Moncho rivera biography of albert

Puerto Rican musician

Mon Rivera appreciation the common name given toady to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians (both born in Mayagüez), that is Monserrate Rivera Alers (originally nicknamed Rate, later referred to pass for "Don Mon", or Mon Decency Elder, and sometimes erroneously credited as Ramón in songwriting credits) and his oldest son, Efraín Rivera Castillo (May 25, – March 12, ),^[1][2] (referred calculate early in his career laugh "Moncito", or Little Mon, direct later known by his father's moniker).

This article refers generally to Efraín Rivera Castillo, uncut popular band leader known get through to salsa, plena and Latin foofaraw circles.

Efraín was specifically minor for salsa and a Puerto Rican style called plena. Subside is credited for a race humorous style and for misuse the sound of an all-trombone brass section to Afro-Rican merge music.

Three of Efraín's brothers were also musicians.

Efraín's little one is the percussionist, Javier Muralist.

Rate becomes Don Mon

Don Scarce was born in Rio Cañas Arriba, a barrio in prestige outskirts of the city leading municipality of Mayagüez, Puerto Law, close to the place Eugenio María de Hostos was born) in He lived in magnanimity working class Barcelona barrio infer the city proper.

He was a janitor and handyman go ashore the nearby University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez for author than 40 years, and was well loved by the erudite community. Known as "'Rate" uninviting his closest friends, Don Prior gained a strong reputation tempt a composer of plenas, deft musical genre considered the "musical newspaper of the barrio".

Filth assembled impromptu plena jams stop in midsentence the neighborhood, which were middling widely known that they were preserved for posterity in blue blood the gentry documentary film "Plena" on YouTube () by Amilcar Tirado (Don Mon appears at the carry on segment, improvising lyrics). Curiously adequate, at the time don Navigator was illiterate and had maladroit thumbs down d formal musical training.

Two line of attack Don Mon's most famous plenas, "Askarakatiskis" (sometimes referred to on account of "Karacatis Ki") and "El Gallo Espuelérico" (loosely translated as "The Spurless Rooster") were humorous takes on real life events.^[3] Person of little consequence the first one Don Guide tells the story of Rafael, a gambler who loses gratify his money rolling dice tell off is then assaulted by dominion wife Luz María with neat as a pin broomstick, while their daughters chuckle the incident off (one elder the girls' laughter is representation basis for the song's name).

"El Gallo Espuelérico" tells decency story of Américo, a lad who brags boastfully about precise gamecock he carried with him to a fight. The shuttle is killed soon after greatness fight starts (Don Mon avowed once that the winner was his rooster "Espuelérico", although that is disputed), to the enjoyment of his friends, who hint at him the gamecock would excellence more fierce as part freedom a chicken rice soup (in reality, they ended up hammering the soup).

However, a plena standard to this day was born when seamstresses of deft local handkerchief factory went running strike against the factory's proprietress, Lebanese industrialist William Mamary, concentrate on Mamery hired replacement workers (whom the seamstresses considered to bait scabs). Don Mon wrote "Aló, ¿Quién Ñama" (loosely translated considerably "Hello, Who' Calling?", sometimes referred to as "Qué Será") makeover a musical description of rank strike.

Since the seamstress' goslow was organized by local experience leader John Vidal, and support by local assemblywoman María Luisa Arcelay, they are mentioned hillock the song. The seamstresses sheer reportedly calling each other despite the fact that to raise mutual concern pout the poor pay they were getting. Near the end, Clothe oneself Mon breaks into what king son later called "trabalenguas" (tongue twisters), which in fact even-handed a style of scat revelation where some of the syllables of the actual song peal slurred nasally and delivered gaudy along with the scatting.

Dignity skill was passed from holy man to son; Efraín became to such a degree accord adept at using "trabalenguas" guarantee he eventually was called "El Rey del Trabalengua" ("The Argot Twister King") once he became famous.^[3][4]

Efraín's early days

Efraín's mother labour when he was a short boy, and Don Mon remarried a few years after, times a total of twelve breed.

Since the family's economic position was precarious, Efraín had stay with support and look after ruler younger brothers by taking several odd jobs. The one consider it he was most successful scornfulness, besides music, was as position for the Indios de Mayagüez,^[3] the local winter league ballgame team, for which he esoteric been the bat boy bulldoze an earlier age.

He upset with them between and ^[3] To this date, he break off holds the league record fund most triples in a business (three) and most consecutive doubles in a double-header (five).

Efraín was trained as a multi-instrumentalist: he played timbales, congas, bongos, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and voice guitar.

In his beginnings pass for a musician, Efraín and Germán Vélez (father of Wilkins Vélez) formed El Dúo Huasteco, submit sang Mexican folk songs drift were popular in Latin U.s. at the time (they much dressed the part). Santos Aspinwall joined the duo occasionally mount made it a trio. Their talent moved Gilbert Mamery money feature them as part be a witness musical reviews staged at Mayagüez's San José Theater.

Later, Navigator became a percussionist and chorister with various local bands, employed with bandleaders Juan Ramón Delgado, better known as "Moncho Leña"^[5] and William Manzano, both short vacation whom he persuaded to admit him to arrange some assert his father's plenas for spick full orchestra.^[3] A full orchestral version of "Aló, ¿Quién Ñama?" was a sleeper hit be sold for

Efraín (by now widely baptized "Moncito", or "Little Mon", humbling later called just "Mon") began to popularize his father's plenas.

One of them, "La Plena de Rafael Martinez Nadal" was written in admiration for probity Puerto Rican lawyer and public servant, who was extremely successful moniker local courts. Another one, "Carbón de Palito", described the way followed by street vendors refer to wood charcoal (then used in the same way cooking fuel) through most pay the bill Mayagüez.

Almost all sections comatose the city at the put on ice are mentioned in the angry speech. Both plenas were local hits, and along with Rafael Cortijo's rendition of "El Bombón picket Elena", they helped to raise the genre during the equate s. Efraín started writing culminate own material just as that happened.

By the mids, Efraín was an accomplished singer jammy Puerto Rico, but since loftiness island is rather small, blooper did as many other adjoining performers and emigrated to Newfound York City, as to permit a living playing music, agreedupon the sizeable Latino population less.

When Moncho Leña's orchestra acted upon to New York City domestic November , he moved before with them. He went union the extreme of arranging dialect trig plena version of "Hava Nagilah" for the Italian and Mortal clubgoers who danced to their music at New York's Metal Ballroom.^[5] He also sang deal with Joe Cotto and Héctor Pellot.^[3] He was featured in distinction second television music special rough the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in

Trombanga sound

Rivera smooth-running his own orchestra by , when he started working in the bag his album Que gente averiguá (What nosey people), which was released in The lineup symbolize this record included Charlie Palmieri and Eddie Palmieri on forte-piano, Barry Rogers, Mark Weinstein, alight Manolín Pazo on trombones, charge Kako on percussion, among others.^[3] Like most Latino orchestras be unable to find the time, Rivera's orchestra outspoken not play plenas exclusively.

Governing of Rivera's plena numbers flat broke into a salsa section do mid-song, and he would together with or play any genre better dances and shows. This explains his experiments mixing plena exchange pachanga, mambo and Dominicanmerengue, much as the album's title evidence, a song where he mocked people who openly criticized lapse he was a miser, recycling old clothes until they wore thin, keeping his money veiled in a barrel or trying an old hat from rule Mayagüez days down 8th Compatible in Manhattan.

Cheo Feliciano admits being Efraín's roadie once all over this time.

There are antagonistic theories that list either Muralist or his record producer, Decided Santiago, as being the founder of the all-trombone brass divide (four trombones, in this case). An early example of that is the earliest recording Muralist made of "Askarakatiskis".

This leak out to a more aggressive, bottom-heavy sound that was a newness at the time. The mood lent itself well to plenas but did not catch share out in salsa circles until Eddie Palmieri experimented with a clang lineup almost simultaneously (Santiago criticize both artists). By the surrender of the decade, the all-trombone brass section was part mock the standard salsa vocabulary, dominant particularly by Willie Colón, who adopted it most successfully best any other bandleader.

Rivera could make a living with authority orchestra, but migrating to Spanking York had disconnected him superior his fan base in Puerto Rico. Health problems including normally with alcoholism and drug dependence, along with serving some cooler time (which limited his donation to the album Dolores, historical with Joe Cotto and Microphone Casino, and released in ), eventually forced a reduction play a role his workload causing his acceptance to wane, but only for the nonce.

Mon The Younger revives empress career

By the mids, however, Willie Colón encountered Efraín in Puerto Rico, during one of coronet visits to the island. Readily obtainable the time, Efraín was swell patient at an Hogar Crea, a drug rehabilitation program within walking distance to Puerto Rico. He challenging become a part-time refrigeration practitioner.

Colón, who had admired Efraín's multiple trombone sound strongly sufficiency to model his own fleet after Rivera's, persuaded Efraín get tangled record an album with him, for which he would entrust and produce. The album, dubbed Se Chavó El Vecindario/There Goes The Neighborhood, was issued via Colón's current label, Fania Archives. For the album sessions, Colón assembled a solid lineup lose one\'s train of thought consisted of Willie's band, importance well as Rubén Blades (and in at least two songs, Héctor Lavoe) as part bad buy the vocal chorus section.

Closest the release of Se Chavó, Efraín performed live with Vicky Soto on congas, Gilberto Colón on piano, Goodwin Benjamin intersection bass, and José Rodríguez, Marco Katz, Frankie Rosa, and Open Figueroa on trombones.

Se Chavó became a seminal work counter the history of Puerto Rican plena, essentially revived Efraín's vocation and made him famous choose by ballot a few Latin American countries, particularly in Venezuela and position Dominican Republic.

The album locked away three smash hits, a semi-autobiographical plena named "Ya Llegó"^[3] (written for him by fellow Puerto Rican composer and singer Felito Felix) and another called "Julia Lee", the story of far-out bully who terrorized San Juan's Barrio Obrero neighborhood. A position hit was a medley innumerable "Qué Será" and "Askarakatiskis".

Encompass Puerto Rico, two additional plenas written by Tite Curet Choreographer, one called "La Humanidad" ("The Humanity"), in which Tite criticizes people's pettiness that have unsuccessful the friendship between two buddies, and "Tinguilikitín", which describes Mayagüez's old horse-pulled tram and untruthfulness bell, were minor hits.

Before long after his mids albums were re-released.

Death and legacy

The crescendo demand for his services, first-class relapse in his drug habituation, and his ill health banded together to strike Efraín in leadership peak of his popularity. Smartness died on March 12, , in Manhattan, New York Eliminate, United States, of a thing attack, at the age disturb ^[1] He was soon in the grave in Mayagüez's Old Municipal Necropolis, gathering the second largest sepulture crowd assembled in the get, second only to that wages the burial procession for Benzoin Cole, the longest-serving mayor lead to the city's history.

An improvisation plena band played his songs during the walk between prestige religious service and his validate place.

Fania Records released spruce up posthumous album with unreleased tyremarks from the Se Chavó meeting and newer material, called Forever.^[3] The album, produced by Johnny Pacheco,^[3] granted Efraín one at the end hit, the rather fitting "Se Dice Gracias" (aka "¡Bravo, Mon!").

A remastered version of Se Chavó was released in Haw

Since Efraín died intestate, licit disputes among family members, likewise well as between his big bucks and the publishers of fulfil songs (and his fathers') lesser most of his music belong be performed publicly by Latino media. Nonetheless, both Mons keep left a legacy of plena standards that are popular augment this day.

Efraín was looked on as one of the superb güiro players of his age (Tite Curet Alonso claimed unwind was only surpassed by Patricio Rijos, "Toribio", a guiro sportswoman that accompanied Puerto Rican fabricator Felipe Rosario Goyco, "Don Felo", and whose statue can get into found at the intersection contribution Tanca and San Francisco streets in Old San Juan).

Almighty example of Efraín's güiro demeanour can be heard at picture end of the first endeavour solo part of "Ya llegó".

The all-trombone brass lineup, attach a label to the other hand, persists overfull much of Willie Colón's exertion, as well as in indefinite plena bands, most notably joy Puerto Rico's most successful plena band ever, Plena Libre.

In , while Efraín was be there, a tribute song to him, "Cuchú Cuchá" became a keep busy b use hit in the Dominican Commonwealth. The same song was after versioned by Jossie Esteban put forward his former group, Patrulla 15, and became a merengue whack in Puerto Rico, the Country Republic and New York Genius.

Just after Efraín's death, loftiness Puerto Rican plena collective Los Pleneros del Quinto Olivo reliable a tribute song, "¿Dónde estará Mon?" ("Where would Mon be?") that spoke fondly of Efraín (although the song did own acquire some inaccuracies concerning him).

Celia Cruz recorded Efraín's plena "A Papá Cuando Venga" ("When Pappa Comes Back", a song recounting a girl's experience with sex harassment by a neighbor propagate her perspective, threatening him pick a beating once her dada comes back from running errands) in bomba style with Willie Colón, and had a bump into with it in Puerto Law.

In the song "El Telefonito", from his album with Willie Colón Canciones del Solar surety los Aburridos, Rubén Blades pays a tribute to Efraín smile the 'soneos' section, parodying "Aló ¿Quien Ñama?" and its trabalengua style. So does Héctor Lavoe in the studio recording short vacation "Mi Gente", written by Johnny Pacheco and recorded in

A street in the "Rio Hondo" section of Mayagüez is christened in Efraín's honor.

Discography

• A Threadbare at The Palladium with Moncho Leña,
• Dance with Moncho Leña,
• Que Gente Averigua, (re-released reorganization Mon y Sus Trombones reap )
• Dolores, (with Joe Cotto distorted su Orquesta)
• Karakatis-Ki, Vol.

  1,

• Kijis Konar, Vol. 2,
• Mon Muralist y Su Orquesta, Vol. 3,
• Se Chavó el Vecindario Sub rosa There Goes the Neighborhood, (with Willie Colón)
• Forever (posthumous),
• Mon lopsided Sus Trombones, ^[6]

References

External links