Miki Vimari with Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz in “Jammin Live”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLa Vimari’s participation with Richie Ray\u2019s band was pretty remarkable. Mignaluz Rosas Medina, her real name, joined the band when she was only 17 years old. She moved to New York in 1968 to work with Richie and Bobby and stayed with them for six years.<\/p>\n
She left a big print on some of Richie Ray\u2019s most famous albums. These included “El Differente” (1970), “El Bestial Sonido de Ricardo Ray y Bobby Cruz” (1971), “Ricardo Ray Presenta a La Vimari” (1972), Jammin Live” (1972), and “Felices Pascuas” (1975).<\/p>\n
Her powerful voice, along with Bobby Cruz tenor-like voice, created a very unique chorus. This supported the very unique sound of Richie Ray’s orchestra.<\/p>\n
Yolanda Rivera joined the Sonora Ponce\u00f1a around 1976. She participated in eight albums with them, starting with “El Gigante del Sur” (1977) all the way through “Determination” (1982). She gave the Sonora Ponce\u00f1a a 3rd singer and a powerful chorus. Her falsetto voice would resonate almost like Johnny Pacheco did in his band, providing La Ponce\u00f1a with a fresh variant to the band\u2019s trademark \u201csonora\u201d trumpet sound.<\/p>\n
Like Miki Vimari, Yolanda was mostly a secondary singer that did great work doing chorus for the band.<\/p>\n
Who Did I Miss? What\u2019s Coming in Part 3?<\/h3>\n In all, \u201ccoristas\u201d are an important element of recordings and the above mentioned were the ones that left lasting impressions in me. Since there are hundreds of \u201ccoristas\u201d that participate in recordings, I\u2019m sure that a review of my old LP\u2019s backcovers and some CD backliners will reveal that I have omitted many other notable \u201ccoristas\u201d from the golden years of Salsa music.<\/p>\n
From Part 1, I was reminded by one of Latino Music Caf\u00e9 readers of Elliot Romero, who perhaps fits more with this era of \u201ccoristas\u201d. Darvel Garcia, Chegui Ramos, Papo Rosario, and many others have been left out. If you can think of others I\u2019m missing, please add a comment on the \u201cComments\u201d box below this blog.<\/p>\n
In Part 3, I\u2019ll focus on just one singer and \u201ccorista\u201d that had dominated the 90s and 2000\u2019s with his chorus, particularly in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
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The chorus is an integral part of Salsa music. Good “coristas” can make or break a song. In this Part 2 of the best “coristas” I’ll cover some of the more contemporary “coristas”. Their work may overlap with some of the “coristas” I covered in Part 1. However, even if the chronology is not exact, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1127],"tags":[493,13,15,293],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Salsa Music Best All-Time \u201cCoristas\u201d: Part 2 - Latino Music Cafe<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n