... Octogenarian musician, composer, vocalist and teacher Pedro Beltrán aka 'Ramayá' hails from Patico, a small town in Colombia's Bolívar province, not far from the Caribbean coast. He has been crowned Rei Momo of the carnival in Barranquilla, and recorded many albums as a leader and sideman, working with various domestic and international pop artists as well, from Quantic and Thornado to Systema Solar. While his main instrument is the ;caña de millo' flute, he is also proficient in the various percussion instruments of his region as well as the reed instrument known as 'gaita'. His group La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad (named for the large city within the municipality of Barranquilla) was founded in the early 1970s when Ramayá had already retired from a career in the army and was living in Soledad. With this group he set out to 'modernize' the folkloric music of his people, adding the electric bass and a brass section to fresh arrangements of cumbias, porros, fandangos, puyas, and other costeño genres. What's more, the band often did left-field cover versions of international dance hits that were popular in the region's sound systems (picós) and discotheques, from Fela Ransome-Kuti And The Africa '70's 'Shakara Oloje' to Rod Stewart's 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy'. If you think this sounds like a case of post-colonial cargo-cult worship or a record label marketing gimmick, think again, because there is something fantastically otherworldly yet 'right' about this cross-cultural mash-up, especially since La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad proudly maintained it's authentic Afro-Colombian and indigenous roots throughout, making for an infectious mix that was very popular at the time (especially in the Carnaval de Barranquilla) and is still danced to today by Colombians and other fans all over the world. In a way it's as if these musicians, brought up in the ancient rural traditions of their culture, were trying to make musical sense of the rapidly changing and mechanizing urban environment around them. La Clavada (1979) was La Cumbia Moderna de Soledad's sixth record and first for Codiscos' Costeño imprint. The LP has many excellent examples of Pedro 'Ramayá' Beltrán's innovative, catchy and downright playful mix of the ancient and the modern, making for a collection of tunes brimming with tradition and yet fearlessly bristling with innovation... -Pablo Iglesias, aka DJ Bongohead Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.