Jorge Ramos in La Perla, Puerto Rico part 3/3 (September 2014)

[@mizzwanned]

Great documentary!

[@hectornegron9155]

Beautiful piece of work. It makes me feel like going to visit La Perla, something I've been dying to do for a long time. Puerto Rico, with all our contradictions, remains one of best and safest places to live on earth. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. One day while living in NYC I came to the island on vacations and wanted to see El Morro for the first time. I was with my then wife a Newyorican visiting San Juan for the first time, and we got close to the main entrance but weren’t sure whether that was the way to get to El Morro or not so we asked this police officer on a bike. He said and I quote… “If you go in there you will not come out alive”, end of quote and he showed us the right way. That is the image I’ve kept of La Perla in my mind all these years, but I still would like to visit it. I specifically would love to visit the historic cemetery.

[@itsagonyy1708]

did you do it did you go to la perla

[@andreamerino9146]

This is an opinion of George Ramos and does not necessarily capture all the islands inhabitants views. No passport needed to enter the U.S. as he mentioned with a passport entry is granted.

[@hectornegron9155]

Hello Andrea. Specifically what are you referring to?

[@hectornegron9155]

My dear friend Gabriel Beauchamp (7:06) . Salsa is not autochthonous of Puerto Rico. In fact Salsa is not even a rhythm. Salsa is a commercial name to identify a concept created between the mid to late 60’s and early 70’s in New York City. A commercial name, sort of like an umbrella that groups together a whole array of different rhythms, the vast majority of them from Cuba. The base or main ingredient of Salsa is Son Montuno. Derived from the Son Cubano, Son Montuno it’s also the reason why salsa singers with the ability to improvise on the spot are called soneros. Not all salsa singers possess that ability and for that reason not all of them are worthy of being called soneros. That is a quality only a handful of them have. Ismael Rivera just to name one (there’s so many of them), named “El Sonero Mayor” by late great Cuban singer Benny Moré, is one of the greatest of all time from Puerto Rico. Oscar D’ León from Venezuela is a distinguished member of that exclusive group. Aside from the Son Montuno we have Guaguancó, Mambo, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha and others that together with the North American Jazz, the second most important ingredient, gave way to what we all know today as Salsa. After the USA broke diplomatic relations with Cuba, Cuban music stopped flowing. Musicians were still creating amazing music but it was no longer available outside of Cuba, specifically in the USA. The Fania Records label created by Dominican musician and band leader Johnny Pacheco and ex-cop turned attorney Jerry Masucci, featuring some of the most amazing musicians and singers of all time -the vast majority of them Puerto Ricans- picked up where the Cubans left off. Together, they created a musical empire that took what was basically Cuban music to every corner of the planet. If they wanted to sign an artist from a smaller label and that artist wasn’t interested or available then they would buy out the whole label. Case in point, Vaya Records (Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz), Inca Records (Sonora Ponceña, Tommy Olivencia, Willie Rosario) International Records (Roberto Rohena), Tico Records (Tito Puente, Richie Ray/Bobby Cruz). Enter the Newyorican element. Musicians like Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and Yomo Toro with his Cuatro Puertorriqueño (5 double string guitar) added the folk music from the mountain side of Puerto Rico to the sofrito (mixture) of rhythms. Ismael Rivera and Rafael Cortijo added the Afro-Rican element with their Bomba and Plena. Little by little other musicians from Latin America and the Caribbean like Panamanian Ruben Blades, Venezuelan Oscar D’ Leon, Dominican Jose Alberto El Canario and Grupo Niche’s own Jairo Varela from Colombia just to name a few, started making their own contributions with their brand of Salsa. At the end of the day however, the most utilized rhythms are Cuban. In that sense we would have to agree that this wonderful music we all love so much remains basically for the most part, Cuban music. That’s the way legends like Tito Puente and others felt. Puente (and other respected musicians) by the way didn’t even like the name Salsa. He used to say that, and I quote…”salsa is what I eat with my spaghetti, this is Cuban music”, end of quote.