LATEST ADDITIONS

Awarded Best Cover Art by <i>Latin New York</i> in 1976.

Of all Fiol's covert art, <i>Macho Mumba</i> stands out as my favorite, depicting a typical Cuban street scene.

An altogether beautiful album. I selected <i>Fe, Esperanza, y Caridad</i> as one of my 2008 "Records to Die For." Fiol's version of the classic Cheo Marquetti tune, "Oriente," brings me straight to tears.

Fiol's final work for the SAR label offers a lighter sound.

Recorded in Union City, NJ, <i>Guaperia</i> features knockout tres guitar by Cesar Rivera.

<i>Siempre Ser Guajiro</i>, Saoco (1976; Mericana XMX144)<br>

When <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11661">David Hafler</A> sold his Hafler and Acoustat companies to in-car audio manufacturer Rockford-Fosgate a year or so back, things went quiet for a while as the new owners made arrangements to transfer production of both brands to their Arizona facility and took stock of where their new acquisitions stood in the marketplace. Then, at the 1989 CES in Las Vegas, the company made a reasonably sized splash with the first in a new range of Hafler products intended to lift the brand out of the hobbyist-oriented identity it had, perhaps inadvertently, adopted in the last few years.