About
The "A La Memoria del Vivo" collection seeks to honor the life and work of iconic artists while they are still with us.
Julio Ernesto Estrada, better known by his stage name "Fruko," and his various nicknames—El de los Tesos, El Bueno, El Bravo, El Violento—is ultimately, and simply, "Fruko." His contribution to tropical music, and in particular to salsa in Colombia, is undeniable. For more than five decades, Fruko has been a leading figure in this genre, lifting Afro-Antillean and Cuban sounds to new musical peaks, imbued with the influence and vibrancy from places as diverse as Venezuela, Havana, Peru, and New York.
Fruko exemplifies how music can transcend borders and become enriched with influences from various corners of the world. His ability to blend sounds from different cultures and deliver that unique flavor in Colombia is a testament to his artistic genius.
Beyond his talent for creating infectious rhythms, Fruko is a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist with a keen ear for the beats that get people moving on the dance floor. His legacy is an essential chapter in Colombia's musical history, and his influence remains vibrant in the current music scene.
In this collection, five artists were invited to create graphic works that encapsulate different aspects of Fruko's musical universe. Each design pays homage to a piece of the extensive discography in which this iconic Colombian artist has participated or led. This is a unique opportunity to reinterpret the various stages of Fruko's life with a contemporary vision, using old-time technology that has witnessed his journey through emblematic places like Cali.
The La Linterna studio and its team of collaborators have produced these works that act as graphic references for the enduring musical legacy of maestro Fruko.
Julio Ernesto Estrada, better known by his stage name "Fruko," and his various nicknames—El de los Tesos, El Bueno, El Bravo, El Violento—is ultimately, and simply, "Fruko." His contribution to tropical music, and in particular to salsa in Colombia, is undeniable. For more than five decades, Fruko has been a leading figure in this genre, lifting Afro-Antillean and Cuban sounds to new musical peaks, imbued with the influence and vibrancy from places as diverse as Venezuela, Havana, Peru, and New York.
Fruko exemplifies how music can transcend borders and become enriched with influences from various corners of the world. His ability to blend sounds from different cultures and deliver that unique flavor in Colombia is a testament to his artistic genius.
Beyond his talent for creating infectious rhythms, Fruko is a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist with a keen ear for the beats that get people moving on the dance floor. His legacy is an essential chapter in Colombia's musical history, and his influence remains vibrant in the current music scene.
In this collection, five artists were invited to create graphic works that encapsulate different aspects of Fruko's musical universe. Each design pays homage to a piece of the extensive discography in which this iconic Colombian artist has participated or led. This is a unique opportunity to reinterpret the various stages of Fruko's life with a contemporary vision, using old-time technology that has witnessed his journey through emblematic places like Cali.
The La Linterna studio and its team of collaborators have produced these works that act as graphic references for the enduring musical legacy of maestro Fruko.
Intro
By Pablo Yglesias
aka DJ Bongohead
Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada, the multi-talented Colombian musician, composer, engineer, producer and band leader, is a national cultural treasure and is still going strong after seven decades in the music industry. Fruko was born in Medellín, Colombia on July 7th, 1951. Music was a part of his growing up, as his uncles were involved in the recording industry and lots of music could be heard in his household. He started his career in the music industry as a studio helper at Discos Fuentes in 1963. During his more than four decades with the label he was involved in a vast and diverse musical project that boggles the mind. Fruko has participated in hundreds of recordings, composed scores of songs, and was a member or leader/founder of many tropical orchestras and bands over the decades, including Los Corraleros de Majagual, Fruko y sus Tesos, The Latin Brothers, Galileo y su Banda, Los Titanes, Los Nemus del Pacífico, Michi Sarmiento y sus Bravos, Los Pambele, La Integración, Los Bestiales, Los Diplomáticos, Afrosound, Pianonegro, Los Líderes, Wganda Kenya, Kammpala Grupo, Los Ídolos and Grupo Entebe. He worked with and nurtured the careers of some of the most famous singers in Colombia during the 1970s and 80s, including Piper Pimienta, Wilson Saoko and Joe Arroyo. He is credited with being one of the most important progenitors of salsa in Colombia, but has also been involved in many other types of music, from psychedelic cumbia to afro funk, and throughout it all, has displayed an adventurous, rebellious, and at times experimental creativity that was allowed free reign during his prolific tenure with Discos Fuentes.
It is important, even crucial, to celebrate Fruko (and other Colombian musical artists of the past) while they are still alive not only because so many others have died in obscurity before them, but also because the younger generations need to know the roots of the music they listen to today and how it is directly related to the music and musicians of the past, whether they know it or not. Often times, these musical rebels and pioneers are overlooked or thought of as old-fashioned, out of style, when in fact they were just the opposite in their time, and are still very vibrant, relevant and deserving of our attention today. Fruko is significant for his role as a visionary artist who was a focal point for a tropical musical movement that coalesced at a time of upheaval and strife, violence, change and resistance in Colombia, a cultural product and practice that was eventually felt all around the world. Also important is the fact that he attracted and nurtured talent, and was leading powerfully creative teams of people. Ultimately, perhaps his greatest achievement was in his role as a catalyst for a daring musical project that managed to gather disparate ingredients and combine them into a universal, positive force that resisted authority, reinvigorating and reimagining Colombian culture, something that is still felt today.
Much like Fruko in the realm of music, the historic printing studio La Linterna of Cali, Colombia, has had a long and fruitful career. And like Fruko, it is a site of resistance, creativity and communication through cultural expression. In La Linterna’s case, the message is expressed through the age-old medium of poster design, printing and public display. La Linterna is also a community catalyst that generates an astounding array of cultural projects that serve to educate as well as adorn and entertain.
One of La Linterna’s main focuses is on music, and what better way to continue this path than with a tribute to the living legend, Julio Ernesto “Fruko” Estrada. For this project, titled A La Memoria del Vivo, which is a play on one of Fruko’s most famous songs, “A La Memoria del Muerto,” La Linterna’s team of invited artists have created a series of posters inspired by the man and his music. The work can be seen as a visual representation of certain songs that define a moment in Fruko’s life. In creating their pieces, the artists are not only mindful of Fruko and his musical collaborators (some of whom have died), and his status as a living legend that needs to be celebrated, but are also inspired by his connection to the visual and graphic landscape of Colombia, and how the packaging of his discography, though album cover art, helped define the particular look of an era.
Printed on: Earth Pact paper
Weight: 150 gr
Size: 50 x 70 cm
