Rafael Ithier, founding father of salsa group El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, dies at 99 : NPR

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Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Rafael Ithier, founding father of the emblematic salsa group El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, has died at age 99. The pianist, composer and arranger — who served because the orchestra's longtime musical director — spent greater than six a long time turning El Gran Combo into one of many premier salsa establishments of Latin America and past.

"At this time we bid farewell to not solely an ideal musician, however the architect of a sound that marked generations," reads a press release shared on the orchestra's social media accounts on Sunday. "A frontrunner whose self-discipline, imaginative and prescient and love for salsa solid the historical past of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and of Latin music on the planet."

Born in San Juan in 1926, Ithier started enjoying guitar when he was 10 years outdated. In keeping with the Puerto Rican nonprofit Fundación Nacional Para La Cultura In style, Ithier was pressured to drop out of college at 14 as a way to financially help his household. However he continued choosing up new devices: the Cuban tres, the double bass and finally the piano, which might develop into his signature instrument for the rest of his profession.

In 1952, Ithier was drafted by the U.S. Military and stationed in Korea. In a 2016 interview with the newspaper Primera Hora, he remembered how a lot he initially struggled there.

"I've to admit that I cried after I was sworn in as a soldier, as a result of I didn't need to be a soldier," he informed the newspaper. "It was compulsory service. Each time I keep in mind, I take into consideration how incorrect I used to be. I am eternally grateful as a result of I realized the self-discipline of the Military; I realized to be a person and to obey an order. That self-discipline is what I apply to my life, and what I base my life on."

Ithier by no means left music far behind. After his service, he joined a New York Metropolis group known as The Borinqueneers Mambo Kings — named after the segregated, all-Hispanic unit of the U.S. Military — and later moved again to his house island, the place he started enjoying with Cortijo y Su Combo. The salsa orchestra, led by percussionist Rafael Cortijio, almost imploded when famend lead singer Ismael Rivera was arrested for drug possession in 1962. However El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico rose instead, with Ithier on the helm.

As salsa was reaching its golden age into the Nineteen Seventies — combining parts of mambo, Afro-Cuban rumba and jazz in New York Metropolis studios and golf equipment — El Gran Combo turned the voice of the style in Puerto Rico. The 1975 music "Un Verano en Nueva York" paid tribute to the flourishing Nuyorican diaspora on the mainland (and would get a second life in Dangerous Bunny's 2025 hit "NUEVAYoL"). On the 1979 traditional "Brujeria," a booming brass part merges with the rhythmic texture of the congas and timbales as vocalist Charlie Aponte cheekily accuses a lover of utilizing witchcraft on him.

For many years, El Combo served as a casual coaching floor for dozens of salsa musicians, resulting in the nickname "la universidad de la salsa" (the college of salsa), which was additionally the title of a 1983 album. However even because the group's lineup modified, Ithier remained its trustworthy chief, recording dozens of albums and acting on levels all over the world. In 2015, El Gran Combo obtained a Lifetime Achievement Award on the Latin Grammys.

Following information of Ithier's loss of life, musicians, collaborators and politicians took to social media to share their condolences. "Ithier leaves behind an everlasting legacy in salsa," wrote the Latin Recording Academy. "Thanks, maestro, for a life devoted to music."