“Saporro” is a Colombianism for “chubby”. “Saporrita” is a little chubby woman. This song, recorded by Venezuelan band La Super Banda, was one of the biggest tropical music hits in 1975. It has a couple unusual features for the genre: first, a Clavinet providing accompaniment. Nobody else used a Clavinet for this kind of music. An acoustic piano was the norm in the recording studio, and actually the follow-up to “La Saporrita”, 1976’s “La Flaquita” (“Little Skinny Woman”), has an acoustic piano instead of the Clavinet. For live gigs, the most common keyboard at the time was the Elka 88, made in Italy. But hearing a Clavinet in a tropical music band was extremely rare.

The other unusual feature is a Dixieland-type section in the middle of the song. Only a musician like bassist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader Luis Felipe González, founder of La Super Banda after his successful stint with Venezuelan band Nelson Y Sus Estrellas, could come up with such idea. A very creative arranger (another track from this LP features the main theme of “Rhapsody In Blue”).

Original Colombian pressing. BTW, “La Super Banda” was the name given to the band in Colombia. It was called “La Banda De Don Filemón” or “Don Filemón Y Su Banda” in its country of origin.

Numark TTXUSB turntable – Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge – ART DJPRE II phono stage preamp – Vinyl record vinilo LP