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Opa
Back Home
Far Out Recordings - Cat No: FARO243LP
- updated:2024-07-01
One of the highlights of 1970s South American music. Known to rare groove fans and absolutely essential for anyone who loves Uruguayan music — Hugo Fattoruso and the Fattoruso brothers. Opa. Featuring Ringo Thielmann, also familiar from Rubén Rada and Airto sessions. Having relocated to the U.S., they let Afro-candombe cross paths with the Brazilian sounds of the same era — Airto Moreira and Flora Purim — as well as American jazz and fusion. "Back Home," a demo recording that has been reissued and cherished several times over, now gets a vinyl release on Far Out Recordings. Highly recommended.
Track List
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1. Goldenwings (Hugo Fattoruso, George Osvaldo Fattoruso)
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2. Brooklynville (Hugo Fattoruso, Ringo Thielmann)
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3. Brother Rada (Hugo Fattoruso, George Osvaldo Fattoruso)
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4. African Bird (Ruben Rada)
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5. One+One+One Is Two (Hugo Fattoruso, George Osvaldo Fattoruso)
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6. Corre Niña (Hugo Fattoruso, George Osvaldo Fattoruso)
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7. Casa Forte (Edu Lobo)
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8. Never Can Say Goodbye (Clifton Davis)
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9. Back Home (The Inner Cry) (Hugo Fattoruso)
Meaning ‘Hi’ in Uruguayan slang, Opa are a South American phenomenon. Fusing Uruguay’s native Candombe rhythms with North American jazz and pop music, Opa’s space-age synthesizers, boisterous grooves and compositional magic expressed a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular: a voice which remains as vital and unique today as when it was recorded, almost half a century ago.
Having migrated to New York from Montevideo in the early seventies, Opa were heard playing in a nightclub by renowned producer and label owner Larry Rosen. At Holly Place Studios between July and August 1975, Rosen oversaw Opa’s first recordings using a four track TEAC 3340. The album would become home to some of Opa’s hardest hitting funk jams, with moments of songwriting wonderment and soulful pop and rock progressions combining with the jazz-funk fusion Opa would become known for.
Mysteriously (for reasons unknown to the band), Opa’s debut was shelved and remained so until the mid-1990s. But the Back Home recordings were used as demos, gaining Opa a record deal with Milestone Records and the subsequent release of two cult-favourite albums: Goldenwings (1976) and Magic Time (1977).
Opa would also collaborate with North American titans including bassist Ron Carter, producer Creed Taylor and Brazilian icons Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal and Milton Nascimento. In more recent years Opa’s music has found new audiences after being sampled by Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus) and Madlib.
For fans of Azymuth, Weather Report, Cortex and The Headhunters, Opa’s Back Home will be released on Vinyl LP and CD on the 8th March 2024 via Far Out Recordings.
Having migrated to New York from Montevideo in the early seventies, Opa were heard playing in a nightclub by renowned producer and label owner Larry Rosen. At Holly Place Studios between July and August 1975, Rosen oversaw Opa’s first recordings using a four track TEAC 3340. The album would become home to some of Opa’s hardest hitting funk jams, with moments of songwriting wonderment and soulful pop and rock progressions combining with the jazz-funk fusion Opa would become known for.
Mysteriously (for reasons unknown to the band), Opa’s debut was shelved and remained so until the mid-1990s. But the Back Home recordings were used as demos, gaining Opa a record deal with Milestone Records and the subsequent release of two cult-favourite albums: Goldenwings (1976) and Magic Time (1977).
Opa would also collaborate with North American titans including bassist Ron Carter, producer Creed Taylor and Brazilian icons Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal and Milton Nascimento. In more recent years Opa’s music has found new audiences after being sampled by Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus) and Madlib.
For fans of Azymuth, Weather Report, Cortex and The Headhunters, Opa’s Back Home will be released on Vinyl LP and CD on the 8th March 2024 via Far Out Recordings.
Recorded in 1975. It opens with an alternate version of the title track from Opa's masterpiece "Goldenwings." Also included are covers of Edu Lobo's great classic "Casa Forte" (also taken up by Airto Moreira and company) and "Never Can Say Goodbye," plus a tune dedicated to their friend Rubén Rada, a pioneer of candombe. In the 1960s, much like Brazil's Tropicália movement, these Uruguayan talents drew on the Beatles and psychedelic rock, fusing them with jazz and the African-rooted music of their homeland. Hugo in particular still has deep ties to Japan and remains much loved here. A record brimming with a charm all its own, quite different from the official albums. (Original Japanese text by Saito)