Mon Rivera

I was superhappy to finally find this record at a reasonable price in Puerto Rico last month! Mon Rivera’s monster track Lluvia con Nieve has always been a Pelanga favorite – from Eddie Palmieri’s badass piano intro, to the horn section consisting of a trombone, a trombone, and a trombone, to the eloquent lyrics on the boricua experience in Nuebayol (“Lluvia con nieve, lluvia con nieve, lluvia, nieve, lluvia con nieve”.) If you like the hard-hitting, trombone-heavy sound of the salsa orchestras of the 70s, say thank you to Mon Rivera y su Orquesta – they were doing this in 1963, you understand?

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This is an incredible album, where he is really pushing the possibilities of the plena and of Puerto Rican music in general. I can’t recommend it enough. I had a really hard time choosing what song to post, but the chorus of this song has been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks, so that’s a good sign. (It’s also the scratchiest one on the record, sorry ’bout that! That is how it is.)

Monina by Mon Rivera

Monina

I’ve also gotta show you what he was doing with the plena:
Qué Gente Averiguá by Mon Rivera

Qué Gente Averiguá

In case you don’t know what a plena is (or if you do), I’ll let him explain:

 

Enjoy,
papicultor

One thought on “Mon Rivera

  1. adjoa, it’s like mayagüez scatting, no? google "mon rivera trabalenguas"!i feel like we have that "drums of defiance" cd hidden somewhere, time to dig it up again – haven’t heard it in years.marcos, i’ve been sleeping on descarga.com, there’s a lot of filler in there, but there’s some great content too!tunda, más mon!

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