ROBERTO DE LA BARRERA Y SU SONORA- - SE FORMO LA SALSA, 2019 vinyl LP on Vampisoul, reïssue from 1970. 
Pianist Roberto de la Barrera was arguably the first musician from Cartagena, Colombia to record music that would later be labeled "tropical" and "salsa" with his own group in the early to mid-1960s. He took the piano seat in the Discos Fuentes house orchestra and was also an arranger on several releases. In 1970 he recorded his third album for the label, "Se formo la salsa", featuring an irresistible mix of Colombian and Cuban flavors, sometimes within the same tune, and often with that wonderful raw, loose, improvisational quality associated with the "descarga" jam sessions of Cachao and others a decade before. Roberto de la Barrera was a pioneer in introducing modern Latin sounds from Havana, New York and San Juan. Sadly, his contributions in bringing salsa to the Caribbean region of Colombia and hence the rest of the country have gone largely unheralded, but hopefully this reissue will help set things straight. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl. Part of Vampisouls reissue series of classic Fuentes LPs.