Viente anos de celebracion salsera

Latin Beat Magazine, June-July, 2003 by Elmer Gonzalez

Puerto Rico celebró en grande el Día Nacional de la Salsa con un concierto que reunió a 30 mil espectadores el pasado 16 de marzo, en el Estadio Juan Ramón Lubriel, en la ciudad de Bayamón.

La actividad, que desde hace veinte años viene celebrando la radioemisora Z93, fue dedicada al flautista y empresario disquero Johnny Pacheco y al bongosero Roberto Roena. Esta vez, el concierto se anunció como "La Reunión de las Estrellas de la Fania". Otra reunión de estos inmortales de la salsa, quienes (con el reciclaje continuo de un repertorio estancado) siguen siendo una fuerza mayor en el mundo de los salseros.

Entre los artistas que hicieron historia con el sello disquero de Pacheco y de Jerry Masucci, se presentaron Larry Harlow, Papo Lucca, Richie Ray, Yomo Toro, Nicky Marrero, Reynaldo Jorge, Leopoldo Pineda y Jimmy Bosch, entre otros. Se escucharon las aportaciones vocales y los "soneos" de Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Quintana, Adalberto Santiago, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Cruz y de Héctor Casanova.

Desfilaron varias orquestas, incluyendo a la "primerísima" de Tommy Olivencia, y a la de Bobby Valentín (con las voces de Luiggi Texidor, Marvin Santiago, Luisito Carrión y Rafú Warner). Además, se presentaron las agrupaciones dirigidas respectivamente por el cantante Tito Rojas y por la revelación de la tarde--el vocalista Monchito Rivera interpretando los éxitos de su tío Ismael "El Sonero Mayor" Rivera.

Fue un espectáculo lleno de entusiasmo que atrajo a visitantes de otros países latinoamericanos que no querían perderse lo que la prensa local señaló como "la última presentación de las Estrellas Fania en Puerto Rico". ¿La última? ¡Con estos señores nunca se sabe lo que sucederá en el futuro! Lo cierto parece ser que mientras exista la salsa, las Estrellas de Fania siguen siendo el concepto más emblemático de este movimiento musical.

(Nota: El gobierno de Puerto Rico oficializó, hace algunos años, el tercer domingo del mes de marzo como el Día Nacional de la Salsa. Mientras tanto, los ritmos afroboricuas de la bomba y de la plena siguen esperando que se les reconozca con una distinción similar)

ARTÍCULO RELACIONADO: Dia Nacional De Salsa in Puerto Rico.

For the last 20 years, Z-93 radio has sponsored the National Salsa Day. It is a law in Puerto Rico that the third Sunday of every March is designated as the Dia Nacional De La Salsa. Each year, Pedro Arroyo (program director of Z-93) has honored a salsa great during the island's biggest festival of tropical music. This year, the festival honored Johnny Pacheco and Roberto Roena. I arrived in San Juan on Friday; I was traveling alone. Rehearsals were on Saturday at 1p.m. We rehearsed the 20 some odd songs for our program without Pacheco, who arrived at 5 p.m., during the last song of the rehearsal.

My Puerto Rico agenda also included several meetings regarding the family show SOFRITO, which I am trying to bring to the PR School System, and HOMMY 2003, the Latin Opera that will be revived with a new cast and symphony orchestra in the new coliseum which is two years behind on construction. At 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, all of the musicians piled into a 14-van caravan to Bayamón, where we picked up our police escorts of six motorcycles with lights and sirens blasting, stopping all cross-traffic.

There was a $10 general admission ticket for the general public, a gift from Z-93 to the salseros of Puerto Rico. The concert at Estadio Juan Ramón Lubriel de Bayamón had already begun at 12 noon with Moncho Rivera and his tribute to Ismael Rivera (the Sonero Mayor), Bobby Valentín orchestra (with Marvin Santiago, Luiggi Texidor, Rafu Warner and Luisito Carrion), Tito Rojas' orchestra and Tommy Olivencia's orchestra. When we drove in to the stadium there was a human sea of salseros. I estimated that about 35,000 people jammed the stands and covered the infield, packed in like sardines.

All of the Fania All Stars were there: Myself, Papo Lucca, Bobby Valentín, Roberto Roena, Johnny Pacheco, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Adalberto Santiago, Héctor Casanova, Ismael Quintana, Nicky Marrero, Yomo Toro, Leopoldo Pineda, Jimmy Bosch, Reinaldo Jorge, Juancito Torres, Bomberito Zarzuela, Ito Torres, Eddie Montalvo, Alfredo de la Fé, Jerry Medina, Wichi Camacho, Ray Viera, and special guest stars Bobby Cruz and Ricardo Ray. Backstage was a zoo, with a few thousand friends, family members, record label people, groupies and all the sponsors.

We did not have long to wait. At 5:30, Las Estrellas de Fania went on. The public went wild listening to their heroes for the last 30 years. All of the Fania players were in excellent form and the show was a wonderful three-hour journey of nostalgia of the golden era of salsa, with everyone performing their Fania hits of the '70s. About half way through, there was a pause to present Pacheco and Roena with awards and gifts for their great musical work over the years. Roena was very emotional and the show went to its conclusion with Ponte Duro.

Junior González joined in on the last encore as fireworks and flares zoomed on stage and over the stadium ... A great 20th Anniversary for the Dia Nacional de La Salsa. --Larry Harlow (Photo: Reinaldo Jorge)