Angel Canales: a love/hate sort of sonero?

Angel Canales seems to create pretty strong reactions in people. I have even seen some people describe him as the worst singer they've ever heard. Myself, I like him a lot.

I loaned a copy of El Sentimiento del Latino en Nueva York to someone where I work who doesn't like salsa, but who likes Flamenco. He fell right into my trap, saying something like, "He's much better than most salsa singers I've heard." (I think this guy is crazy, incidentally. Salsa is loaded with great singers, compared to, say post-punk/indie rock, which this person likes.) The funny thing is that he didn't even notice that Canales was borrowing from Flamenco. Maybe to someone who is used to listening to Flamenco, the similarity isn't that close.

What I have heard from one Latina salsera is that his singing just doesn't have as much emotional impact as, say, Hector Lavoe's. It's funny, because sometimes Lavoe gets across to me, but sometimes I really don't get his singing (like when he intentionally slurs the words a lot in "Periodica de Ayer").

Despite the divisiveness of his singing style, most people seem to agree that he put together a very hot band.

Yooo, naci en puerto rico... Y en nueva york me crie... Ahi pero nunca me olvidare de mi tierra borinqueña........ Ahhhhh Puerto Rico yo nunca dejare de amarte...

God, what boricua hasn't heard Lejos De Ti... Canales is the SH$@#. I absolutely love his style. His band was actually inherited from Markolino Dimond...

I actually love how he slurs the words, I take it like a person really loving what he is doing, then he tries to say it but words barely come out. And when they do, the stress is put where it doesn't belong just to give the listener a sense of how much the words mean to the person. I love everything about his style.

It isn't a fair comparison to ANY singer to be compared to Lavoe. Lavoe is the poster boy for passionate singing. He could sing any note effortless yet passionately to no end. I can't compare to two, I like to take them for their uniqueness and enjoy what they have to offer. Regardless, Canales is awesome, at least to me.

Pardon me...but what is a sonero?

(I've been out, so I am just getting to this now.)

I think it literally means "singer." However, in salsa it's usually used to refer to a truly accomplished salsa singer, someone who can vocally improvise ("sonear"). It's often used as a form of praise, e.g.: "A lot of singers today are just pretty faces, but Gilberto Santa Rosa is a true sonero."

I'm sure BorikenSalsero could say more.

Incidentally, borilensalsero, I either didn't know or had forgotten that Canales had inherited Markolino Dimond's band. (Knowing that now, I realize I don't even need to ask you what you think of his band.)

Soneros, again

Here's someone else's take on the definition of "sonero": http://www.salsacentro.com/IstheSoneroextinct.htm

(Incidentally, I have to admit that in all honesty I don't require that a salsa singer be a sonero in order to enjoy dancing to or listening to their songs. I do appreciate singers who can really play off the rhythms in interesting ways during the chorus, though, and generally you have to be a sonero to do that, I think.)

HothouseSalsero said:

(I've been out, so I am just getting to this now.)

I think it literally means "singer." However, in salsa it's usually used to refer to a truly accomplished salsa singer, someone who can vocally improvise ("sonear"). It's often used as a form of praise, e.g.: "A lot of singers today are just pretty faces, but Gilberto Santa Rosa is a true sonero."

I'm sure BorikenSalsero could say more.

Click to expand...

You cover pretty much all of it.

Soneo, if I remember correctly, comes from the singing of son which was improvised. Hence, the term in salsa (Sonero) to mean a singer who can not only improvise in clave but make sense of what he says. Basically an MC who can sing, goes in tune with the song, but does it in clave. There are a bunch of variables that apply to a sonero, besides the distinction of being a singer. The best example of Sonero is said to be Ismael "Maelo" Rivera. A.K.A El Sonero Mayor (The greatest MC) hehe... I guess the closest I can come to sonero in english is a skilled in the art of improvised singing MC without ripping on anyone, although you can if you wish. Not to be mistaken though, I'm just saying it so we can get a picture of what a sonero does, that is to an extent.

You can compare a sonero's singing abilities to what Eddie The Freak says about the highest level you can reach (6) in a dance, the level where you start to play with the music, the other person and so on. It isn't enough to just be a good dancer to be on that level, you also have to incorporate not only the rules of salsa, but the limits of your mind.

Maelo is said to have been able to sing 23 verses into parts where the most anyone else has ever been able to do is 16. I can only think of it like two drummers in a descarga feud, while one can only do so much because of physical limitations, the other can go beyond that, all within the rules of salsa playing. Wow, I never saw Maelo Live. :cry:

maybe Loo can gives another angle.

Somewhat of a funny story I heard/saw on TV... Gilbertito was on Sabado Gigante with Don. Francisco. The Don wanted to improvise something for Gilbertito so he did. After the Don was finished, Gilbertito looked at him and said, had this not been a salsa I would have said you sound good. But as it is, that wasn't very good at all... then they both burst into laughter. The Don didn't have an idea what Gilbertito was talking about when started talking clave. The Don then replied with, so you are tying to tell me there is no future for me in salsa!?

Minutes later this HOT HOT model comes over to them, and the Don asks Gilbertito to salsa with her. The model starts going wild, all over the place, Gilbertito looked at her and said, mi amor, this is Salsa, not that. lolol He tried dancing with her for about 10 seconds then gave up. Leave it to salsero to set a HOT lady straight when it comes to salsa.

Makes me proud to be Puerto Ric--oh wait, I'm not

Something really interesting from Lise Waxer's book City of Musical Memory (which is actually mostly concerned with salsa in Cali, Colombia):

. . .Rivera's impressive abilities as a sonerio, in turn, stem from the Puerto Rican tradition of improvising decimas, lyric verses with a fixed ten-line poetic structure. In this tradition, emphasis is placed not only on improvising a pleasing combination of words and rhymes, but at the same time telling a good story. In montuno sections Rivera was able to spin out dozens of pergones on the spot, all thematically related and able to keep listeners engaged. . . .
The ability to improvise verses characterize the great Cuban soneros of the 1940s adn 1950s--Benny More, Miguelito Cuni, Miguelito Valdes, Orlando "Cascarita" Guerra, Celia Cruz, and the New York-based Machito were all talented vocalists in this regard. Since 1960, however, surprisingly few Cubans have emerged who match this old school. In Puerto Rico, however, Maelo's example spawned a whole succession of talented soneros who became legendary salsa vocalists during the 1960s and 1970s: Hector Lavoe, Cheo Feliciano, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, Marvin Santiago, and Cano Estremera. Although the art of improvised soneros has diminshed greatly with the current generation of romantic singers, who sing precomposed lines, Puerto Rican vocalists such as Gilberto Santa Rosa maintain that tradition. Despite the extensive literature on salsa, few commentators have pointed to this quality as a specific contribuion of Puerto Rican artists to the devlopment of salsa. No other country has produced the quantity and quality of salsa soneros that Puerto Rico has--even recognized salsa vocalists such as Venezuela's Oscar D'Leon and Panama's Rube Blades do not have the improvisational skills displayed by Puerto Rico's salsa singers. Although scholars have recognized the great ability of Puerto Rican vocalists, usually this comment passes without further analysis.

Sorry about the spacing and typos.

Anyhow, I really like the fact that Waxer attempts to give Puerto Rican artists their due. Too often people go overboard saying it's all basically Cuban. I don't think it's that simple.

That was a great piece HotH...

On the same note with decima, there are decima competition held in PR every year, I think bacardi does them as well, there are teams from all over the world that go battle out the masters of improvisation in PR. As the article suggests, Puerto Rican imporvisation singers are great, leading to my next statement that they have never lost a battle against any of their rivals from around the world.

GOD, I've missed them all! Not even been to one.

The style that Maelo used was known as Saoko, it was a mixture of African words with spanish. I hope I remember the name correctly. My mind goes blank from time to time. :roll:

HothouseSalsero said:

Sorry about the spacing and typos.

Click to expand...

HotT, the content matters more than the grammar. Dont' worry about it...

You guys are awesome! There is some good information in this thread. I just listened to some of Angel Canales songs. I really like them. To the record store, Batman..... :car:

I have to admit I don't know enough to judge every claim Waxer makes in that passage, and I am not familiar with every artist she mentions (though I'm familiar with most of them to one degree or another).

If I had known I was going to go on about this, I would have started a new thread on the definition of sonero.