Tribute to Polito Vega - 45 Years on the Radio
Fania All Stars and Special Guests
Continental Arena, Meadowlands, New Jersey
August 7, 2004, 8 p.m.

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Photos by: Nereida Arias exclusively for SalsaPower

For those who do not know who Polito Vega is, he’s an institution in New York radio when it comes to salsa. Till this day he still has Saturday and Sunday shows where he plays nothing but classics from the Fania era and on this night, some of the artists whose music he has played for years decided to give him a tribute - and what a tribute.

The show opened with another legend, Master of Ceremonies Paco Navarro introducing a talented young band from Puerto Rico, N’Klabe. This group, made up of members 15 to 23 years old, is aggressive in every sense of the word. The musicians were sharp and a couple of the numbers had that Timba piano Tumbao down to a "T". They did a 40 minute intro that set the stage for the main event.

Like old times, “Mr. Salsa” Izzy Sanabria, introduced each Fania All Star member with his respective instrument. As he was speaking and introducing the members, I started to think of all the ones who have left us: Pete Conde, Héctor Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Jaime Torres, and others. After the intros, the musicians went right into the classic, Estrellas de Fania and they were on fire. Perhaps it was the addition of younger players like Jimmy Bosch to the line-up, but whatever it was, the Fania All Stars came to show they still had it.

This was quickly followed by Casanova’s Esa Prieta, Ismael Quintana's medley of Puerto Rico/Adoración, Adalberto Santiago's Quítate la máscara where Ray Barreto showed he has skills for days, Ismael Miranda's medley of his hits (vocals were tight), Cheo Feliciano’s Busca lo tuyo and Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz's Ahora vengo yo where Richie showed that he still has that special touch when it comes to the keyboards.

But while the older members were on fire, it was the special guests of the night that really made this concert a marvelous event. The first guest of the night was the one and only José Alberto “El Canario” who took command of Celia’s Cúcala that made the Continental Arena shake with excitement. His improvisations and crowd participation made this a highlight (too bad he had to leave, as he was performing that same night in NYC’s Copacabana).

Then came the man that Canario was going to share the bill with at the Copa, Oscar D’Leon. He did what only a few can, a tribute to one of the baddest men who walked the face of this salsa earth, Pete Conde Rodríguez. He started with Azuquita mami (here Jimmy Bosch’s trombone was blowing candela) that went right into Macho Cimarrón and Sonero.

Oscar told Johnny Pacheco (the director) that he was not going to sing like the way they rehearsed and the man started to improvise like only he can. El Conde had to be smiling. It was during Oscar D'León's set that Alfredo De La Fé was doing a duet with Jimmy Bosch, and then Alfredo really let loose with some awesome improvistion. I've seen him do more and I was surprised that they didn't let him stretch more.

Then came a tribute to the Queen, Celia Cruz, by none other than La India. I must admit I was like "OK, here comes some down time, but boy, was I wrong. Although sometimes her voice sounded like she was screaming, rather than singing, songs like Yerba moderna, Químbara and Bemba colorá sounded fresh and inventive. India was even improvising - yes! Improvising! She received a long standing ovation after she was done.

While this 4-½ hour music marathon was great, I have some gripes:
Why have video monitors showing old footage when the musicians are soloing? People who were all the way on top could not see what was happening and showing video footage all night took away from part of the show.

Rey Ruiz doing Ruben Blades' Juan Pachanga and then trying to improvise? Cut it out. Domingo Quiñones did his tribute to Héctor Lavoe and again he did the same medley he’s been doing for the past seven years. Come on dude, Héctor had more songs than that.

And while I like the addition of Tego Calderón's tribute to Ismael Rivera, perhaps he should’ve done it in reggaeton fashion, which is what the crowd expected!

But, those little mishaps do not compare to the musical feast New Jersey experienced on August 7, 2004 and hopefully it will not be the last time. Something I also noticed during this performance was a lot of young people were in attendance and most of them were from South America (Colombia, Venezuela, and Perú, mostly) which means “Hay salsa pa' rato”.

Songs:
N’Klabe 8:05 to 8:45

Fania All Stars 9:15 to 12:40
1- Estrellas de Fania - Fania All Stars
2- Esa prieta - Casanova
3- Puerto Rico/Adoración - Ismael Quintana
4- Cúcala - El Canario
5- Quítate la máscara - Adalberto Santiago
6- Juan Pachanga - Rey Ruiz
7- Azuquita mami - Oscar D'León
8- Macho Cimarrón - Oscar D'León
9- Sonero- Oscar D'León
10- Maria Luisa - Ismael Miranda
11- Lamento de un Guajiro - Ismael Miranda
12- Borinquen tiene montuno - Ismael Miranda
13- Yerba Moderna - India
14- Químbara - India
15- Bemba Colorá - India
16- Las tumbas - Tego Calderón
17- Incomprendido- Tego Calderón
18- El cantante - Domingo Quiñones
19- Todo tiene su final - Domingo Quiñones
20- El día que me quieras - Cheo Feliciano
21- Busca lo tuyo - Cheo Feliciano
22- Hermandad Fania - Richie Ray y Bobby Cruz
23- Richie’s Jala jala - Richie Ray y Bobby Cruz
24- Ahora vengo yo - Richie Ray y Bobby Cruz
25- Ponte duro - Fania All Stars

Special thanks to Jacira Castro for suggesting I attend this show, Debbie Mercado for her help and hospitality and Nereida Arias for being such a pro in handling the camera work.

This site last updated on 20-Feb-2005