The bomba and plena traditions of Puerto Rico's slums were given respectability through the music of Rafael Cortijo (born %Rafel Cortijo Verdejo). Inheriting his band, which he renamed Cortijo y su Combo, when bandleader Mario Roman retired in 1954, Cortijo went on to become one of the Caribbean's most successful artists of the 1950s and '60s. His many hits include "El Bombon de Elena," "Quitate de la Via," "Pedro," "Maquinolandera," "El Negrito Bembon," "En un Solo Pie," "Tuntuneco," "Con la Punta del Pie," "Yo No Quiero Piedras en Mi Camino," and "Saoco."
Cortijo's involvement with music began at the age of nine, when he played a set of bongos a cousin had made of milk tins. A master percussionist, by his teens, he accompanied the Matamorsa Trio on shows broadcast by radio station WNEL.
Buy CD
© 2008