La Murga de Panama by Hector Lavoe & Willie Colon

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La Murga de Panama by Hector Lavoe & Willie Colon; arr. JR Caballero

Adrian, violin
Rami, flute
Javier, cello
Lizzy, cello
Julian, percussion

Video and audio by Josh Wareham
joshwareham.com

Thank you to Milton Academy for the use of their rooms as a recording space. https://www.milton.edu/

Hector Lavoe (September 30, 1946 - June 29, 1933) was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who helped to establish the popularity of salsa music in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His personality, style and the qualities of his voice led him to a successful artistic career in the whole field of Latin music and salsa during the 1970s and 1980s. The cleanness and brightness of his voice, coupled with impeccable diction and the ability to sing long and fast phrases with total naturalness, made him one of the favorite singers of the Latin public. Lavoe was born in Puerto Rico and attended the Ponce Free School of Music, known today as the Juan Morel Campos Music Institute. He moved to New York City at the age of sixteen and started performing with several musical ensembles. In 1967, Lavoe joined Willie Colón's band as its vocalist, recording several hit songs, including "El Malo" and "Canto a Borinquen." Lavoe moved on to become a soloist and formed his own band performing as lead vocalist. In his thirties and forties, Lavoe struggled with depression and drug addiction. He was also diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and died on June 19, 1993. Lavoe was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and Tremont Avenue in New York City's Borough of The Bronx was renamed in his honor, and remembrance.

Willie Colón (b. April 28, 1950) is an American trombonist, composer, bandleader, and activist who helped to popularize salsa music in the United States in the 1970s. He began his career as a trombonist, and also sings, writes, produces, and acts. Born into a Puerto Rican household and raised in a predominantly Puerto Rican neighbourhood of the Bronx, Colón was immersed in the arts and culture—and the hardships—of urban Hispanic America throughout his childhood and youth. This environment was a powerful force in shaping his career, both as a musician and as an advocate for various Hispanic causes. His formal music education began when his grandmother gave him a trumpet and paid for lessons when he was 12 years old. He shifted his focus to trombone at age 14, and when he was 17, he made his recording debut with El malo (1967; “The Bad One”). The album was an early example of the New York sound, a trombone-driven movement in Latin music that fused Caribbean rhythms and arrangements with lyrical popular-music styles. Such stylistic blending would characterize Colón’s work throughout his career. El malo also featured Colón’s first collaboration with Puerto Rican vocalist Hector Lavoe, a partnership that would endure through the mid-1970s and yield numerous hit songs, including the one in this concert. After his partnership with Hector Lavoe, Colón went on to work with Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Soledad Bravo, and David Byrne. Throughout his career Colón was a champion of Hispanic political and social causes, such as those concerning immigration and the availability of affordable health care and insurance. He wove political messages into much of his music, and in 1993 he performed at former US President Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremonies. In addition, Colón held positions of leadership in numerous cultural and humanitarian organizations. In 2004 the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded him a Grammy for lifetime achievement.

This concert was recorded live and is not a studio production. We hope the music brings joy, comfort, and well being to all who listen and watch.