Festival de boleros
Papo Lucca (Flowmusic)

Reviewed by

The past few years have seen the emergence of the bolero with a vengeance. Ponceña's Papo Lucca is back with a new bolero CD but unlike his last one with the late Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez, here he recruits the services of a parade of known and respected artists.

El niño de Trastalleres, Andy Montañez opens this beauty with a powerful rendition of Melancolia. Papo's piano playing is very subtle, dropping notes here and there, while Jorge Díaz soars with his trombone solo. Next is Paquito Guzmán of Tommy Olivencia fame covering Lágrimas y tristeza. His vocals are still smooth and with such emotions. His timbre might confuse the new listener into thinking it is a woman singing.

This CD also covers songs with a Bolero-Son feel. One of them is, No faltaba más, sung by Mr. Danny Rivera. THIS MAN CAN SING. Enough said! Another song in this style and many may be perplexed by this choice:Te fuiste is a song by perhaps one of the greatest soneros that is still alive, Cano Estremera, the self proclaimed Dueño del soneo (Who was dethroned by Domingo Quiñones in Puerto Rico on February 8, 2002 during the battle of soneros). While not possessing the greatest voice for this song, he makes up with his tongue-twisting, double-meaning, comedic soneos. This is a keeper!

Another veteran who shows off his vocal prowess is Cuban sonero Justo Betancourt. He does a classic rendition of En cada beso. While Emilio (my jazz professor in college) and Cita Rodríguez, the children of the late Pete Conde, do a fantastic job on the Pedro Flores classic, Blanca.

While an entire CD of boleros might be a bit mushy to some, this recording demonstrates how much you can actually stretch and make the bolero more exciting. I highly recommend this bad boy!

Songs:

1- Melancolía- Andy Montañez
2- Lágrimas y tristeza- Paquito Guzmán
3- No faltaba más- Danny Rivera
4- Amigo de qué- Chegüí Ramos
5- Te fuistes- Cano Estremera
6- Qué falta tu me haces- Ray de la Paz
7- En cada beso- Justo Betancourt
8- Blanca- Emilio y Cita Rodríguez
9- Cita a las seis- Darvel García
10- Irresistible- Trío Dulce Amor
11- Vanidad- Trío dulce amor
12- Piénsalo bien- Adalberto Santiago

 

 

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This page was last updated on 22-Jan-2005