Interview with Roberto Gyemant – Panama! series compiler

Rounding off an exceptional year for Soundway and one that has seen no less than two tremendous and ear opening Panamanian compilations hit the shelves, we thought it would be apt to invite music writer and Panama! series compiler Roberto Gyemant AKA Beto to face the music.

Feel free to click on the various web links in the interview to give you a better understanding of the musicians that matter and the cultural gateway that is Panama!

Tell us a little about your first encounters in Panama and how the Panama compilations series came about on Soundway?

I first traveled to Panama in 2002 and have visited some twenty plus times since then – it was right across the border from Costa Rica, where I was living. I met Popo Buckley, who was living in Costa Rica playing percussion for a local salsa group only a few months after returning home with my first load of Panamanian and afro-latin LPs and 45s. One of the LPs I was crazy about was by Bush y sus Magnificos, led by Bush Buckley, who happened to be Popo’s father. All three Buckley boys are excellent musicians and either lead bands or teach music themselves. Popo connected me with his father, who would go on to be like a big brother to me. When I started traveling to Panama to research the music I had brought back, Bush took me around to meet the “Pelaos” (youngsters) – all men in their late 60s to 80s who gathered at a café daily to talk about baseball, women, and most importantly, the intricacies of the history of Afro-Cuban music.


Los Pelaos at the table in the café

I spent a lot of time with the Perez brothers, Mono and Monitin, who used to travel regularly to Cuba in the 50s to party and dance (can you imagine?) and knew Beny More well, had dined at his house (beyond being one of the most important figures in the history of Afro-Cuban music, he was also an excellent cook). I was taken under the wing of the great Anel Sanders, who also knew Beny and was the first person to play stand up timbales in Panama. He was an original member of the Armando Boza big band in the days of the Tent Carnavales in Panama City in the late ‘40s (all night dance parties… drums heated over kerosene to tighten them…) and we still speak regularly. Anel, Bush and the Pelaos were a deep resource as far as understanding not just Panamanian music, but also the Music of the Pan-Caribbean generally.


Anel Sanders

When I started to look into the Panamanian Combos, which is a different slice than the Panamanian Big Bands and Salsa bands (being composed of younger Afro-Antillean Panamanians) one of my first interviews was with Kabir, formerly Ernie King, singer for Los Fabulosos Festivals. To meet Kabir I took the bus down the San Miguel neighborhood, home of the infamous “Toca y Muere” gang (touch and die), to his tiny Barberia Nubians.

Kabir runs the tiny Barberia Nubians, and gives an excellent fade.

During the first of my visits, we talked for hours about the combos and the history of Afro-Panamanian music. Later I invited Ricky Staples, original drummer for Los Soul Fantastics, to join us. In the Foto below he is pointing to a poster of boxing champ Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Duran, still a hero in Panama.


Kabir, Ricky Staples (seated), and customer

On a subsequent trip I visited Colon ( I have been four or five times), where I met and interviewed Joe Clark, singer and guitarist for Los Silvertones, and began to gain insight into the important role that Colon played in the development of this fantastic music



Joe Clark with Rafael, the lead singer of Los Caballeros de Colon

What was the very first record that turned you onto Panamanian music?

I can’t recall the first record that turned me on, I was blown away by just about everything I heard. I will say that I must have played “Maltrato” by Freddy y sus Afro Latinos about a hundred times once I got it home. Something about that song is just hypnotic.


What was the most popular style of music in Panama during the late 60s early 70s?

It depends, among who? People who tended towards mambo and salsa were still playing and listening to mambo and salsa – bands like Bush y sus Magnificos, Maximo Rodriguez y sus Estrellas, Rafael Labasta y su Orquesta, and many smaller groups. Tipica fans were playing tipica. Among the Afro-Antillean youth, ska and rock steady were big, as was R&B and soul from the US, later funk and rock. But the Afro-Antillean kids were listening to salsa and tipica too. And the tipica musicians were listening to salsa… and the Salsa musicians were hearing tipica and funk.

So a real heady mix of people and music then?

That’s what makes Panama so special musically, so many different styles excellently executed in close proximity, and the cross-fertilization it created.

Three boys in Barrio San Miguel

Were there any famous musicians from Panama and the era that are recognised today?

The biggest Panamanian stars internationally are Ruben Blades (Fania), who began with Papi Arosemena’s Band and then sang with Los Salvajes del Ritmo (as well as with Bush) – he is a massive star even today, and is a songwriting genius along the lines of Paul McCartney or John Lennon. Camilo Azuquita was important to the explosion of salsa in France in the early 1980s – in the late ‘60s he was singing with combos in Panama. Miguel “Menique” Barcasnegras had a solid career as vocalist for Tito Puente in New York in the late ‘60s. Mauricio Smith, a multi-instrumentalist and arranger, led the Saturday Night Live band in New York and was a sought after studio musician, as was Victor “Vitin” Paz, a stalwart of Tito Rodriguez’s big band and a giant of Latin Jazz. Most of the band members of Mandrill are Panamanian born, if I am not mistaken, as is Jazz drummer Billy Cobham and sax player Carlos Garnett.

Did you find it harder compiling this album since you’d already compiled two previous records from Panama?

No. There is so much music in Panama. I am sure there are things I have never found. Will (Quantic) was a great help, he found a number of the key tracks on Panama! 3. He has a world-class ear and his thirst for new sounds is unquenchable.

Can you explain how Will Quantic teamed up with you and Miles Cleret for the Panama ! 3 album?

Will and I have been looking for records and the musicians behind them in the region since we met. He had been doing the same in Puerto Rico (and Ethiopia) before, while I was in Panama and Colombia. When we first went to Cali he fell in love with Colombia and has been living there for the last few years, making excellent music all the while. I originally met Will through Miles. Speaking of world-class ears, music lovers of the world owe a lot of thanks to Miles Cleret!

Through out the Panama series, is there any one artist who stands out for you and why?

So many. So many great stories. I am so lucky I got to meet and interview so many of them. Victor Boa died six months after I interviewed him. I wish he had been more lucid when I got to him. I wish I had been able to interview Lord Cobra. Someone should go interview Lord Panama, I have spoken with him, he is alive and well and living in Juan Diaz outside of Panama City. One of the musicians who most impressed me was Maximo Rodriguez – what a talent, his voice, his bass playing, and the bands he led or played with just swung, non-stop.

Has the country still got such a vibrant music scene? Are there any new bands emerging from Panama that could be on the same level as Los Silvertones or The Exciters?

I really don’t think so, but who knows? Panamanian reggae and reggaeton is vibrant. I tend towards older music played on instruments, but who knows what will come in the future. The late 60’s were a special time for music all over the world, especially in Panama. I am looking forward to hearing whatever comes from that fantastic country, that’s for sure.

Victor Boa, Bush Buckley and Beto

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