We have a page dedicated to the above singer Bautista Ramos here.

Toñín Romero and the elder cuatrista Pinín Maldonado

The era that followed the Second World War is marked by the migration of our jíbaros to the North American continent. Wherever they settled, they brought their customs and traditions with them.  They left their small clod of native land to enter a much wider, freer world into which to make their talents known with the means and resources that were available to them. The artists listed here didn't necessarily begin their career during this decade, rather that during this time they became widely known throughout their own land and the United States by means of the radio, the theatres and the recording labels which proliferated not only in New York but also in other large cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey and other Eastern states. For example Luis Miranda began his career in 1924 but he emerges as a result of his recordings of the sixties and becomes widely famed as a result of his late seventies' recordings on the Ansonia label, the most prestigious of all the labels recording jíbaro music. The radio, television, the theatres and recordings allowed us to become familiar with veteran troubadours that had been up to them known only locally in their towns. During the fifties decade they become widely known in the boricua neighborhoods of Puerto Rico and the United States. 

Ernestina Reyes

La Calandria
1925-1994

A native of the town of San Lorenzo. Arguably, she is among the femenine voices the greatest exponent of Puerto Rican country music, with her registry of chords and arpeggios from her throat, and a pure jíbaro sentiment in her mountain music. Before producing her earliest recordings, she sang in duo with her sister when they were known as the Reyes Sisters [Las Hermanas Reyes].

Ernestina began her fame recording with Chuíto el de Bayamón and the Conjunto Típico Ladí in 1947 for the RCA Victor label. She left us a legacy of unforgettable recordings upon her death a few years ago.         

Listen to La Calandria accompanied by Francisco Ortiz Piñeiro, Maso Rivera on cuatro and Felipe Rosario Goyco on guitar. This audio was extracted from an old DivEdCo film.

Biography of Ernestina Reyes on the Fundación para la Cultura Popular (Spanish only)

Germán Rosario

El Jíbaro de Yumac
1914-1972

Germán Rosario Rivera was born in the Membrillos neighborhood of Camuy in 1914. He began singing décimas at age twelve and is considered "the king of the troubadours."

His given stage name was the “Jíbaro del Yumac” (Yumac is Camuy spelled backwards) was a troubadour and poet of the highest rank who elevated the traditional décima verso to the highest pedestals with his rich vocabulary, rhetoric and muse.

* We have a page dedicated to Germán Rosario here.

 One of his greatest hits was El Múcaro en la Horqueta. [The owl in the crotch of the tree]

Listen to Germán Rosario sing Endrújula.

Juan Morales Ramos

Moralito
El Cantor de Tierra Adentro

Moralito was born around 1924. He is considered the greatest of the pie forzao improvisors among the other Morales Ramos brothers, Ramito y Luisito.

Among the many recordings he left behind on acetate  as La Yegua del Permante en el Rabo, Allá en la Altura, Una Emisora en el Cielo and other country numbers marked by their fine country twang.

Among his many achievements is the creation of the seis guagancó. Listen to a sample here.

He died in 1988 as a result of medical complications after suffering an automobile accident that resulted in the amputation of his legs.

* We've created a page dedicated to Moralito here.

Luz Celenia Tirado

La Jíbara de las Lomas
La Dama de la Décima

She became known during her programs of jíbaro music in Mayagüez, during one which she featured the great Jibarito de Lares while still a child. Born in 1928 and raised in the town of San Germán, where she is still active cultivating her verse, prose and inspiration with the lyrical rhetoric of country song.

She was among the first voices on the jibaro programs on Mayagüez radio and she recorded innumerable controversias with the greatest jíbaro décima singers, such as Germán Rosario.  She also appeared with Odilio González singing Una Tercera Persona and other popular themes.

* We've put together a page dedicated to Lux Celenia here. 

 Listen to a fragment of the Seis Chorreao Cosecharemos Cemento [We'll harvest cement] sung by the La Jíbara de las Lomas

Juan Inés Aponte

Juaniquillo
el Zorzal de la Montaña
El Zorzal de Orocovis

  Originally from the town of Orocovis. He was one of the bards that stood out so much on radio as he did on television, singing his jíbaro music in front of the public. He enjoy much fame as a troubadour, especially in Caguas, where he would appear to do his programs. He left us several recordings, most of them on 78 rpm platter. He dies a tragic death in Puerto Rico. 

 Listen to Juaniquillo here, backed by the group led by Gala Hernández Pabón. The audio was extracted from a 1958 called Parranda Campesina made by the PR Government's División de Educación de la Comunidad [DIVEDCO].

 Another example of the song of the great Juaniquillo, an     enramada in plena rhythym.

Juaniquillo sings La Fiesta del Cabrito [Festival of the Goat] back by Arturito Avilés on cuatro

 Backed by the female singer Nereida Maldonado and the cuatrista ArturitoAvilés, Juaniquillo sings Dímelo Cantando. [Tell me in song]

José Ángel Ortiz

El Jíbaro de Yauco

   Originally from the town of Yauco, José Ángel Ortiz was one of the pioneers on the West coast region of Mayagüez. He displays his talents through performances and recordings made in New York and New Jersey.     
    He was on of the early performers on the radio on the old Mayagüez radio program, Fiesta en el Batey. [Backyard Festival]
   One of the best improvisers of his times--the elder décima singers Baltazar Carrero and Luis Miranda have called him the best improviser among all of them--he was almost as good as Germán Rosario during a décima competition in New York. We are told that he died tragically in his town of Yauco, when him and his horse fell down a cliff.

* We have developed a page for the Jíbaro de Yauco here

 Listen to the Jíbaro de Yauco recite Muriendo Nuestra Cultura,
and an Homenaje a German Rosario

Baltazar Carrero

El Jíbaro de Rincón

    A comical composer who posessed an distinctive deep jíbaro voice. One of our most distinctive jíbaro singers in the real of Puerto Rican music, he wa born in the town of Rincon. Her recorded four records on the Ansionia label and several LPs for Casa Flor, among others.
   According to the folklorist José Gumersindo Torres, his most popular hit was El Jíbaro Terminao [The Finely-Finished Jíbaro] as well as other funny pieces that he left behind in his jíbaro voice. 
     Carrero made very few public performances. He revealed in 1976, while in Nueva York, that he hadn't sung in public since 1956.

* Visit our page dedicated to Baltazar Carrero.

Isabel Dávila

La Chabela

    She began her artistic career on the radio singing on the Santurce station WIAC, singing with Chuíto el de Bayamón.

 Listen to La Chabela in the controversia with Germán Rosario, Mujer Dominante

You'll find a high-resolution copy of the beautiful La Chabela illustration here.

 Juan A. Romero Muñiz
Toñín Romero

A native of the Coabey sector of Jayuya. Born in 1919, he was an adopted son of the city of Ponce, where he arrived at the age of ten and where he died and was buried.
   He was a bastion of our décima and also especially of our plena music. He was a great promoter of our traditional music by means of his radio programs, such as La Hora Campesina [The Farmer's Hour] on Ponce radio station WPAB; Fiesta en el Batey [Backyard Party] on WISO; and on his own record label, JARM. We remember him on his radio program in Ponce with Gelo Febles' group every Sunday. His brothers Moisés and Esteban and his son appeared together on the television program Borinquen Canta [Borinquen Sings].
     Toñín didn't record very much but he wrote several musical treasures such as the plena Ni de Madera son Buenas [Even the wooden ones are no good] recorded by Odilio González; Con el Casco del Juey [With the Shell of the Crab] that he recorded himself; El Charlatán recorded by Ismael Rivera with Lito Peña's orchestra; El Cofresito [The little coffer] recorded by Ruth Fernández.

Listen to Toñín sing 
Ni de Madera son Buenas

* See our page dedicated to Toñín Romero

We also have a page dedicated to the singer of Toñín Romero's Grupo Campesino, Bautista Ramos

Luis Morales Ramos

Luisito

Also known as El Montañero [Man of the mountains], he was the youngest of the great traditional music triumverate: the three brothers: Ramito, Luisito and Moralito, from the prodigious family residing in the Bairoa neighbor- hood of Caguas.
    Born in 1928, Luisito possessed a strong, ringing country voice, as he aptly demonstrated in his two classic songs, Padre Nuestro and Boricua de Arriba Abajo. He developed several seis variants of his own which were added to the traditional repertory.

Luis Morales Ramos died in 2009.

Listen to Luisito sing Divino Maestro  [Divine Master]

 Listen to Luisito sing Repartiendo Lechón [Sharing the roast pig]

  Luisito sings Celebrando la Navidad [Celebrating Christmas]

* We have a page dedicated to the great troubadour Luis Morales Ramos. 

Odilio González
El Jibarito de Lares

Perhaps the greatest traditional singer of all time, Odilio was born in Lares in 1939. After arriving in Arecibo as an adolescent, he made his name renown on the radio. He later debuted in New York in 1955, when he recorded his first jíbaro hits. He was one of our child stars during the music's Golden Age during the nineteen fifties.
     By 1962, he had recorded the hit Celos sin Motivo  [Pointless Jealously] by Ismael Santiago and with it he opens a wide berth into a successful caree in pop music as well as in Puerto Rican traditional song.

Listen the the young Odilio González sing Mi Música Campesina--My Country Music.

Another sample of Odilio's singing when he was a child star: Así Vive el Jibarito--[That's How the Little Jibaro Lives].

* See our Odilio Gonzalez page here, with additional photos and commentary.

José Miguel Class
El Gallito de Manatí

     Nace en 1940 en el  barrio Pugnado Adentro de Manatí. Luego pasa a Santurce, donde comienza su carrera joven, niño aun, como lo hizo Odilio González para los mismos años, grabando su primer disco para la Casa Ansonia cuando aún un adolescente. Luego hace dos grabaciones puramente jíbaras con la Casa Neliz, Tu Patria y la Mía y luego, Fiesteando en Navidad.   
     Se consideraba como la competencia de Odilio González, en esos días. Ambos grabaron Celos sin Motivos, pero El Jibarito de Lares fue el que lo pegó en el populacho boricua. Su éxito radicó en la ranchera puertorriqueña, que empieza a grabar para los años sesenta. Su fresca y timbrada voz se oyó y deleitó también por toda Sudamérica. Filmó la película El Gallo y aún se mantiene activo.

He aquí un enlace a una magnífica biografía del Gallito de Manatí en la página del Internet de Juan Torres Rivera.

Nereida Maldonado
La Jíbara de Salón

Nereida Maldonado, oriunda de Fajardo, ha cultivado el verso en prosa del cantar de la Espinela. Dueña de una melodía y entonación en conversación con el jíbaro diapasón de la guitarra y el cuatro. Indiscutiblemente, una de nuestras mejores cantoras del cántico del batey.

Oigan a Nereida cantar Campiña Borincana acompañada de Roque Navarro.

Nereida canta Picando Caña, acompañado de Arturito Avilés en el cuatro

Otra vez Nereida, pero aquí respaldado con Juaniquillo y Arturito Avilés, cantando Dímelo Cantando

Víctor Rolón Santiago
El Jibarito de la Montaña

 Víctor Rolón Santiago era natural de Cayey. Tenía buena fama de improvisador y de acuerdo al folklorista Joaquín Rivera, en controversia con Juaniquillo, su pie forzao era: Esos versos tuyos los uso para buscar agua en el pozo.
     Con poca educación escolar, en su musa sencilla se enfrentó a un monstruo sagrado del arte de improvisar como German Rosario y salió bastante airoso ante el desafío.

Notas adicionales del folklorista Joaquín Rivera

Victor Rólon Santiago canta Por Ser Loco y No Pensar  acompañado de un tal Yomo Toro quemando las cuerdas de un requinto.

  En 1956 un dentista de Brooklyn NY, de descendencia latvia viajó a la isla y grabó a Victor Rolón y su Cuarteto Puerto Rico de Cayey improvisando una decimilla a un Aguinaldo Cagueño y una décima a un Seis Mapeyé

Miguel Ángel Figueroa

El Jíbaro de Adjuntas

Durante su larga trayectoria grabó muchos discos de música folklórica, incluyendo Rancheras y Boleros Jíbaros. En sus últimos años se dedicó, igual que don Luis Miranda, "El Pico de Oro", a interpretar temas religiosos por su conversión al cristianismo.

 Oigan al Jíbaro de Adjuntas en el Seis de Adjuntas titulado, 
Las Muchachas de Adjuntas

 Miguel Ángel Figueroa canta un Aire Navideño

 Maso Rivera lo acompaña en esta Parranda Campesina extraída de un film de DIVEDCO con el mismo nombre

 La Parranda Campesina con un seis chorreao de Miguel Ángel Figueroa sigue aquí.

Maria Esther Acevedo

...se da a conocer en Caguas, donde se escuchaban sus dulces cantíos criollos a través de las ondas radiales cagueñas, compartiendo con titanes de la trova como Luis Miranda "El Pico de Oro", Ramito, El Montañero, Moralito, Pecho de Bronce, Goyo Rivera y otros bardos del valle del Turabo. Su cántico -- agudo y melódico, al compás de los géneros variantes del Seis, demuestran su valía en la música campesina. Su vida fue corta y sus grabaciones pocas también. No se puede hablar de nuestras cantoras sin mencionar su honroso nombre.

Oigan a María Esther Acevedo, acompañada por Paquito López Cruz y su grupo en un Aguinaldo que destaca el  tiple puertorriqueño.

María Esther Acevedo canta Fiesta Jíbara respaldado por Arturito Avilés en el cuatro

  María Esther Acevedo canta una triste cadena titulada Lamento. Compárenlo con una cadena alegre cantada por Chuíto de Bayamón

 
Adela Hernández

     Natural de Quebradillas, nos representó con su cálida y aterciopelada voz en sus cantos de la música de tierra adentro.
     Adela es famosa por su estilo inigualable de interpretar nuestra música típica y recordamos sus presentaciones en la radio y la televisión, donde siempre desempeñó un buen papel. 

Irma E. Rodríguez

La Jibarita de Salinas

Oigan a Irma Rodríguez, acompañada de su esposo, Flor Morales Ramos, cantando Cadenas del 1800.
La Jíbarita de Salinas tiene su propia websitio.

Pedro Rivera Maldonado

Natural de Fajardo. Nombrado por Joaquín Mouliert como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica. Miembro de la Mesa Redonda.

Sixto Claudio

Natural del barrio Tomás de Castro de Caguas. Hermano mayor de Domingo Claudio.

Domingo Claudio

Natural del barrio Tomás de Castro de Caguas. Nació entre una familia musical de trovadores famosos como Jacinto y Sixto Claudio. Como muchos otros, empezó su carrera en la radio en la estación WRIA de Caguas.

Milagros Carrillos
La Jibarita de Canóvanas

 Oriunda de Canóvanas. Comenzó distinguiéndose en los cantares del terruño amado, donde hizo su aporte a nuestro más bello folklore con canciones como el Seis de Oriente a través del programa Tribuna del Arte. Más tarde se distinguió como actriz dramática en las novelas de la radio y la televisión.

Víctor Manuel Reyes
El Volo

Natural de Aguas Buenas. Nombrado por Luis Miranda como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica.

Pedro Sorio

Natural de Luquillo

Gumersindo Reyes

Natural de Barranquitas. Nombrado por Luis Miranda como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica.

The search for detailed information about the history of traditional Puerto Rican music is one that seems to get more and more difficult as years go by. Several prominent sources come to the fore,  but all too frequently they offer error or insufficient detail. This state of affairs gives rise to fictional accounts lacking any foundation within a real historic trajectory. If to this picture we add the fact that many artists of yesteryear are no longer among us, we can understand how any kind of rigorous compilation of the facts surrounding our traditional music has become such an increasingly difficult undertaking.

As a result, we have little choice but to keep rummaging through the few remaining historical scraps about our traditional music, hoping to stumble upon details that were hitherto lost or overlooked. Only after repeatedly scrutinizing the historic data dispersed within interviews, 78 rpm recordings, magazines and other sources, can we hope to discover any new speck of information that might transform our perception or perspective of the unfolding story of our native music.

Our mission is not only to reveal this new information but to also to revise the existing historiography, clarifing it to enrich the narrative already created from established information sources and from the testimony of the personalities that animate the history of our jibaro music. With this mission in mind, we offer the fruits of our biographic pursuit of Jesús Ríos Robles, known as "Chuíto el de Cayey," one of the major foundations of our traditional Puerto Rican music (1). In the following essay, we offer our readers the trajectory of the life of the illustrious Puerto Rican décima composer, singer and improvisor Chuíto el de Cayey's life. As far as we know, this is the first effort to thoroughly examine the artistic career of this illustrious troubadour.

His beginnings...
Chuíto was born in what today is known as the Coabey neighborhood of Jayuya. At the time of his birth, Coabey was known as Jayuya Arriba, a municipality of Utuado. Jayuya was a coffee-growing zone that was susceptible to frequent economic crises arising from the fluctuation of international markets and the periodic onrush of hurricanes.

Chuíto [a popular Puerto Rican nickname for boys named Jesús] was born Jesús Ríos Robles in March of 1910 (2). His parents were José Robles Torres and María Ríos Maldonado. His father was a coffee plantation laborer and his mother was a homemaker. Chuíto had four siblings: Carmela, José, María A., and María. Among them, Chuíto was the youngest.

We have no information about his early days in Jayuya. We don't know how he learned to improvise or compose the décima. We also don't know how he learned or developed his style as a singer, nor how he came to learn to play the guitar. What we do know is that Chuíto blessed us with a score of his own compositions, written in a unique style which exercised great influence upon the many jíbaro troubadours that followed.

Chuito in New York City circa 1949. Photo courtesy Lucy Berros Rios y Vicente Rios

His Musical Background...
Before 1922, Puerto Rico had no radio stations and thus no way to widely diffuse traditional music or its foremost expression--the Puerto Rican décima--across the country.  By 1910 however, there existed several North American record companies that recorded Puerto Rican performers in San Juan which, although they were not traditional troubadours, did record traditional music pieces.  Much of the traditional music (seis, aguinaldo, décimas) was indeed quite popular at the time, even though it represented only a small part of the recorded repertory. The Edison and Columbia companies were mostly recording Gracia López, Jorge Santoni, Manuel Tizol and the Orquesta Cocolía during that period.

By 1914-1915 the anthropologist J. Alden Mason visited Puerto Rico and produced more than 100 historically valuable field recordings. These recordings included aguinaldos, décimas, seises, bombas and other Puerto Rican genres. Between 1916 and 1921 we find even more companies recording or searching for recording talent in Puerto Rico. In 1916, the Victor company recorded more than 20 pieces by the Quinteto Borinquen, among which only several numbers with a traditional flavor were included.

Much of the recording activity took place in San Juan, but on the Island's southern coast, Ponce was also a vital center of commerce, tradition and musical activity. It was the birthplace of the world renown tenor Antonio Paoli and during the first decades of the 20th century it was still a city of great artistic and cultural activity. This was evidenced by the gathering of important authors and performers that lived in the city, such as Julio Alvarado, the Ponce Fireman's Band, the Tizol family, Ángel Pacheco Alvarado (the singer known as Jíbaro de Peñuelas) and others. Also, Ponce saw the development of a new sound called plena that could be heard in the Joya del Castillo and San Antón (3) neighborhoods. As far as we know no plena recordings of that time exist.

His First Steps To Fame...

Precisely at the beginnings of 1930 we find Chuíto in Ponce, when he was around twenty years old. The young artist lived in the San Tomás hills of the Tumba La Vieja neighborhood, from which he moved to Calle del Agua street in Ponce (4). It may have been here where Chuíto acquired his musical ear and a large part of his décima material. We need to remember that in Ponce there also lived two great maestros of the art of rhyming décimas: Don Ángel Pacheco Alvarado (5) from Peñuelas and Don Arturo Silvagnoli.

It was in this environment that Chuíto was initiated into the art of singing décimas and popular music, along with the blind "Ciego Luna"- Gabriel Luna of Ponce (6). According to our sources, Gabriel Luna played lead guitar while Chuíto sang. It is possible that Gabriel Luna was the one who taught Chuíto to play the guitar.

We know that since the 19th century, troubadour contests were held in Ponce. We also know that by 1932, Chuíto had stood out in one of those contests. According to information furnished by Ramito during and interview, "around 1932…a troubadour contest was held in Caguas. That was after I was signed by Don Juan Brugal and Don Pepe Belardo, who were the owners of Brugal, Caballito y Trafic rums. Chuíto el de Cayey also began at that time."(7)

During 1932, Chuíto traveled to Cayey, thanks to several musicians of that mountainous town: Valentín Medina and Vicente Ortega "Bejuco" formed up a dúo en Cayey which traveled around the island seeking their fame and fortune. Valentín Medina was from Ponce, a cigar-maker by profession and he played the guitar. The members of the duo met Chuíto during one of their trips to Ponce. Since they didn't include traditional music in their repertory, they decided to invite Chuíto to sing with they in en Cayey.

In Cayey, Chuíto attained local fame due to his ability to improvise décimas, his comedic talents and his ability to perform the role of master of ceremonies. In Cayey, Chuíto took up with Herminia Hernández - Doña Millín, with which he lived for a short period on Eugenio Sánchez street, in the Pueblo Nuevo district. According to Rafael "Rafita" Torres, Chuíto was about 24 or 25 years old at the time. Torres was but a child of 14 at the time, who enlivened the same coffee houses that Chuíto entertained in, such as the "Los Turpiales" coffee house. (8)

Rafita remembers that Chuíto introduced a lot of innovative styles to Cayey. Along with the Medina and Ortega duo, Chuíto formed a musical group named Conjunto Rosas del Plata (9).  The conjunto was made up Chuíto el de Cayey (voice), Valentín Medina (guitar), Vicente Ortega (voice), Pellín Aponte, Domingo Sánchez (cuatro) and Luis González (marímbola). Rafael Torres joined them later.

Rafael Torres remembers that it was with this group that Chuíto debuted in 1933 in the Angélica Theatre of Cayey, where they premiered the conjunto's theme A Cayey Me Voy [To Cayey I Go] written by Chuíto:

A las orillas del Plata
donde viví mis días primeros
a las márgenes del río
del pueblo tabacalero
a las sombras del Torito
donde cantan los jilgueros
me voy a ese pueblecito
donde está el ser que yo más quiero.

At the edge of the Plata river
where I lived my earliest days,
at the river's edge
of that tobacco town
by the shadow of the Torito
where the goldfinches sang
I am going to that little town
where there lives the one I love the most.

Me voy alegre contento
a cantar mi serenata.
Estamos cerca del Plata
qué alegres los campamentos.
Ya me voy, me voy, me voy, me voy
si Dios no me mata.
Me voy a Cayey a gozar
con los Rosas del Plata.

I go happy, contented
to sing my serenade
We are near the Plata
How happy the encampments.
I will go, go, go, go,
if God doesn't stop me
I will go to Cayey to rejoice
with the Rosas del Plata.

 Listen to a 2006 Cuatro Project field recording of Rafita and his friends singing A Cayey me Voy with Ramón Vázquez on cuatro, Israel Berrios on guitar

As Chuíto's fame grew in Cayey, in San Juan another cultural bulwark, Ladislao Martínez (Maestro Ladí) was establishing himself with his ensemble, Grupo Aurora. The Grupo Aurora was made up of Ernesto Mantilla (Ernestico), Claudio Ferrer, Felipe Goyco (Don Felo), Patricio Rijos (Toribio), Juan Cotto and Ramón Dávila (Moncho). The group appeared over San Juan radio station WKAQ (10).  The Grupo Aurora became very popular; the radio programs they appeared in could be heard over much of the Island, including Cayey.

Just like other Puerto Rican towns that depended on a single crop (crops such as coffee, tobacco or sugar cane), Cayey suffered a tragic economic situation after the 1929 New York market crash and the onslaught of hurricane San Ciprián in 1932. During this time, the Puerto Rican government established work camps in Cayey as part of its economic redevelopment programs as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal policies. The purpose of these camps was to revitalize local economies, providing work and nourishment to local workers. Chuíto was hired at $21.00 a month to entertain the workers of Camp Mariano Abril (11), which housed around 100 men that sleeped in cots lined up in rows. The workers woke at daybreak to begin a long day in the fields. Chuíto sung the wake-up call, called dianas, at 5:00 in the morning and entertained the workers with danzas and boleros during breakfast. At 11:00 a.m. he sang during lunch and at 6:00 p.m. he closed the day with happy music.

It was around this time that Chuíto met and took up with Julia León de Cayey, with whom he adopted a stepdaughter, Elsie Sonia León. Pepito, Doña Julia's brother, was around 15 years old and Chuíto was around 24. The following photograph is one of Chuíto during this time..

This photo was taken at the home of Jesús Collazo in the Polvorín neighborhood of Cayey. In the background you can see the towers of Cayey. In the photograph we can identify, from left to right: Chuíto, Rafael Torres "Rafita" (voice), Vicente Ortega (voice and maracas), Domingo Sánchez (cuatro), Gaspar León (guitar and voice), and kneeling, Lucas Vázquez (guitar) and two unidentified women.  Photo from the Rafael Torres collection..

Towards San Juan and his first recordings...
In San Juan, radio station WKAQ had become a powerful information and communications medium. Its programming had become a way of life for many Puerto Ricans. By 1935 one could hear on the radio Los Jíbaros de la Radio, originally titled Compay Sico y Compay Tello, which was heard across the entire Island (12). Although it was primarily a program of political satire, the show's music was provided by the Grupo Aurora, which played mostly traditional music.

Chuíto appeared on this station once in a while as a singer. It is said that Chuíto was introduced to the members of Maestro Ladí's group by the great musician Claudio Ferrer. We have not been able to confirm how he was first linked to this group, but we do know that Chuíto returned to Cayey with new songs and lyrics composed by the group's guitarist/composer Don Felo. Chuíto relied on his friends in Cayey that were well connected with the San Juan musicians with whom he shared songs. Rafael Torres remembers that Chuíto sang songs by Don Felo, by the Trío Matamoros, by Rafael Hernández, by Pedro Flores and by the Cuarteto Machín, songs which were very much in vogue with the public at that time.

Chuíto at around age 25. Photo from the collection of Cayey City Hall, courtesy of Ramón Vázquez

In search for better opportunities, Chuíto moved to Ponce in 1936. According to Arturo Silvagnoli, Chuíto created the genre seis con décimas there (13) by combining the rhythm of two tangos: La Cama Vacía and Tango Errante, both written by Gregorio Ayala (14). Gregorio Ayala conducted a radio program at the Ponce radio station WPRP called Variedades Musicales [Musical Varieties] sponsored by the Oscar-Gómez-Plata lozenge company. Chuíto was associated with WPRP since he performed at its inauguration in 1936. Chuíto and Gregorio Ayala spent many hours at the station as announcers for various programs.

In spite of the widespread acceptance of traditional music, what really dominated the musical environment in Puerto Rico were several new popular genres. Musical groups and orchestras such as the Cuarteto Victoria, the Grupo Marcano, Johnny Rodríguez and his Conjunto and the Trío Matamoros lorded over the radio waves. In step with this reality, Chuíto did not limit his repertory to traditional music, but included guarachas and rumbas that were so appetizing to the popular tastes of the times.

In Ponce, Chuíto also worked promoting Ron Kofresí [Kofresí rum] along with a certain Jiménez Aguayo. Later he became the official spokesman for the rum brand. Under the auspices of Ron Kofresí, Chuíto formed the Trío Kofresí, which was made up of Chiquitín García, who resided in the Machuelito neighborhood of Ponce, (voice and maracas), Juanchín Santana (lead guitar) and Chuíto (voice and rythym guitar). The trío played all across the Island promoting  Ron Kofresí and singing popular music of good quality. The trio dissolved upon Chuíto's move to New York City. Then Chiquitín García, who never got to record with the trio, joined the Cuarteto Mayarí which had been formed in 1938." (15)

Chuíto de Cayey with the Trío Kofresi: Juanchín Santana, Chuquitín García and Chuito

Although we haven't been able to find any evidence ascertaining that Chuíto was in New York City in 1938, we do know that he performed with the Conjunto Típico Ladí. Chuíto recorded at least two songs (Cerca de Cayey and Mi Mulata) with them, however. In these recordings Chuíto sounds like a young man, singing in a high register--a voice very much different from his later 1947-48 recordings. But evidence that suggests the possibliity that these early recordings may have been made prior to 1937 may be the fact that the song, Cerca de Cayey, includes Claudio Ferrer, whom had left for New York by 1935-36.


Chuito el de Cayey with the grupo Industrias Nativas in Cataño, during a policeman's festival; left to right: Toribio, Don Felo, Sarrail Archilla, Maestro Ladí, and Chuito el de Cayey  Photo from the collection of Jaime Jaramillo

PBy this time Chuíto was already known with the title of "el de Cayey" [the one from Cayey], as he was known on WINL radio programs. It is said that the famous WKAQ radio announcer Antonio Alfonso was the one who had coined this nickname for him (16). Many of the people we interviewed remember that Chuíto became known popularly by the way he introduced himself on radio with the phrase "con tanto gusto" [it's my pleasure], a phrase that stuck with the public.

The puzzle of whether Chuíto was in New York at that time still remains. In 1939 the Grupo Marcano recorded two of his songs in Nueva York: Sigan los tiempos cambiando, Part 1 & 2, on the Decca label #21052. The songs were recorded on September 14, 1939 (17). Also in New York, on November 7, 1940 Pedro Marcano and his group recorded another of Jesús Ríos Robles' songs (18). Chuíto may have traveled to New York, or he may have just sold the songs to Pedro Marcano or to Claudio Ferrer.

 Como Criamos, a funny décima written by Chuíto and sung by Claudio Ferrer and Lalo "el Cura" for Columbia, #6061 

The 1940-47 period represents a confusing time, insofar as compiling Chuíto's biography is concerned. Even though traditional music was not often recorded during that time, it was often heard on the radio. In Puerto Rico, programs such as La Hora del Volante [the steering-wheel hour] and Rey del Batey [king of the backyard], among others programs sponsored by a number of beer labels and other products, served as a catapult to our singing jíbaros. In the Forties, radio programming became the favorite venue for traditional troubadours such as Germán Rosario, Priscila Flores, La Calandria, and others. Chuíto was by then a veteran of the radio scene and was considered by then one of the best singers of traditional music as well as the best improvisor of décimas.

The forties was initiated by the Second World War and the arrival of many Puerto Rican immigrants to the shores of New York City. Puerto Rican jíbaros kept their country´s musical culture alive in New York. Among the valiant defenders of traditional music that recorded in New York during that time we find Claudio Ferrer, who wasn't an improvisor but who interpreted many jíbaro themes and even took part in jíbaro groups at Christmas time.

It isn't until 1947 when we catch up to Chuíto in Santurce. According to Noemí Rosas Robles, his niece, the following photograph was taken in Santurce. Here we see the troubadour nicknamed Juaniquillo (Juan Inés Aponte) next to Chuíto. The photo was taken in El Fanguito, where Chuíto lived with wife, near [trolley] Stop 24.

Chuíto el de Cayey and Juan Inés Aponte, "Juaniquillo"  Photo from the collection of Noemi Rosas Robles

By 1948, the industry of jíbaro music recordings in Nueva York grew significantly. The City of Skyscrapers was filled with recordings of jíbaros like Chuíto el de Bayamón, Ernestina Reyes (La Calandria), and Ramito (Flor Morales Ramos). Ramito said during an interview that it was thanks to Chuíto el de Cayey that he was able to get to New York to record on the Ansonia label.

Listen to an extremely rare recording of Festival en Puerto Rico, on the Rival label, sung by Chuíto el de Cayey in 1948.

For Chuíto el de Cayey, as it was with other jíbaro artists in search for a paycheck, trips to New York had become routine. The oportunities to record in Puerto Rico were few, while in New York, recording companies that promoted Puerto Rican music were numerous: Verne, SMC Pro-Arte, Coda, RCA Victor, Seeco, Columbia, and others. It was, precisely the Verne label that recorded Chuíto singing four songs with the famed cuatrista Sarrail Archilla in October 1948. These songs eventually became the foundational décimas for all the jíbaro artists to follow::

1. Amor de madre [seis] - Verne 0397, Side A
2. Consejo a los hombres [seis fajardeño] Verne 0397, Side B
3. Mil felicidades [aguinaldo cayeyano] Verne 0398, Side A
4. Madre mía [seis con décimas] Verne 0398, Side B

A fragment of the lyrics of the aguinaldo, Mil Felicidades:

Llegaron los días
de la Navidad.
Hay felicidad
y tanta alegría
en la Patria mía.
Estas Navidades
hay tantas bondades
como se merecen
mientras todos ofrecen
mil felicidades.

The days of Christmas
have arrived.
There is cheer
and so much happiness
in my homeland.
This Christmas
there are as many kindnesses
as are deserved
while everyone offers
a thousand congratulations.

Around this time, Chuíto also recorded a décima-controversia [Súplica postrera] along with Natalia (Anatalia Rivera) where he let his last wishes known: at the end of the song, Chuíto tells Natalia, "Bury me in Jayuya.""

 Chuíto's recording of  Súplica Postrera with Natalia (Anatalia Rivera) on the Lina label in 1946

A fragment of the lyrics of the décima, Súplica Postrera follows:

Cuando alguno a tu ventana
se acerque a cantarte versos
sobre tus cabellos tersos
tendrás mi mano liviana.
Recordaras las mañanas
que alegre te despertaba
cuando junto a ti te hablaba.
Dirás a Claudio y a Toñito:
Al fin ya murió Chuíto
el que alegre me cantaba.

When someone approaches
your window to sing verses
about your smooth, glossy hair
you shall have my weightless hand.
You will remember the mornings
that so happily I awakened you
when next to you I spoke.
You will tell Claudio and Toñito:
Chuíto has finally died
the one who sang to me so cheerfully.

By the end of the forties Ramito was initiating his brilliant career while his teacher, Chuíto el de Cayey, scrounged for money wherever he could: he sold décimas, he sold rum and he appeared on radio programs. By that time, Chuíto lived in New York with his companion, "Doña Susie." Sadly, we have not been able to find copies of the  décimas that Chuíto wrote and sold. During those times, many interpreters of jíbaro songs customarily purchased poetic décima lyrics from décima composers and then recorded them under their own name.

These photos were taken at the end of 1949 when Chuíto visited Puerto Rico for the wedding of his niece Noemí Rosas Robles, who lived in housing development Caserío Las Casas in San Juan. The photos show Chuíto next to his nephew René.                                                                               Photos courtesy of Noemí Rosas Robles

The final stages of his life...
The decade of 1950 was a golden one for traditional music. Many radio programs of that time promoted Puerto Rican country music The musical scene also relied on the amateur show of Don Rafael Quiñones Vidal, Tribuna del Arte [Tribune of the arts], where many jíbaro singers artists graduated and subsequently gained fame, artists such as Joaquín Mouliert (El Pitirre de Fajardo), Luis Miranda (El Pico de Oro), Odilio González (El Jibarito de Lares), José Miguel Class (El Gallito de Manatí), Víctor Rolón Santiago (El Jibarito de la Montaña), and Juanito Rivera (el Pico de Oro de Bayamón), among others.

New York also produced a great crop of outstanding jíbaros sobresalientes such as Baltazar Carrero (El Jíbaro de Rincón), Confesor Troche (El Jíbaro de Guayanilla), Germán Rosario (El Jíbaro del Yumac), José Ángel Ortiz (El Jíbaro de Yauco), Priscilla Flores (La Alondra de San Lorenzo), Moralito (Juan Morales Ramos), Luisito (Luis Morales Ramos) and many more.

Photo courtesy of Pedro Malavet Vega

In this environment, Chuíto appeared on the radio with the Maestro Ladí, Sarrail Archilla, Toñito Ferrer and José "Mengol" Díaz, on the La Voz Hispana program on the New York station WWRL - 1660 a.m. In spite of his exceptional improvisation ability, Chuíto recorded very little. It was said that he drank a lot and so many musicians found him hard to work with.

The following years closed the final stage of the life of our illustrious jíbaro singer. Chuíto completed his final recordings with the Rival label belonging to Bartolo Álvarez. The recordings were made in 1951, in the Nola Studios of Nueva York located on 54th street and Broadway. Bartolo Álvarez says that Chuíto recorded along with Sarrail Archilla and remembers that Chuíto attempted to record four numbers, but his voice was hoarse. He then asked Bartolo for a flask of vodka and lemon. After a few shots his voice improved and he was able to complete the recordings. Bartolo remembers he paid $35 to the musicians and $100 to Chuíto for the four numbers, that is $25 each side::

1. No Puedo con ella [seis con décimas] Rival 726, Side A
2. Fiesta campesina [seis chorreao] Rival 726, Side B
3. Tocando y cantando [seis] Rival 727, Side A
4. Todo es para ella [seis con décimas] Rival 727, Side B

His niece informed us that Chuíto suffered from stomach problems, frequently coughing and spitting up blood. After the aforementioned recordings for the Rival label and with his liver already damaged by liquor, Chuíto died in New York in the Autumn of 1952. He was 42 years old when he passed away. Contrary to his earlier wish, his remains stayed in New York for over ten years until 1965, when Ramito took them to Chuíto's native soil of Jayuya. There Chuíto was buried along with his guitar.

Monument to Jesús Ríos Robles in Cayey
  Photograph courtesy of William Cumpiano & David Morales

According to the great décima improvisor Luis Miranda, "el Pico de Oro," after Chuíto's death, two towns demanded the right to bury his remains: Jayuya, where he was born, and Cayey, his adopted town. In 1963, the argument was resolved on the Rafael Quiñones Vidal's program, Tribuna del Arte, by the singing of a décima that Miranda improvised that went:

Chuíto fue jayuyano,
porque en Jayuya nació,
y si en Cayey se crió,
también era cayeyano,
por eso lo más humano,
para más justicia en ley,
es que al cantor de Coabey,
tenga a la memoria suya,
sus restos allá en Jayuya,
y el monumento en Cayey.

Chuíto was a Jayuyano
Because in Jayuya he was born,
and if because he was raised in Cayey
he was also a Cayeyano then
by that which is most human
and by law the greatest justice
the singer from Coabey
should have as remembrance
his remains kept in Jayuya
and his monument in Cayey.

Discography of recordings of and compositions by Chuíto el de Cayey:

Discography of recordings of songs written by or about Chuíto el de Cayey, interpreted by other artists:

*Horacio, singer
The lyrics of "Ofrenda a Chuito el de Cayey" is a décima written by Efraín Ronda in homage to Chuíto el de Cayey.

Sources and Credits:
1. Bartolo Álvarez
2. Arturo Butler
3. Félix Echevarria Alvarado. La plena, origen, sentido y desarrollo en el folklore puertorriqueño. 1984.
4. Elsie Sonia León (Chuíto adopted daughter)
5. Antonio Morales, Jr.
6. Nerí Orta
7. Pablo Marcial Ortiz Ramos. A tres voces y guitarras. Editora Corripio. 1991
8. Felipe Jiménez Ramírez. Cuarteto Mayarí - 1941-42. Harlequin Records. 1999
9. Juan Bautista Ramos
10. Noemí Rosas Robles (Chuíto's niece)
11. José Enrique Ayoroa Santaliz. De serenata. Ediciones Huracán. 2000.
12. Richard Spottswood. Ethnic Music on Records. Vol 4. University of Illinois Press 1990.
13. Ewin Martínez Torres
14. Rafael Torres (Rafita el de Cayey)
15. Ramón Vázquez
16. Pedro Malavet Vega. Navidad que vuelve. Editora Corripio. 1987
17. Modesto Neco Quiñones and Alfredo Romero Bravo. Músicos, interpretes y compositores puertorriqueños. 2003.
18. José Luis Torregrosa, Historia de la Radio en Puerto Rico, Comisión Puertorriqueña para la Celebración del Quinto Centenario, San Juan, PR. 1991

Footnotes

1   It's interesting to note that Chuíto identified himself as Jesús RIOS Robles, even though formally his name should have been ROBLES Ríos. As to this, we could suspect that his father was not present of was not a positive influence during his childhood, so that Chuíto wished to honor his mother, placing her last name first. But it also could have been an artistic decision, given that "Ríos Robles" may have sounded more rhythmic than "Robles Ríos" a factor that must have come to the attention of such an expert rhymer as Chuíto.

2   From the 1910 US Census data of Jayuya. The census took place on April 1910. Chuíto by then was a month old.

3   Félix Echevarria Alvarado, La plena

4   Interview of Juan Bautista Ramos

5  Don Ángel Pacheco Alvarado had written several works in décima form during the decade of 1920, among these the short comedy, El Negrito Celedonio.

6  Gabriel Luna later became part of the group Hermanos Luna, who's members were blind.

7  Pedro Malavet Vega, Navidad que vuelve, page 158. There exist several anecdotes that link Chuíto el de Cayey as an important figure in the artistic development of the great Ramito, links that we will point out further down.

8  A Cayey artist that during this period was part of the musical group Los Turpiales. [The orioles]

9  It is interesting to note that 20 years later, Ramito also named his musical group Rosas del Plata.

10  It is interesting to note that in 1932, the Grupo Aurora recorded ten songs for the Brunswick label, not one being a song in the traditional genres.

11  This camp was located at the exit to Aibonito, near the Nueva Vista neighborhood.

12  José Luis Torregrosa. p. 125

13  Viva, El Reportero. 11/17/1983. - Interview with Silvagnoli by the attorney José Ayoroa Santaliz.

14  The Argentinian Gregorio Ayala was a great interpreter of tangos and composer of many songs.

15  Pablo Marcial Ortiz Ramos, p. 81

16  Modesto "Neco" Quiñones and Alfredo Romero Bravo, p. 337
.
17  Spottswood, p. 2056.

18  Ibid.

Indios de raza aguerrida,
Y de bélicos ardores,
Hallan los descubridores,
Allá en mi tierra perdida.
La mujer de tez curtida,
En las tribus Borinqueñas,
Con su mirada halagüeña,
Al hombre blanco se luce.
Terminando con su cruce,
La raza puertorriqueña.

Los hijos de tierra ibera,
Cuando a mis playas llegaron,
Los amores conquistaron,
De la india sandunguera.
El arroyo y la ribera,
En el valle y la colina,
Al blanco que fue su ruina,
Le dio su encanto y hechizo.
Y de ellos nació el mestizo,
Con ascendencia latina.

Respondiendo a su destino,
Sucumbió el indio tan bravo,
Y entonces al negro esclavo,
Trajo el español ladino,
Con la negra fue mesquino.
Y contra la ley divina,
El la hizo su concubina,
En el solar hogareño.
Y entonces nació el trigueño,
Con mezcla de sangre fina.

Ahí de África que el sol abraza,
Y lava fría ser Siberia.
Entre opulencia y la miseria,
Se fue fundando mi raza,
Y allí no es raro si casa,
Un blanco y una trigueña.
O con la rubia norteña,
Un moreno de prestigio.
Porque ese tiene un vestigio,
De la raza borinqueña.

Indians of a fierce race
and warlike passions
found by the discoverers,
there in my lost land.
The bronzed-skin women
of the Borinquen tribes,
With their enchanting gaze,
displayed to the white man.
In their crossing, thus began
the Puerto Rican race.

Those sons of the Iberic lands,
Upon arriving at my shores,
Conquered the love
of the charming Indian maid.
In the brook and the shore,
In the valley and the hill,
To the white man who was her ruin,
She gave her enchantment and charm.
And from both was born the mestizo
Of Latin lineage.

Responding to his destiny,
The Indian brave succumbed;
Then the Ladino Spaniard
Brought the black slave;
He was treacherous with the black woman
And against divine law
Made her his concubine
Within his household.
So then was born the brown-skinned man
Within him a mixture of fine blood.

From Africa, where the sun scorches
And Siberia, with its cold lava,
Amongst opulence and misery
My race was established.
Where it is not rare to see married
A white man and a brown-skinned woman
Or, a northern blonde
with a dark prestigious man,
Because that is rightly the vestige
Of the Puerto Rican race.

This biography was originally published in the Activities Program marking the 25th anniversary of “Estrellas Tropicales,” a Hispanic theater arts academy, on October 18, 1997. Felita passed away in December 2010.
    

      Felita was born in Naranjito, Puerto Rico on May 4, 1924, the eldest of the eleven children of Julián Oyola and María Cruz. Her schooling only went as far as the second grade of elementary school, but even as a child she showed artistic inclinations, taking part in school programs.

    At age 15 she married Joaquín Rivera Padilla, but divorced him after eight years of marriage and four children: Reinalda, Aurora, Emma, and Felita. Her divorce led Felita to pursue artistic outlets, and around 1948 she made her first appearance as a singer in the popular radio program “Tribuna del Arte” (Showcase of the Arts) hosted by Rafael Quiñones Vidal. Even though later in her life she cultivated other musical genres, her career began with singing “jíbaro” music, and Quiñones Vidal dubbed her “the Queen of the Mapeyé.”

From there she went to the radio program “El Gran Batey” (The Village Square), directed by the great cuatro player Tomás “Maso” Rivera, where she stayed until 1952, when she moved to New York, where she became a factory worker until she participated in the popular radio program of Perín Vázquez.

She won a first prize as an amateur and went on to appear in Santiago Grevi’s program “La Voz de Borinquen” (The Voice of Puerto Rico), until she joined the Delicias Quartet, which was featured in the program “La Mañana Canta” (Morning Sings).

Encouraged by her successes and harboring further artistic ambitions, she once more took up academic studies and singing lessons in an effort to widen her repertoire. Eventually she was able to record various numbers with famous cuatro players Yomo Toro and Nieves Quintero, such as “Los Celos” (Jealousy), “Sillita en el Cielo” (The Little Chair in Heaven), “Mi Despedida” (My Good-bye), and others. She moved to Boston in 1965 and began appearing in the Frolic Night Club, where she worked for eight years. In 1970, she began working as a teacher’s assistant in the public schools, where she became aware of how little Puerto Rican children and those from other Hispanic countries knew about their culture’s folklore. Attempting to remedy this situation, she established an academy offering free classes in those areas.

     One of her dreams became a reality in 1974 when, through the interest and the dedication of the parents of her students, she was able to establish the theatrical revue “Estrellas Tropicales de Boston” (Tropical Stars of Boston). The efforts of Felita and these parents, and their desire to have the children of their community become acquainted with their roots, led to the foundation of a non-profit corporation whose purpose was to further Hispanic culture through an emphasis on traditional celebrations, theatrical arts, music, and folk dances.

Felita Oyola in a newspaper article from the mid-1960s

      Felita received great praise and continued recognition for her great work; in 1978, for example, she was named “Mother of Artists” by the Hispanic media of Boston. Through her involvement with and dedication to folk arts, she opened doors for many in the community who had artistic talent. She stimulated, supported and helped them move forward until they and others were able to establish themselves as artists in Boston.

An editorial in the weekly paper “El Mundo” (The World), observed: “Those who grew up in this area remember her from their youth. They know her from her multiple artistic endeavors. Those who came later and grew up under her influence learned from her music, songs and dances. And those who are now on the rise and begin to dominate the scene have learned from the teachers of several generations the secrets of the theatrical arts and the folkloric dances that are an expression of our culture. Felita starred in Boston with the help and support of both Hispanics and members of other ethnic communities. In the course of her life she has earned the affection and admiration of us all."
.

Felita Oyola around 1965

      “Who doesn’t remember the charming girls and teenagers of the Baton Corps, an artistic group she created for the great parades of the Puerto Rican Festival in New York and other such celebrations in Boston? Felita is an institution, beloved and admired in New York, Boston, and other Massachusetts cities with Hispanic communities. Both local and out-of-state media have recognized her efforts."

The magazine “Estrellitas de Puerto Rico” (Stars of Puerto Rico) published a four-page article about her in its issue number 96, and the Boston Globe published a front page article on August 8, 1995. The weekly newspapers “El Mundo” (The World), “La Semana” (The Week), “Dia y Noche” (Day and Night) and “El Universal” (The Universal) among others, have published articles about this tireless lady.
.

Felita Oyola on stage aroud 1960 accompanied by the great cuatro player Nieves Quintero

       Past governors of Massachusetts such as Michael Dukakis and Edward King, as well as Boston mayors Kevin White, Ray Flynn, and Tom Menino have honored her.

So did the editorial of the newspaper “El Mundo” (The World): “We praise her undisputable merits, her worthy labor in anything that benefits her community, her tireless quest for the best for her people, her participation in any venture that seeks to achieve basic goals for Hispanics. Felita is an object of pride to Puerto Ricans and to all ethnic minorities who see in her the qualities necessary for achieving success. Hispanic to the core, she is always willing to be present at any worthwhile activity. Who can forget the moment when Boston mayor Kevin White presented her in 1978 with a beautiful trophy in recognition for her work in fostering good relations among ethnic minorities and between Hispanics and Anglos?”

Felita Oyola in the early part of the 1960s

      As a devout Christian, Felita observed her Catholic traditions with the same enthusiasm that she devoted to her cultural traditions. For seventeen years she helped celebrate the rosary and the chants to the Holy Cross and the Virgin Mary. For almost as long she orchestrated the Christmas celebrations with the Nativity scene and the Three Kings Day feast, distributing toys to the children of the community and thus helping to preserve the holiday traditions of many Hispanic countries and acquainting the children with their Christian and cultural heritage.

Two years ago, after open-heart surgery, we prayed for her recovery. Many thought that this tireless woman would never appear on stage again, but in a year’s time she proved the doubters wrong, returning to her thing: art and culture. She remains a Bostonian institution, and we pay tribute to her indomitable courage, her impulse towards better things, and her dedication.

 Seis Mapeye
with Arturito's backing, Luis Miranda improvises a funny décima about traveling to the moon titled Este Planeta Es El Mío [This planet is the one for me]

How can I possibly leave
My barrio Tomas de Castro,
To go to a celestial body
Which is uninhabitable?
Without any air to breath
And no vegetation or plant life?
Without a drop of dew
Or any kind of sunrise?
No, no it can't be,
This planet is the one for me!
 

Seis Mariendá
To the tune of a seis Marienda, Luis Miranda interprets a décima he composed titled, Para Amar a una Mujer [to love a woman]
 

 Aguinaldo Orocoveño
A Christmas-themed aguinaldo titled, Olvidar la Fiesta y Conseguir a Cristo [Forget the partying, go find Christ instead]

Some will see me
and hear me sing,
And they'd be thinking,
I'm feeling good
But I have also
seen bitterness
That's why I insist
even though it's at a cost,
Forget the partying
and follow Christ instead.
 

Seis Chorreao
About a cat that was frightened and ran away Por Tocar el Guiro en la Sala [for playing the guiro in the living room]
 

 Seis de Enramada
A variation of the seis often heard during feasts at the end of the coffee harvest. Luis Miranda chose this variation to sing of his barrio Tomás de Castro in Caguas in which he lives "happier than a millionaire."

That's where I have my shack
Half an acre of land
A burro that isn't too good
But he can get me across the river
Everything I have is mine,
From the cat to the furniture
And in a hundred-year-old rocking chair
That my grandfather gave me one day
I still sit and rock myself
Happier than a millionaire.

Seis Milonga
Don Luis sings about his love for his little island of Puerto Rico

Aguinaldo Cagueño
Lyrics for the seis always have 8 syllables, while aguinaldo lyrics always have 6. Aguinaldos are usually happy or reverent Christmas tunes. But some are very serious. The following aguinaldo was written presumably at the start of the Vietnam War:

They want to start
A new war
This comprises great danger
If one ever comes to explode
It must be avoided
Because in reality
Our society
Will fall into an abyss
Due to the selfishness
Of humanity

Seis Celinés
Soñé que estaba junto, querida [I dreamed I was next to you, dear]
En la playa junto a tí... [On the beach next to you]
Y un compromiso hicimos [and we made our vows]
A la orillita del mar. [At the edge of the sea]

Seis Habanera
This contemporary seis variation is inspired by the precursor to the Tango, the Argentinian Milonga. Luis Miranda's décima lyrics tell of how he learned to sing the décima:

I began to ponder
Where my sustenance comes from
What gives life to my talent
Which allows me to sing
That's how I came to find out
How and this I've come to trust
That if today I have the power
To sing with skill and knowledge
Its because I've inherited it
From Espinel and my old man.

It was Espinel who left us
And the decima that he created
And it was my old man who gave me
Some of what I know
It was that, with which I began
to sing in my shack
And if now with my song
Some applause I deserve,
I must show my gratitude
To Espinel and my old man.

Sueño de una Princesa
[A princess's dream] Neither an aguinaldo nor a seis, but actually a vals written by a jíbaro from Hatillo: José Antonio Monrozeau--interpreted by   Arturito and Paquito to pure perfection

    The decade of the forties brings us the Second World War and besides the arrival of many boricua immigrants to the New York City shores. By the forties, however, Puerto Rican traditional music had been only rarely recorded, but was heard often live on Island radio. Programs such as La Hora del Volante [The Steering Wheel Hour], Rey del Batey [King of the Backyard] and others--sponsored by companies selling beer and a variety of other products--served as a launching platform for many of our jíbaro singer-poets. Radio became the most popular medium for the introduction of new jíbaro singers during the forties, singers such as Germán Rosario, Priscila Flores, Ángel Luis García and others.
      Among these brave jíbaro defenders of our music who recorded during those years, some like Claudio Ferrer --although he was not an improvisador [improviser, who could improvise décima poems while singing them]--did interpret many jíbaro numbers, just as did other with great jíbaro interpreters [not improvisers] of jíbaro music. For example in 1940, the Grupo Marcano (with Claudio Ferrer) recorded the décima Como Criamos [How We Raise], written by Chuito el de Cayey, on the Columbia label. In 1944, Claudio Ferrer y sus Jíbaros recorded the song, Décima Amorosa [Romantic Décima], with Claudio and Natalia on the Seeco label.
      El Conjunto Típico Ladí also continued to record during the forties with Chuito el de Bayamón and others. In 1947, La Calandria (Ernestina Reyes) records her first songs on acetate, Un Jíbaro en Nueva York [A Jibaro in New York] and Vamos a Reyar [Let's Celebrate the Three Kings (Feast of the Epiphany)] backed by the Conjunto Típico Ladí, along with Chuito el de Bayamón.

     By 1948, jíbaro music began to be recorded with increasing frequency. Chuito el de Bayamón starts his own group Los Madrugadores [The Early Birds] (later known as the Trio Cialeño, with the great cuatrista Pancho Ortiz Piñeiro) including La Calandria. At the same time, Chuito recorded songs such as Elegia de Reyes [Elegy of the Three Kings] written by maestro Virgilio Dávila and Como Yo Canto [How I Sing] by maestro Arturo Silvagnoli.
     The great Ramito was placed under contract by the Ansonia recording company during 1948-49 and he began his rise as one of the most popular interpreters of our music. During this time Ramito recorded pieces such as La Familia Santa, Salud, Dinero y Amor, El Nacimiento del Mesías, El Huerfano en el Mundo, and others.
      By 1949, Claudio Ferrer is still introducing new singers of country music such as Ada María Carrillo singing the song María Y José on the Verne label. The rising demand for our music, coupled with the growth of the Puerto Rican community in New York, join to open the way towards th Golden Age of our country music...the 1950s.

The forties began to bring a small measure of progress to the isle of Borinquen and by this time there were five radio stations: WKAQ (1922, San Juan), WNEL (1934, San Juan), WPRP (1936, Ponce), WPRA, (1937, Mayagüez) and WPAB, (1940, Ponce). With the growth of radio broadcasting, the fame of the following singers grew:

Jesús Sánchez Erazo

Chuíto el de Bayamón

Born in Bayamón in 1900 and dying in 1979, "The dean of singers" was the first in Puerto Rico to sing jíbaro music on the radio. Chuíto was one fo the most beloved jíbaro singers in Puerto Rican musical history. When he was young, he began his career with the Conjunto Típico Ladí, composed of Ladí and Sarriel Archilla on the cuatro, Don Felo on the guitar and Toribio on the gourd-rasp, in the days when the group was known as Industrias Nativas. In the 50’s he continued his career singing for his own group, Los Madrugadores, which became the Trio Cialeño with the cuatrista Pancho Ortiz Piñeiro and later with Nieves Quintero during the Ansonia recordings
His décimas, aguinaldos and controversias were usually funny or patriotic, but were rarely sad.

Su éxito más sonado fue "La Vieja Voladora" en su inimitable estilo de Seis Villarán  
    
  Oigan una entrevista con Chuíto hecha en 1976 con Gilbert Mamery. En el mismo cuenta de sus experiencias como tabaquero (torcedor de cigarros puros).

Óiganlo aquí cantar la Canción del Tabaquero sin acompañamiento.Chuíto cantaba las cadenas, las antiguas canciones de los carreteros, desde muchacho. Oigan aquí a la cadena titulada Mis Recuerdos. Compárenlo con una cadena triste de María Esther Acevedo

Flor Morales Ramos

Ramito
El Cantor de la Montaña

 Ramito…nuestro máximo exponente e intérprete de la música jíbara de Puerto Rico y de su inigualable le lo lai.
   El tronco de la décima puertorriqueña, cantó a carta cabal como todo un ruiseñor la criollísima trova. Nadie ha cantado, ni cantará, un aguinaldo cagueño, un mariandá, una enramada o un mapeyé como El Cantor de la Montana.
   Su carta de presentación donde quiera que plantó bandera fue La Esposa Muerta.
     Ramito comenzó su carrera artística con el Conjunto Típico Ladí cuando grabó 4 canciones para el sello RCA Victor en el año 1939. He aquí dos de aquellas rarísimas grabaciones:

Estrella del Oriente

Pueblos de la Isla

Pero a nuestro parecer, los dos temas más bellos y resaltantes del gran cantante fueron:

 La Familia Santa

Linda Borinqueña

Tenemos una página dedicada a Ramito aquí. Esta página es parte de una sección dedicada a los tres hermanos Morales.

Arturo Silvagnoli

Se distinguió en Ponce en la música de la campiña borincana a través de la radio por varias décadas.

Visite nuestra página dedicada a Arturo Silvagnoli

Víctor Lluveras Ríos

Oriundo de Fajardo. Nombrado por Ramito, Luis Morales y Joaquín Mouliert como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica.

Tenemos aquí la primera grabación de Víctor Lluveras Ríos (respaldado por Maso Rivera en cuatro), cantando un Aguinaldo Orocoveño, Cuando el Sol Declina

Oigan a Victor Lluveras Ríos cantar Jíbaro Listo

Cayito Ortiz

Natural de Caguas. Animador de la radio y productor de programas típicos en Caguas. Don Ortiz se destacó por ser un gran defensor de la décima y de la música típica puertorriqueña.

Jacinto Claudio

Durante su larga trayectoria Jacinto Claudio grabó muchos discos de música folklórica, incluyendo Rancheras y Boleros Jíbaros. En sus últimos años se dedicó, igual que don Luis Miranda, "El Pico de Oro", a interpretar temas religiosos por su conversión al cristianismo.

Gaspar Ríos

Natural de Humacao Nombrado por Luis Miranda como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica.

Manolo Mata
El Ruiseñor de Palmer

Natural del barrio Palmer de Rió Grande. Nombrado por Luis Miranda como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica. Uno de los grandes poetas de la décima y fiel escritor de décimas que cantó Chuíto el de Bayamón.

Juan Serrano
Leña Verde

Natural del barrio La Prieta del sector Cedrito de Comerío. Uno de los grandes poetas de la décima y fiel escritor de décimas de Chuíto el de Bayamón y de Ramito.

Perfecto Álvarez

Natural de Caguas. Conocido como uno de los grandes improvisadores y poeta destacado en la poesía. Nombrado por Luis Miranda como uno de los más distinguidos cantores de la música típica.