volume 138 - interview with the oracle (part 1)
celebrating 3 years of Run It Back 🥲
today’s post is a couple days late because life happened and i needed time for self-care :)
getting back to it: 3 years of Run It Back! i never thought this pandemic project would make it this far. music is definitely a passion of mine (obviously lmao) and i’m grateful to have y’all along for the ride 🙏
to celebrate, the first and only idea that came to mind was to interview the oracle of Run It Back: my dad (or as i call him, Papi)
he played music he was into and would make mixes for us growing up. there are so many memories and music i associate with him. i’ll take those with me to the grave
so i interviewed him! not only for Run It Back’s anniversary, but also as a piece of generational history that my sisters and i can pass down to the next set of Castros. we went deep into what music coincided with different chapters of his life
i couldn’t fit it all in one post, so there will be 2 parts:
part 1 moves through his earliest experiences discovering music all the way through college
next week for part 2, we explore his journey growing into adulthood making him who he is today
i hope y’all enjoy 🤠
and with that, let's get to the music for the week ❤️🔥
- claudio / claud / @offballscreen
p.s. - this is lightly edited and rearranged for clarity! this is my first time interviewing someone so please be gentle with me haha
this week’s music ⤵️
what was your entry to music? what would [your dad] / [my] abuelo play at house parties when you were younger?
A lot of the music he had was what are known as Boleros. They're slow, romantic songs. They're across Latin America, but there are Colombian versions of Boleros like Cumbia and Vallenato. Everyone has their version of it.
So he played a lot of Boleros. You would moreso listen than dance to them. He played a lot of that outside of the parties.
He always had records. I have a lot of his records and I plan to keep them. I hope they stay in the family for generations.
is that where you learned to dance?
I grew up watching them dance [at house parties]. We would all sit in the stairway and watch.
I learned to dance in Colombia after moving there when I was 16. I went to a party and got really sad and mad 'cause I didn't know how to dance. And then this girl said she would teach me.
who was she?
She [eventually] became my girlfriend. She was the daughter of my dad's best friend.
that's like a movie 🥹
So I learned in Colombia. [We would dance to] Cumbia, Vallenato, Merengue, and other styles. That's what they would play at parties. And it was the same music all the time.
We had the albums for the most popular songs in Colombia. And they're very, very famous songs. Even to this day. Especially for the older folks. You hear it and you can still dance to it.
and who were the popular Colombian artists at that time?
There were a couple of big bands like Los Melodicos, Billo's Caracas Boys, La Sonora Dinamita, and Grupo Niche. A lot of the albums that my dad had were compilations [with artists like these]. It's the Colombian version of Now That's What I Call Music!.
which is funny because they do that now with the top songs on whatever streaming service, right?
those are the greatest hits. they're right there at your fingertips. i feel like it's a good entryway to discover an artist
the obscure stuff deserves more respect, but they still need the gateway to enter that genre or artist or song, you know?
Definitely, a lot of these albums were like that. They were compilations that would have a hit song and everyone knew the song.
what are some of the songs off the top of your head?
There's one called “Amparito”. It's very famous. He's singing about a trip he took in Colombia where he met this woman named Amparo, which is a common name. It's a good song.
Here's another famous one. This is Cumbia style. This was another huge hit.
I hear that song and I can imagine myself watching these adults dance when I was like 10 years old. They would play this [type of music] all night long. It's hard not to salsa.
The rush of memory is incredible because it's so imprinted on me, you know?
[Around that age], I started listening to other music. I had a little 45 record player and a little blue box with all my records. I had a lot of rock music. I remember I had an 8 Track of Boston.
who were your other influences at that time?
So whatever I heard on the radio, I tried to remember the songs. Anything that was popular. I remember in the late 70's when Steely Dan came out. AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I loved all those bands.
Back then that was your main influence along with friends and family. I remember The Cars, 'cause I had friends who loved The Cars.
Now that I think about it, I was also influenced by my older brother Juan. He, he worked at a chain restaurant [back in Baltimore]. All the people that worked there were super close and always hung out.
Their big thing was going to concerts. He would go to concert after concert after concert. He would check out all this music and I was like, "What is all this stuff?"
what’s the earliest record you remember buying?
I remember one of the first CDs I ever owned was from David & David for their debut album Boomtown.
It's so good. This is the best line: “All that money makes such a succulent sound.” [from the hook at 1:48+]
And the next one's very upbeat, you know? It’s called “Swallowed By The Cracks”. (laughs)
I think everyone has an album that they listen to and they're like I want to hear that again, you know? This is one of them.
what other albums fit that mold?
I'm very moved by specific albums, like Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever, Juanes’ Fíjate Bien, CAKE’s Prolonging The Magic, and Frank Sinatra’s Sinatra at the Sands.
What I like about music sometimes is when you find... It's kind of rare, but when you find an album that you just like from front to back. These albums really cement your respect for the artist.
how did you find [Boomtown]? the record store or did it release and you're like, yeah, i'll buy it?
Cleveland had a good music scene.
[In Cleveland,] when you were spreading your wings in college, were you still listening to rock music?
In the early eighties, one of the biggest bands that influenced me was R.E.M. I thought their early stuff was so good. Along with The B-52s, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.
I think a really cool thing that happened later was the advent of Spanish rock. I'm not an expert, but my own impression is that a lot of big bands in Latin America started singing Spanish versions of American rock songs.
And then there were some big bands out of Argentina, Chile, and Mexico that burst on the scene [in the 90’s] that opened up the whole genre and really took off.
like Juanes?
Yep. Maná, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. I was a huge Los Lobos fan.
I remember in college [during parties], my friends would come over and we’d listen to music. It was [a point] of pride to say, "Hey, check out this Colombian music." And they never heard it [before].
I think it’s cool to have the ability to appreciate two different genres, styles, and language.
i remember you playing them when we were younger
And then there were good Baltimore bands that I liked, like Crack the Sky. I think everyone knows like a band that they're like, "Man, these guys should have made it really big.”
(part 2 coming next week!)