Talk:Music of Puerto Rico/Archive 1

Since when?
Is salsa native to Puerto Rico??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.203.14.27 (talk) 18:03, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Salsa is a Newyorican CONCEPT not a rhythm. Though there is a school that erroneously swear it is a pastiche of Cuban music it is not. Any Latin American Salsero can attest to the distinct difference between Cuban music and Salsa and can identify one from the other. The Salsa concept is a reconciliation of many different musics: Jazz, Cuban, Brazilian, Puerto Rican, South American. To say that Salsa is Cuban music is like saying the "Rock" is "Rock and Roll" or that "Reggae" is "Ska". It is what it is, a musical dialect that stated in New York and spread to Puerto Rico and the rest of the world. Today it is the most important music in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Venezuela. But is it well known that Puerto Ricans have developed this music at least for the last 40 years.

Also, I am disappointed by the exclusion of my and Hector LaVoe's names from this article. Hector, one of the greatest Salsa legends that ever was and I were pioneers in this genre. We promoted Puerto Rican culture around the world, introducing the cuatro to Salsa fans wherever we performed. Thanks to our work Yomo Toro and the Puerto Rican cuatro are household names throughout the Americas.

Willie Colón

Inaccuracies
This article is probably one of the most poorly written I have seen in Wikipedia. I focused on the salsa section for a cleanup. Please, those who are experts in other areas help make this a better page with more information; there is a lot more to be said about the music of PR. The section on Salsa music contains a number of inaccuracies, including the assertion that Johnny Pacheco is Puerto Rican (he is Dominican), that Tito Puente was a "Salsa" musician (he hated the term, and is known more for his great talent in mambo and Latin jazz), and such nonsense as cowbells are used in salsa to give it "that authentic Jibaro" sound. While the author may have been a salsa lover and had good intentions, it appears he/she knows practically nothing about it or Jibaro music. Furthermore, salsa is described as Puerto Rican music from New York. It is common knowledge, and even detailed at length on the main salsa page, that salsa is essentially Cuban music. Puerto Ricans have contributed greatly to the genre and even took great pride in taking ownership of it and adding their styles, but that does not change where it came from or make it part of a new Puerto Rican or Nuyorican genre of music, and that should be noted in any article purporting to be part of an encyclopedia.

>>> OK, my corrections are a continuing project. I have again focused on the salsa section for its blatant errors. The previous author spoke of antagonism between "rockers" and "salseros" on the island. I find that this argument is a bit antiquated and has diminished in light of the reggaeton phenomenon of the past few years. We still have rockers and such, but salsa is on the down. Regardless, the salsa section is a bit useless considering the main and detailed article. Also, the needlss observations about salsa from San Juan and New York has no relevance in light of the larger genre of salsa music. Were salsa a genre confined to those two cities, then the argument would be relevant. As it stands, salsa in Colombia, Cuba, the US, PR, etc. enjoy great popularity among many different groups. The previous author is too PR centric on a subsection that is not native to the Isla del Encanto (PR). This seems to be a recuring problem in the article...merengue was previously described a great length in this article even though it is Dominican music.--Noopinonada 05:16, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Before further correction of this article, I wonder how wikipedians feel about eliminating the names of Luis Miguel and Jennifer López from Puerto Rican music. Luis Miguel has said, in many interviews that he feels/is 100% mexican. And Jennifer in from the New York, although of Puerto Rican ancentry, she began her career in the United States. She visited the Island for the first time when she did that concert for a big TV network does not speak spanish at all, even though she think she does, but that's for another article :-) (which our native language). Thanks.Solcita 20:42, 3 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Perhaps Lopez can be taken out but Luis Miguel is in denial he was born in San Juan so he is Puerto Rican whenever he likes it or not, the funny thing here is that he is absolutely 0% Mexican, he doesn't have Mexican ancestry or was born in Mexico, and since his parents where both European if he wants to claim he is "Latino Americano" he better accept his real nationality, we must keep him because regardless of what he claims all the records he breaks all the grammys he wins and all the cds he sells will be attributed to a Puerto Rican in history books. Salsa is not Cuban music, the Puerto Rican influence is clear in the genre as well as some other styles of music, to claim it as Cuban or Puerto Rican is nonsense salsa is Caribbean Music.- 凶 23:04, 4 July 2007 (UTC) 23:03, 4 July 2007 (UTC)  23:03, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Diego Duey
Diego Duey left his home at age fourteen. He went to live to Old San Juan. Diego already played guitar, but worked for a long time washing dishes in restaurants. In his free times he went away to the communes of hippies in the mountain towns of the Island, generally Orocovis, Rincón and Ciales. Soon, he went away to live in Saint Thomas and Santa Cruz, where he continued working, while enjoying the splendor of the marine life, traveling in sailboats between the islands with his friends. He already counted on sixteen years when he went to Boston. From there, he went to California, near San Francisco, where his musical career began. Diego played in rock bands. His nick name was “Chino”. Later, he went to New York, where he met up with an old musical friend he had known in San Juan, and formed his first important group. Between them, they formed a society and composed songs that they sang in the clubs of The Village in Manhattan. We are talking beginnings of the Seventies. Diego remained in New York by almost twelve years. There also he worked in the Public Theater of New York as a musician, and acted in the New York Shakespeare Festival during one summer season. Everything went very well for him. However, his mother insisted on his formal education, and sent Luis, his older brother, to look for him, so that he finished his studies. Diego returned to Puerto Rico and took a High School Equivalency Exam. He returned immediately to New York, where he registered in the University of the State of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. Since he was eighteen, Diego has consecrated his life to music, like a musician or a music teacher. In 1977 he was recruited to participate with the Public Theater of New York in a cultural interchange with the Ministry of Culture of France, country in which he settled for a summer. He continued visiting France. In 1981 Diego finished his Baccalaureate of Arts with three concentrations: Music, History and Literature. Then, he went to refine his guitar technique in Mexico, where he stayed four years. In Mexico, Diego studied guitar in the Superior School of Music with Magdalena Gimeno. In Tepoztlán, in the state of Morelos, he formed an important band called “Atongo”, for which he composed music. Diego made his Mexican debut as classical solo guitarist at the Museum Art of Querétaro, and gave concerts in several universities of Mexico. He became guitar teacher at the House of the Culture in San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the southern state of Chiapas. In the 1985, Diego returned to Puerto Rico. He made his classical guitarist debut in the Museum of Art and History in Old San Juan. Nevertheless, the few opportunities that the country offered, forced him to return to France, where he worked as a musician, and from this country he worked in Spain, Italy and Switzerland. He formed important groups. He played Brazilian and Andean music, and collaborated with a salsa band. Also, he formed an important duo with a Dominican singer, and acted especially in Italy and Spain. Diego continued dedicated to composition. In Paris, he studied composition in the École Normale de Musique of Paris. He returned to the United States and worked like an interpreter in the Supreme Court of New York. Then, he went to New Mexico to work with a flamenco group. Then to Los Angeles, to work in several nocturnal clubs, and formed a band to go to play in a hotel in Guam during the summer. When he returned to Los Angeles, Diego felt desires to return to Puerto Rico. He was already tired of so much traveling. In San Juan, Diego liked the idea of working as a music teacher. That’s how Diego compiled his first book of school songs, “Canciones de la aurora”, and published in 2005 by the University of Puerto Rico. This book received the prize "Latin Book Awards" of the USA as better educational book in Spanish for the year 2006. Since then, he has produced four more books: “Alegorías corretjerianas”, “Fauna y flora”, “Canciones para niños grandes”, and “Canciones rebeldes”. In 1999, Diego finished his master’s theses, "School song and primary music education in Puerto Rico". In August of 2002 it obtained his Music Teacher Certificate. Diego Duey did not want to be an educator. He describes himself as an “incidental” teacher. Nevertheless, throughout his career in teaching, Diego has shown to be applied. It was difficult in the beginning to him. Thanks to the support of his colleagues, he managed to discover the true meaning of the profession. He has been very critical of the Puerto Rican educational system, but always in a constructive character. In addition to music, Diego also writes. He has won awards in literature competitions. The Department of Education at Ciales produced a collection of ninety school songs composed by Diego Duey (“Canciones de Diego Duey”). This collection was distributed to the district’s schools for the use of music teachers. Diego Duey illustrates the importance of music for education through a scientific examination of the processes of learning of the child. He stresses the importance of relevant culture, putting emphasis in the necessity to selectively include the folkloric elements and the creativity in the educative process. Recently, Diego has begun working as History professor at the university. He is also producing short films with a group he created, with two other friends. Diego is married with Yolanda Quiles Adorno, also a teacher. He has a wonderful daughter called Loreli. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.237.217.60 (talk) 09:55, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

rewrite
As of mid-November, this article was among the very worst in Wikipedia. I have completely rewritten the first half, covering traditional musics (jibaro music, plena, bomba, and danza). Other people should revise the subsequent sections, and of course, much more could be added to the sections I have written. Steelhead522 (talk) 22:33, 21 November 2012 (UTC)Peter ManuelSteelhead522 (talk)

Salsa is cuban music. Go to Salsa (genero musical ) and it will explain how the name of Salsa came about in New York. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.235.219.123 (talk) 02:48, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Punctuation Issues
There are some issues that I'm not comfortable fixing so I'll note them here:

1) "influences—Spanish, African, and Taino Indian--,"

There are two types of dash and a redundant comma. The comma should go but I'm not sure what the Wikipedia convention for dashes is. The bulk of this article uses a long dash with no space on either side. This looks odd to me.

2) " readers should naturally consult other entries for genres like salsa(most commonly thought of)."

There should be a space before the the parenthesis: salsa (most.  But I did change it because the parenthetical statement doesn't make sense to me - at least not the way it's worded.

3) There is a non-sentence ("Giving rise to charanga.") of questionable meaning in the bomba section: ".... in the 1950s, the dance-band ensemble of Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera performed several original songs which they labelled as "bombas"; although these bore some similarities to the sicá style of bomba, in their rhythms and horn arrangements they also borrowed noticeably from the Cuban dance music which had long been popular in the island. Giving rise to Charanga music. As of the 1980s, bomba had declined,"

It's not a complete sentence. Also, I'm fairly sure (not sure enough to change the article!) that although the Cuban son was extremely influential on Puerto Rico, the Cuban charangas were much less so. The influence of Cuban charangas was felt much more in NY in the late 50s and 60s (Charlie Palmieri, Pacheco, et al).

4) By 2013, we should really be able to rise above the archaic arguments about the word "salsa". I'm confident that the multiple meanings of the term and the controversies surrounding the influences of the musics of Cuba, Puerto Rico and New York on each other can be expressed in an impartial way at this late date.