{"id":905,"date":"2018-11-23T17:50:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T21:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=905"},"modified":"2021-12-02T15:56:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T19:56:24","slug":"christmas-latin-music-begins-with-asalto-navideno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2018\/11\/23\/christmas-latin-music-begins-with-asalto-navideno\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Latin Music Begins with “Asalto Navide\u00f1o”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I was 12 years old, Willie Colon<\/a>‘s “Asalto Navide\u00f1o”<\/em> was the 1st<\/sup> album I played to celebrate the arrival of the Christmas season.<\/p>\n

“Asalto Navide\u00f1o”:<\/em> My Favorite Christmas Classic<\/h3>\n
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\"Willie<\/a>
Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe released Asalto Navide\u00f1o Vol. 2 in 1972 and became a bigger hit than Vol. 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since then, “Asalto Navide\u00f1o”<\/em> became my way of welcoming Christmas! But of the two Asalto Navide\u00f1o albums that Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe<\/a><\/em><\/strong> recorded, my favorite is the second one.<\/p>\n

“Asalto Navide\u00f1o Vol. 2”<\/em> (1972) captures Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe at their very best! It’s almost too bad it was a Christmas album because Willie’s band was at its peak, and so was Hector Lavoe.<\/p>\n

Hector’s voice and whit were at their best expression in this recording. The recording shows the clarity of Lavoe’s voice, the witty “soneos<\/em>“, the humor he can bring to any recording. You can feel how Hector Lavoe can sing Salsa almost effortlessly and do so better than just about anyone.<\/p>\n

The album also showcased Puerto Rican cuatro guitar player extraordinaire Yomo Toro<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. Yomo’s ability to play the cuatro harmonically at lightning speed could win over the hearts of heavy metal rock fans. Yomo Toro can make a cuatro scream, but harmonically, not just loudly. Yomo had first integrated the cuatro to Salsa as no one had ever done in the original “Asalto Navide\u00f1o”<\/em> album (1971).<\/p>\n

Since then, he stayed with Willie Colon’s band, and by the time they recorded “Asalto Navide\u00f1o Vol. 2”<\/em>, he had helped solidly the band with his cuarto<\/em> in a way that it seems to fit in like a glove. There is no sense of him forcing the instrument into a musical genre it was never meant to be played in. Yomo’s cuatro seems to fit the Willie Colon’s band just as well as Milton Cardona’s congas or Willie’s trombone.<\/p>\n

The song selection was also impeccable. As always, Hector and Willie wrote a few songs. The other songs were mostly originals with the addition of the classic “Arbolito”.<\/em> The musical arrangements were masterful. Willie Colon figured a way to add samba in a Christmas album in its first song “Pescao”,<\/em> and make it sound natural. Willie’s love for Brazilian rhythms always comes through in his recordings.<\/p>\n

Here’s the whole album via YouTube:<\/p>\n