Both vocally and rhythmically they developed a “sauce” of Caribbean sounds
Puerto Rico got a unique tradition of “bomba” and “plena”, to which percussionist Rafael Cortijo, frontrunner of a conjunto since 1954, got extra trumpets and saxophones (El Bombon De Elena). Their conjunto along with his husky vocalist Ismael Rivera (El Nazareno, Quitate de la through Perico), notorious for all the improvised call-and-response vocals for the “sonero” heritage, harked to the African root of Caribbean music without the difference between kinds. Read more