Panama's singular geographic identity, as the fusion of North and South America with a shoreline lapped by waves of Caribbean influence, contributes to its peculiar musical heritage. With this comprehensive third installment of the fantastic "Panama!" series, Soundway continues its exploration of a seemingly bottomless singles collection, with some more astonishing results.

Sancocho is a typical Panamanian dish, usually incorporating large chunks of meat and various vegetables in a spicy broth. The word "sancocho" usually describes a meal that incorporates all of the leftover food lying around that gets cooked up into this multi-textured stew, and the shifting combinations of exotic, five-alarm flavors and unusual textures make the consumption of sancocho a gastronomical, anarchic adventure. Panamanian music follows a similar recipe: throw some calypso, samba, guajira jazz, American soul and funk, and cumbia tipica onto a stage and see what boils to the top. Panama's singular geographic identity, as the fusion of North and South America with a shoreline lapped by waves of Caribbean influence, contributes to its peculiar musical heritage. With this comprehensive third installment of the fantastic Panama! series, Soundway continues its exploration of a seemingly bottomless singles collection, with some more astonishing results.



"You've been moving and grooving all night," moans the singer of Little San Francisco Greaves on "Moving-grooving," the fifth track on the record and the one that blows this compilation wide open. He squeals and whinnies like James Brown, hammering out guttural ejaculations like "Uh-huh!" and "Come on, now!" like he invented them. The muddy recording quality belies the band's young age, but the bass line cribbed from the Famous Fames themselves and the firecracker funk drumming propel you out into the stratosphere, and every squeal and "Soul brother!" is pure ecstasy.




The funk tracks are the most obvious North American influence on the Panamanian music scene, but Panama! Volume 3 sizzles the hottest when it heads south and submerges you in the tropical calypso and sensual samba rhythms, as on tracks like Panaswing's "Me Lo Dijo Una Gitana" and "Llegamos Ya" by Los Mozambiques. Los Silvertones' "Up Tight" is a groovy bilingual number that features the irresistible shouted group chorus of "Sock it to me, baby!" The entire record hums with fierce musical talent spread across a range of instruments; clangy percussion is most prevalent, while accordions tangle with trumpets and chime with electric guitars. Consistently ingenious bass lines keep your feet hovering just above the ground across 23 tracks, the lengthiest Panama! release yet, but easily the most intoxicating of the three compilations, and well worth going back for a third helping!



-MIchael Stasiak (November 11, 2009)