"El Cantante de los Cantantes"

So, it's a crisp Saturday morning and I am about to hit the treadmill; I know, i know...I should be running outside, but the treadmill keeps me honest. Anyway, I decided to attach my favorite MP3 player to myself and run for the hills. I have the 1GB shuffle and for running, it's quite enough since I am not a supermarathon runner. 2-3miles is it for my stints. So, I don't have to worry about playlists or anything like that--total randomness, therefore, if there are songs on this thing that piss me off, it's my own fault and so, I don't include songs that piss me off.

Ok, back to the title of this post and why I included songs from El Cantante on my list. The name Hector Lavoe may not mean anything to most of you, but it has significant meaning to me. As a proud Puerto Rican, I place a high value on music in my life. Not just traditional music of the island, but many types of music (but, that will follow many other posts). I think the beats and rhythms just live in the soul...sound weird? Maybe, but I really believe it. So, back to Lavoe. He was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. By the way, I have never been to Ponce; it's on the southwest side of the island. I take that back, I believe I was there as a child, but of course, that experience cannot be appreciated now. I'll have to check Ponce out when I go back. Anyway, Lavoe was born there and in a land where there are almost as many singers as there are people, Lavoe’s uniqueness is nothing short of amazing (especially being from Ponce renowned as the city of singers). In pre-Lavoe days, Puerto Rican singers were generally grouped into neat little subdivisions. There were the die-hard Jibaro stylists like Ramito, Chuito and Odilio Gonzalez, the Romanticists like Felipe Rodriguez and Salseros such as Cheo Feliciano and Ismael Rivera. Lavoe showed up on the scene and the neat little groups toppled in disorder. How exactly do you classify a singer whose repertoire included everything from Salsa and Merengue to Rancheras, Baladas and pure Puerto Rican Jibaro music? To totally upset the status quo, Lavoe’s unprecedented popularity reaches across all national, economic and age barriers, making Lavoe's name a household word in a good portion of Latin America.

The unfortunate thing were the drug-related issues that lead to the demise of Lavoe. Why is it that so many artists succumb to drugs? Singers, painters and many others in the creative arts. I don't know...it's crazy. Is it an issue of the mighty right hemisphere taking over and allowing a person to just implode? I mean, the right hemisphere is the main driving force for creative actions. Is it a bit of narcissim gone horribly wrong? Could be....I know many artists portray (or really are) narcissistic and I can agree that some is needed, but when the scales tip to unhealthy levels, that whole death thing gets in the way....

Anyway, my point is I love Hector Lavoe's music and if you have not heard of him or his music, you should. Rumor is that Marc Anthony will be playing Lavoe in a movie slated to come out in 2006 titled "Who Killed Hector Lavoe?". I hope it does Lavoe's life justice and has mass appeal. I'll be pissed if its one of those 'straight to video' films....Ok...gotta run.