Día Nacional de la Salsa en Puerto Rico - 2003
by
Photos by Reinaldo Jorge and Juan Rosa

For the last twenty years, Z-93 radio has sponsored the National Salsa Day. It is a law in Puerto Rico that the third Sunday of March is designated as the Día Nacional de la Salsa. Each year Pedro Arroyo, Program Director of Z-93 has honored a salsa great in the island's biggest festival of Tropical music.

This year on March 16th the festival honored Johnny Pacheco and Roberto Roena. I left for San Juan on American Airlines Friday morning from New York City at 7 a.m. - that meant getting up at 4 a.m. to arrive at Kennedy Airport at 5:15. I was traveling alone.

Rehearsals were for Saturday at 1 p.m. We rehearsed without Pacheco who arrived at 5 p.m. during the last song. Of course it was up to me to do Pacheco's job and with help from Bobby Valentin and Papo Lucca we rehearsed the 20-some odd songs for our program.

I was also in Puerto Rico to have several meetings regarding the family show SOFRITO which I am trying to bring to the PR School System for one month after the new school year begins in September and HOMMY 2003, the Latin Opera that will be revived with a new cast and symphony orchestra in the new Coliseo that is 2 years behind on construction due to the island's politics.

I held my meetings Saturday evening and Sunday morning and returned at 3 p.m. waiting for someone to inform me of our departure time to the Estadio Juan Ramon Lubriel de Bayamon. The $10 general admission ticket is a gift of Z-93 to the salseros of Puerto Rico.

As I arrived in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel, the musicians were boarding the vans getting ready to leave for the venue. No one ever called or left a message. I had friends from Japan, Puerto Rico and Cuba meeting me at 5 p.m. but I had to leave and run to my room without shaving, put on my stage clothes and run to the caravan of vans and cars leaving at 4 p.m. So much for respect!

Leaving without seeing my friends, we had a 14-van caravan to Bayamón where we picked up our police escorts of 6 motorcyles with lights and sirens blasting, stopping all cross traffic.

Fania Coro: Ray Viera, Jerry Medina and Wichy Camacho.	The concert began at 12 noon with the following musicians: Moncho Rivera y su tributo al Sonero Mayor, Bobby Valentin y su orq with Marvin Santiago, Luiggi Texidor, Rafu Warner and Luisito Carrión, Tito Rojas y su Orq. and Tommy Olivencia y su Orq.
When we drove into the stadium there was a sea of salseros - I estimated about 30,000 people jammed the stands and covered the infield packed in like sardines.

All of the Fania All Stars were there. Me, Papo Lucca, Bobby Valentin, Roena, Pacheco, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Adalberto Santiago, Hector Cassanova, Ismael Quintana, Nicky Marrero, Yomo Toro, Leopoldo Pineda, Jimmy Bosch, Reinaldo Jorge, Juancito Torres, Bomberito Zarzuela, Ito Torres, Eddie Montalvo, Alfredo de la Fe, Jerry Medina, Wichi Camacho, Rey Viera and special guest stars Bobby Cruz and Ricardo Rey.

Backstage was a zoo, with a few thousand friends, record company people and groupies as well as family and friends with all the sponsors and our RV trailers used as dressing rooms. We did not have to wait too long. At 5:30 Las Estrellas de la Fania began.

The público was going wild listening to their heroes of the last 30 years. All of the Fania players were in excellent form and the show was a wonderful 3-hour journey of nostalgia of the Golden Era de Salsa, with everyone doing their hits for the Fania recordings of the 70's.

About half way through there was a pause to present Pacheco and Roena with awards and presents for their great musical work over the years. Roberto was very emotional and the show went to it's conclusion with Ponte Duro. We were called back for an encore of Quítate Tu and during Yomo's solo, Tito Rojas jumped on the stage, drunk, out of tune and pulled the microphone from Pacheco and started singing in the most unprofressional way with the big boys.

He was embarrasing to everyone and was booed until someone turned his microphone off. No wonder he will never be spoken of in the same breath as the Fania All Stars. This is not the first time he has done this and I lost a lot respect for him.

Junior González joined in on the last song as fireworks and flares zoomed on stage and over the stadium... A great 20th Anniversary of the Día Nacional de Salsa.

-- Larry Harlow

 

Actualizada el día 07-Mar-2005