Colombian audiences to Afro-influenced genres such as cumbia, fandango, merengue, porro, salsa and rock and roll. It also helped launch the early careers of musicians and composers such as Guillermo Buitrago, Rafael Escalona, and Julio César Bovea. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Discos Fuentes issued recordings of porro, gaita, fandango, cumbia, merengue, paseo, pasillo, tango, bambuco and son vallenato, with some early recordings featuring guitar-based groups rather than accordion-based ensembles.Wade, Peter (2000). Music, race, & nation: música tropical in Colombia. University of Chicago Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-226-86844-8. Archived from the original on April 5, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
Between 1934 y 1954, Discos Fuentes recorded works by Guillermo Buitrago, Bovea y sus Vallenatos, Julio César Sanjuan «Buitraguito», Esther Forero, José Barros, Charlie Figueroa y La Sonora Malecón Club, Los Trovadores de Barú, Lucho Bermúdez along with his vocalists Matilde Díaz y Bobby Ruiz, Orquesta Emisora Fuentes, Orquesta Melodía y Pedro Laza –who recorded with Daniel Santos-, among others.Wade, Peter (2000). Music, race, & nation: música tropical in Colombia. University of Chicago Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-226-86844-8. Archived from the original on April 5, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
The label's first two recordings were Dos Almas and Deuda, followed by Lucho Bermúdez's Doble Cero, and Clímaco Sarmiento's La vaca vieja.
Discos Fuentes has often been described as Colombia's version of "Motown", peaking in the 1960s and early 1970s. The label achieved a series of firsts for Colombia: the first compilation album (1960) and the first Compact Disc release (1987).
After the death of the label's founder, Antonio Fuentes Estrada, in 1985, the company expanded into video production and acquired several other music labels, including Curro, and Discos Tropical, which was founded by Emilio Fortou, the son of a French migrant who had worked for Avianca and several radio stations.
US distribution In the United States, the manufacture and/or distribution of Discos Fuentes releases was eventually handled by Miami Records, a Miami, Florida-based label specializing in Latin American music. Formed in 1950 by Colombian immigrant, Carlos Diaz-Granados, Sr., Miami Records also managed the manufacture and/or distribution of Latin music for other South American labels as well as for such American labels as Columbia Records.
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References
External links Official website