First recording for Ansonia ALP1237. Our correspondents, the collctors Antonio and David Morales, inform us that Ramito's very first recording was for RCA Victor, singing with the Conjunto Típico Ladi in 1939-1940  

Ramito in New York, 1962, during a program on radio station WHOM. More about this photo.

   Visít an entire webpage dedicated to Ramito by Luis Cornelio

Florencio Morales Ramos, “Ramito” [b.1915-d.1990], originally from Caguas, was one of the greatest singers of Puerto Rican jíbaro music. He was widely considered the greatest traditional singer of his generation, and as well, a composer and a folklorist who revived several forgotten forms.
     Improvisation, a difficult art, is one of the remarkable features of Puerto Rican folk music; and Ramito was one of the masters of improvisation based upon traditional patterns of verse and music. The décima, a song of ten-line verses in rhymed octosyllabics descending from medieval Spanish ballads, and the aguinaldo are often sung extempore. The singer of décimas and aguinaldos (and other forms) sings of love, of the human condition and experiences, of the Puerto Rican people, of persons the singer wants to honor and of impressive events. Ramito, for example wrote decimals about the late General Douglas MacArthur and on the death of President Kennedy. In the old days when most villagers had to do without a newspaper the improvisations of folk song frequently provided the front page or the editorial, as Puerto Rican author Tomás Blanco has said. Ramito remarked, “My mother was one of the few women who excelled in the art of improvising songs, one of the best.”

When asked whom he considered among the most distinguished singers of mountain music, Ramito listed the following:

Jesús Robles from Cayey
Cándido Silva Parrilla from Barceloneta
Jesús Díaz, “El Conde”
Germán Rosario (who lived in New York until his death in 1972)
Juan I. Aponte
Jesús “Chuito” Sánchez from Bayamón
Ernestina Reyes, “La Calandria”
Natalia Rivera
Toñín Romero
Angel Pacheco Alvarado, “El Jíbaro de Peñuelas”
Iluminado Félix, ”El Jíbaro de Ceiba”
Baltasar Carrero, from Rincón
Gaspar Ríos, from Humacao
Víctor Lluveras, from Fajardo