Sonero #1 (Juntos Otra Vez) — Ismael Rivera con Cortijo y su combo, 1982 (1974)

🇵🇷 🎤 🥁 🎺 🔥 Ismael Rivera teamed up early on with his childhood friend Rafaël Cortijo to play music. Born in Puerto Rico, Rivera left to do his military service in the United States, but soon returned and began singing, now accompanied by Cortijo y su combo. Nicknamed El Sonero Mayor by Benny Moré, in the 1950s he published a number of hits that followed him throughout his career, including El negro bembon and Quitate de la vida perico. In 1974, following an eventful concert at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan in honour of Cortijo, Rivera re-recorded his hits with him on the album Juntos Otra Vez. Not yet salsa, nor really son, but bomba and plena, the traditional music of Puerto Rico, their close ancestors. In 1982, the album was reissued under the title Sonero #1, and today remains one of the benchmark records by Ismael Rivera, whose voice and charisma left their mark on the genre and the era.