Los Panas De San Francisco Ese Paquete

Discodelic presents the first production of the trilogy dedicated to the wonderful music of Panama, and we start with the holy grail of Panamanian discos bravos, finally the official and authorized reissue of Los Criollos "Pa' los Panas de San Francisco"

For many, the name of Los Criollos may not be so familiar to them within the history of Salsa in Panama, at least not as recognized as Bush and his Magnificents, Los Salvajes del Ritmo, Freddy and his Afro Latinos or Los Mozambiques to mention four greats who managed to record LPs and have a medium success. And it is that with Los Criollos we are talking about an orchestra that recorded only two 45rpm records in the mid-seventies and disappeared. Both albums today considered cult in the underground Salsa environment, especially "Para los panas de San Francisco" an incredible and powerful Guaguanco that for years has been desired by DJs and collectors worldwide. The story behind this recording has been a mystery for years, as there is little or no information about who Los Criollos really were and why they dedicated a song to San Francisco, California. The only thing I knew was that the legendary pianist Mane Nieto was related to these recordings and little else, so in 2021 I managed to contact Mrs. Diana de Nieto through the Danilo Perez Foundation, by phone we talked about the project for this reissue and Sadly, I found out that Mr. Mane Nieto was going through serious health problems at 91 years old, but he was still talking and he would gladly receive me at his house to give me clues about Los Criollos and authorize through his family the long-awaited publication of this album. . I took a plane to Panama City and arrived at El Barrio "El Marañón", to my surprise his family kept dozens of historical photos, press clippings, letters, and writings from Mane Nieto himself where he detailed every part of his career since the years 40, and there were all the names I had been looking for, I already had an idea of who Los Criollos were, and I discovered that behind this “Fantasma” orchestra there were great names of Afro-Cuban music in Panama. Los Criollos had only been one more name, behind it there was an incredible story that took me to great Panamanian musicians and singers with impressive careers. The key names in this story that I had to understand were Felipe Carrasco, "Monchi" Bustamante, Benny Sánchez and of course Mane Nieto and his legendary career. The entire story can be found in the liner notes of this production.