Frank Y Sus Inquietos

In the clubs of Caracas in the late 1960s, salsa was going off. Or more specifically, a sound that mixed the fierce, driving vocals of guaguancó, the sub-genre of Afro-Cuban rumba – itself a syncretic mix of African and Spanish influences – and the more melodic rumba of Venezuela’s neighbour Puerto Rico. All of it swirling in a pot laden with Caribbean influences, blasted with piano, congas, bongos, timbales and bass and beaten with the 1-2-3-and-4 rhythm of the rumba clavé, served with a big urban garnish.

A sort of joyful restlessness pervades Frank Y Sus Inquietos – back then, a group of young friends from Caracas with an anything-goes aesthetic and penchant for jamming on a top floor in the edgy barrio of La Silsa. Led by pianist and vocal acrobat Frank González, whose louche humour lends a melodramatic charm, they deliver a repertoire of songs ranging from the punchy, declamatory ‘La Ley de la Vida’ to the spacious, romantic ‘Que Seas Asi’; from the tuneful ‘Rumba de Salón’ to the careering, organ-tastic love anthem ‘Mi Primer Amor’. Given the sheer musicality and hipster knowingness of this self-titled 1967 gem it’s no surprise why it swiftly became a classic. Its reissue, however, took long enough.