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!
Click
here for many more photos of the event on the Z-93 site
