{"id":1017,"date":"2010-01-24T12:41:25","date_gmt":"2010-01-24T16:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2023-04-10T16:26:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T20:26:41","slug":"the-legend-of-roberto-roena-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2010\/01\/24\/the-legend-of-roberto-roena-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Roberto Roena: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had the fortune to witness the peak years of legendary Puerto Rican bongo player Roberto Roena<\/a>. His Apollo Sound of the ’70s and ’80s made a profound impact on Salsa music.<\/p>\n

One of my highlights regarding Roberto Roena was a concert he performed at our High School. The theme for the concert was Roena\u2019s musical history. He played songs that covered from his first Apollo Sound album through his latest. At that time, the latest album was \u201cLa 8va Maravilla\u201d. The Apollo Sound was at its peak, and Roena drove in on one of those long Cadillacs. The Cadillac reflected the success Roberto Roena had achieved in those years.<\/p>\n

Roberto Roena Influenced Salsa Music<\/h3>\n
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Roberto Roena (right) was a founding member of El Gran Combo, but only after Cortijo decided to relocate to New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2010 Roberto Roena was honored, along with fellow Puerto Rican musician Luis \u201cPerico\u201d Ortiz, in the \u201cFiestas de la Calle San Sebastian\u201d. The honor coincided with Roena\u2019s 70th birthday, which provides a great milestone for us to look back at the career of this Puerto Rican musical legend.<\/p>\n

Roberto Roena was a highly influential figure in Salsa music. The skinny kid that started his career as a prolific dancer, became the bongo player of one of the most prominent bands of the time in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Roberto Roena revolutionized the choreographic movements singers do in front of Salsa bands. Finally, he lead one of the hottest groups during the peak of Salsa during the \u201970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

From Cortijo\u2019s Combo to Salsa Legend<\/h3>\n

I remember being in my grandmother\u2019s house as a preschooler and watching with her the \u201cShow de las 12\u201d TV show, where El Gran Combo performed. I was mesmerized by the music and the dance routines Pell\u00edn Rodr\u00edguez, Andy Monta\u00f1ez, and Roberto Roena performed.<\/p>\n

Although this was about the time period when I first saw them, Roberto Roena had been choreographing dances for some time with El Gran Combo,, and previously with Cortijo y su Combo. Roena caught the eye of Cortijo at a TV show where he went to dance with his brother. Cortijo decided to add him to his Combo and make him a percussionist. Cortijo taught him how to play the bongo, and envisioned that Roberto Roena could dance in front of the combo with Ismael Rivera when playing the cowbell.<\/p>\n

Note: you can read more about the history of El Gran Combo in the blog series which starts HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Roberto Roena\u2019s Brief History<\/h3>\n

It would take me many blogs to describe Roberto Roena\u2019s musical career, so consider this a quick summary.<\/p>\n

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Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound debut album came out in 1970 under the Fania label, although the band started in 1969 (named after the Apollo 11).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1962 Coritjo y su Combo broke up. After a drug bust returning from a trip that ended with Ismael Rivera in jail, some of the members decided to leave Cortijo y su Combo and form El Gran Combo. Roberto Roena, who offered his mother’s house for the meeting, decided to stay with Cortijo. Cortijo was in a sense his musical father and he didn’t want to abandon him in his hour of need.<\/p>\n

However, when Cortijo later decided to relocate to New York due in part to the social stigma of the drug bust, Roena decided to stay in Puerto Rico and joined El Gran Combo. There he worked with singers Pell\u00edn Rodr\u00edguez and Andy Monta\u00f1ez in a different kind of choreography dancing in front.<\/p>\n

The dance routines became such an attraction that they became part of what distinguished El Gran Combo. This was to such an extent that when in 1969 Roberto Roena left El Gran Combo to form his Apollo Sound, Ithier not only hired a replacement bongo player (Baby Serrano), but also a replacement choreographer (Mike Ramos).<\/p>\n

The Launch of the Apollo Sound<\/h3>\n

In 1969 Roena took off with his Apollo Sound. The band name came from the coincidental fact that the Apollo 11 was launched the day of their 1st rehearsal. I had a high school friend that would jokingly call them the A-\u201cpollo\u201d Sound, using the Spanish double-L sound rather than the English single \u201cL\u201d sound.<\/p>\n

Roberto teamed with El Gran Combo bandmate and Puerto Rican great trumpet player El\u00edas Lop\u00e9s, to form the band. Lop\u00e9s was in charge of the musical aspects of the band, while Roena provided the leadership and showmanship.<\/p>\n

His dancing showmanship with his brother as a kid was what got him the gig with Cortijo. This was also what helped make El Gran Combo distinctive. Therefore, Roberto planned to use this inherent ability to leap the Apollo Sound over the other bands of the time.<\/p>\n

Here is a video of Roberto Roena telling the story of this part of his life in his own words.<\/p>\n