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The Exciters (2)

The Pan-Caribbean workforce brought in to build the Panama Canal shaped the musical culture on the isthmus, and it became a hot-spot for new rhythms. Growing out of the combos nacionales scene, one of the most successful funk and soul groups of 60s and 70s Panama, Los Dinamicos Exciters (later The Exciters) was led by drummer Horacio ‘Ray’ Adams. Legendary in their day, the band were booked solid for years. Their core sound was Latin soul and funk (heavily influenced by James Brown) but they also played boogaloo, calypso and ska. The US Black Power movement struck a chord, especially in the Canal Zone, where Afro-Panamanians had long suffered discrimination. Co-founders of the Instituto Soul, the Exciters were the first to invite an African-American ‘soul queen’ to lead their carnival parade in 1971.