Biography of Roberto Roena

Roberto Roena (born on January 16, 1938 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) was one of the original members of a Puerto Rican salsa music orchestra called El Gran Combo. The group's name had been derived from the name of an existing band named "El Combo" in which many of the original band members had been involved. (1980s) Roena, aside from being a percussionist, was a dancer and baseball player. In 1969, he went on to form one of the best Latin salsa bands in Puerto Rico called Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound that recorded such hits, as Y Tu Loco Loco, Traicion, Que Se Sepa and Herencia Rumbero. Also, Roena has been a long-time member of the Fania All Stars, a salsa group that has enjoyed worldwide success since the 1970s. He recorded his signature song, "Coro Miyare", with the group; live performances of the song featured Roena playing the bongos and dancing with his uncle, legendary salsa dancer Aníbal Vázquez, in a choreographed section that almost always received standing ovations from the audience. Mr. Roena took a giant step in the fusion of salsa in the 1970s by joining forces with African superstar Manu Dibango of "Soul Makossa" fame. Roberto Roena (born January 16, 1940, in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico), is a bongo player and dancer of salsa music. Born in the neighborhood of Labios de Mayagüez, Roena took his first steps in the art of dance by staging dance routines with his brother Cuqui in La Sultana del Oeste. When Roberto was nine years old, his family settled in Santurce, where the brothers continued to refine their mambo and cha-cha-chá routines, delighting their public in talent contests. This led to their contract of weekly performances on the television program “La Taberna India” on Channel Two. During the recordings, the percussionist Rafael Cortijo saw Roena in action. In the year 1956 Roena was an adolescent of 16 years of age. Cortijo needed a bongo player for the group that he was forming. Visualizing a bongo player that could dance and play the cowbell at the same time, it was Cortijo himself that taught Roberto how to play those instruments. For seven years, Roena was part of Cortijo’s group and his Combo, with Ismael Rivera as vocalist. With that formation, they toured the major stages of the United States, Europe, and South America. It is worth nothing that the Combo de Cortijo, composed mostly by black musicians, was the first of its kind to succeed in gaining access to the stages where only white artists were performing, within and outside of Puerto Rico. Combo’s good fortune ended with the arrest of its star singer, Ismael Rivera, for charges of drug possession. With the absence of “El Sonero Mayor,” Cortijo’s musicians questioned the possibility of remaining together, opting to separate themselves from their leader. El Gran Combo developed as an outgrowth of this event. Out of debt of gratitude to Rafael Cortijo, his mentor, Roena did not join the new Combo immediately. Eventually Cortijo left for New York in search of new musicians, and in nine months, Roberto, who had stayed in Puerto Rico, decided to enter El Gran Combo which was then being led by pianist Rafael Ithier. El Gran Combo became the new sensation in Latin music, and Roena was part of the group until the year 1969. Desiring to establish his own salsa orchestra, Roberto formed “Los Megatones” in 1967, playing Latin Jazz wednesday nights at a local club. But it was not until two years later, as a result of personal differences with Andy Montañez, vocalist of El Gran Combo, that he left definitively. Roena’s new orchestra was baptized as Apollo Sound for the coincidence that the launching of the rocket to the moon of the same name occurred on the day of the band’s first rehearsal. Even without knowing how to read or write music, and probably because of it, Roena knew how to surround himself with excellent musicians and arrangers. Apollo Sound featured musicians from the ensemble of Tito Puente, Cortijo and his Combo, El Gran Combo and Los Sunsets, among others. Some of the arrangers and composers of reknown who nourished his repertoire were Mario Ortiz, Bobby Valentín, Elias Lopés, Luis “Perico” Ortiz and Papo Lucca. With Apollo Sound, Roberto presented a “new” sound to the salsa genre utilizing two trumpets, a trombone and a saxophone, a combination he took from the influence of the wind section of the rock group Blood, Sweat, and Tears (and who recorded a successful version of “Spinning Wheel”). Roberto always considered variety as the key to success, leading him to include in his musical repertoire everything from go-go to the romantic, the same in English as in Spanish. Roberto Roena and his Apollo Sound’s first CD produced hits of great impact like “Tú loco loco y yo tranquilo,” “El escapulario,” and “El sordo. ” In fact, it was Apollo Sound who popularized the Bobby Capó classic, “Soñando con Puerto Rico. ” Apollo Sound recorded under the label International Records (a subsidiary of Fania) for a decade, in which they harvested successes like “Traición,” “Chotorro,” “Mi desengaño,” “Fea,” “Marejada feliz,” “Cui cui,” and “El progreso,” among others. His impact on the radio waves came accompanied with tours around the United States and Latin America. It is also worthwhile to highlight his inclusion in the recordings and tours of the Fania All-Stars. Complementing the musicality of the salsa group was always the showmanship inherent in Roberto Roena. Dying his hair in new colors, playing percussion in his underwear and sporting a harness so he could “fly” around the stage of Madison Square Garden were some of the tricks that he used to stand out among the other groups in fashion. In fact, a noted journalist that reported on the formation of Apollo Sound remarked that they were “the first group in Puerto Rico with a system of psychedelic lights and go-go girls. ” Beginning in the 80’s, Roberto Roena and his Apollo Sound experienced a fade in their popularity, reflecting the crisis that was sweeping through the salsa movement in general. Nevertheless, Roberto maintained himself by collaborating and recording independently with local groups. In 1990, Roena tried to revive the concept of Apollo Sound. He opened a concert for the British rock singer, Sting, in the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, where he presented his hit salsa version of “Every Breath You Take. ” Live performances of the song “Coyo Miyare” featured Roena playing the bongos and dancing with his uncle, legendary salsa dancer Aníbal Vázquez, in a choreographed section that almost always received standing ovations from the audience. In 1994, he celebrated 25 years with his orchestra in a successful concert in the Centro de Bellas Artes, which was recorded and launched to the market, presenting the validity of his musical proposal before a new generation. Roena also has been a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars, a salsa band that has enjoyed international fame since the 70’s. Roena also took a giant step in the fusion of salsa in the 1970s by joining forces with African superstar Manu Dibango of "Soul Makossa" fame.