Bruce Ishikawa, Webmaster, LarryHarlow.com

Larry usually is in this space telling about his adventures from his perspective. I had the great opportunity to be in San Juan for El Dia Nacional de la Salsa this past Sunday and will tell you the story from the seats.

El Dia Nacional de la Salsa is the creation of San Juan radio station Z-93 which has, for the past 25 years, sponsored the event honoring the salsa greats. For the silver anniversary show, one of the honorees was Larry Harlow.

Four of us arrived at Hiram Bithorn Baseball Stadium at noon. The place was buzzing, people carrying folding seats and umbrellas to set up on the field, and the standard salsa percussion instruments: maracas, cowbells, claves, shekeres, guiros and one guy even had a set of congas. Lots of event t-shirts featuring Larry's name along with Rafael Viera and Manny Oquendo.

We made our way inside and found seats in the shade behind home plate. The stage was set up in center field, so we had a great view of all the action. And what action there was!

The field was covered with beach umbrellas and thousands of salsa dancers, any couple would blow the dance floor out of any salsa club. One guy was dancing with two women at once, giving them each different turns, one with his left hand, one with his right. One guy who looked like he was waiting for his sex change operation was dancing the lady's part with a man's aggressiveness and power, sometimes taking the lead, but mostly being led through some pretty acrobatic moves. A young couple who couldn't have been more than 12 years old were burning up the aisles, double turns, twists, looking like they had been dancing for decades.

Everywhere people were accompanying the music with the rhythm instruments they brought. All in time and en clave, all playing the right parts. Try giving the audience instruments like that in a show in Chicago or Boston or New York!

The stage featured large posters of the honorees and of course the Z-93 logo was everywhere.

Then came the bands. Siglo XXI opened. This is a band of young salseros carrying the tradition, as their name suggests, into the future. They played some classic numbers and showed that, despite its long and rich history, salsa is alive and well in the face of the Reggaeton onslaught.

Next was Papo Lucca and la Sonera Ponceña followed by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. These two groups, one after the other were perhaps the musical highlight of the day. It was still early, the music was blazing hot, and the crowd was hungry for the world's greatest music.

But wait! Then came the Manny Oquendo's Libre and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. The crowd got into the groove, comfortable as the music progressed. People came and went, their cars were parked literally miles away. The energy stayed high.

Backstage, Harlow was schmoozing with his fans. Larry is always accessible and friendly, appreciative of the people who love his music and have made him the successful performer he has been for all these years. He was posing for photos, smiling and joking with everyone as usual.

Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for - Larry Harlow receiving his plaque of appreciation from Pedro Arroyo, reuniting with Ismael Miranda, playing with a borrowed band (he flew down from Boston that morning with singers Emo Luciano and Luisito Rosario, the rest of the band returned to New York) that went through the repertoire as tightly as though they had been playing together for years - actually, I'll bet most of the musicians in the band play these classic salsa songs regularly in their nightclub gigs. The whole audience was singing, playing and dancing along and Harlow, dressed in a white suit with a purple shirt, was eating it up as he always does, giving them everything they wanted.

After the band left the stage, Willie Colon closed out what has to be one of the world's greatest salsa events.

In March of next year, watch for the next Dia Nacional de la Salsa in San Juan. I can't see how it could top 2008, but it should still be great!