It’s not a secret that the influence of rock and roll in the sixties was felt in the entire world in one way or another, and something particular happened in Colombia during the mid sixties: rock and roll music was known as “ye-yé” and “go-gó”, and it became so popular that two clear camps surfaced among local musicians: the ones that really loved rock and roll and tried to express themselves the best they could within their limitations, and the ones that didn’t know anyting about rock and roll because of pure indifference, but noticed the popularity of the trend and jumped on the bandwagon trying to get a bite of the cake. The outcome of this second camp was a bunch of tropical music bands trying to make rock and roll-flavored music with cringeworthy results.

On the other hand, and while the artists on the first camp didn’t have the “playing authority” of the original artists for obvious reasons, they didn’t play rock and roll for the money but with love and conviction. That was the case of Los Yetis, a band from the city of Medellín that became one of the major exponents of real “ye-yé” and “go-gó”. They recorded three full-length albums and took part in two compilation LPs featuring the most popular artists of the genre signed by the Discos Fuentes label. “Discothéque Colombia A Go-Gó”, from 1966, is one of those compilation albums, featuring this medley by Los Yetis taking the whole first side of the LP.

Los Yetis started as a trio consisting of brothers Iván Darío (guitar and vocals – R.I.P.) and Juancho López (vocals), plus guitarist and singer Juan Nicolás Estela. After recording and releasing their debut eponymous LP, they added bassist Norman Smith and drummer Hernán Pabón, a.k.a. “Pluma” (“Feather” – R.I.P.).

Yes, they weren’t the Rolling Stones and many may find this recording laughable, but for those of us who lived that era as Latin American little kids (well, I actually was a bit late – I was born in 1967), this was incredible. In my opinion, an absolutely respectable effort in spite of its shortcomings. One of the most remarkable things to me is the fact that they didn’t try to imitate the original versions, but did their own arrangements without losing sight of the main idea.

The copy of “Discothéque Colombia A Go-Gó” played in this video is an original Colombian pressing that I played to death as a kid (not hard to notice), and still play from time to time. An extremely special album in the soundtrack of my life. Hope you enjoy it!

(00:00) Video intro

LOS YETIS – MOSAICO (MEDLEY)

(00:14) Ametrallando (The Surfaris’ “Wipe Out”)
(02:39) Es Lupe (The McCoys’ “Hang On Sloopy”)
(05:04) La Bamba
(07:24) Wolly Bully (Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs’ “Wooly Bully”)
(09:28) Gloria (Them’s “Gloria”)
(12:02) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”)
(14:44) Good Lovin (The Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin'”)

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