Who are the Fania All Stars? A conglomeration of all the best musicians on the Fania record label, a label based out of New York who sold out concerts (even stadiums) not only in New York, but also further south in countries such as Puerto Rico, Panama, Cuba - and also wider across the globe in London and as featured in this video in Zaire, as part of a huge celebration put on in conjunction with the 'Rumble In The Jungle' fight which also saw the likes of James Brown and B.B. King getting down for the festivities.
Perhaps never in any other genre that I can think of, has there been such a group which would feature so many significant names from a particular field of music, all under one umbrella, all so keen to spread their shared passion to the world. So significant is the group that their maiden performance at Yankee Stadium, in front of a 50,000 strong crowd was included in the list of recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry.
Amongst the start studded line up for the Zaire concert are Bobby Valentin, Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco, all of whom I'd strongly recommend to check out if you are looking to pack your bags, figuratively speaking, and head on a Latin trip.