8/24/2014 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Rumsey Playfield, East 72nd and 5th Ave, New York
Right from start, Fania Records exceeded everybody’s expectations. The Label became so rapidly popular in the national and international levels that by 1968, only 4 years after its creation, founders Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco decided to broaden its talent giving birth to the wildly successful Fania All Stars. Their first concert, “Live at the Red Garter,” was a promotional experiment, which proved the amazing success of bringing all the label’s talent together. The band revolutionized salsa as a genre and have performed before countless fans during their wildly popular concerts which were filmed and recorded live, including the famed 1973 appearance at the Yankee Stadium in New York. The Fania All Stars band transcended language barriers and united cultures all over the world. Their music was heard from the streets of El Barrio in New York, to the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Today, the living legends of the all-stars band continue to honor the legacy, each artist as leaders of their own bands and with their most recent Fania All Stars Concert in Puerto Rico. They will be a cornerstone of this year’s recognition of the 50th Anniversary label that introduced them to the world – Fania Records.