"El Cantor de la Montaña, Vol. 2" features Ramito accompanied by Toñito Ferrer y sus Jíbaros Modernos.

It opens with the classic “Qué bonita bandera” which, it should be noted, is an addition to the digitized version of the LP here offered. It was originally released eleven years later, in 1971, as part of the album Acontecimientos (ALP 1490) where Ramito is accompanied by Chorolo y su Combo; though Ramito had been singing it for years. As Ramito told Gilda Mirós during an interview in 1983, he was inspired to compose this plena by Manuel Jiménez “El Canario,” the prolific composer and interpreter of this Afro-Puerto Rican genre (1). “Qué bonita bandera” brings to the forefront the cultural nationalism of a people who, despite colonialism and the assimilationist policies that the US imposed on the Island during the first half of the twentieth century, remains proudly Puerto Rican. Considering that the Puerto Rican flag had only been legalized in 1952 when the Free Associated State was established, the song’s subject matter was quite emotive: “What a beautiful flag, what a beautiful flag, what a beautiful flag, it’s the Puerto Rican flag.” Ramito’s plena became so popular that right after its release a younger generation repurposed it giving it a more subversive anticolonial bent. In their album "En la lucha" (circa 1972) Puerto Rican nueva canción duo Pepe y Flora added anti-imperialistic refrains performing the song during the protests organized by the New York City regional chapter of the Young Lords, an anticolonial and socialist movement, as noted by Marlon Bishop (2). Whereas band Taoné in Cantos de lucha de Puerto Rico (circa 1976) added to the chorus that the flag “would look even more beautiful if the Yankees did not have it” (3). Taking into account that Ramito was not a supporter of Puerto Rican independence one can only imagine his reaction… If Taoné’s lyrics became popular among left-wing circles, Ramito’s lyrics have remained popular widely speaking. A few years ago, during the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, I heard them being sung to DJ JayR’s techno beat (4).

Similar sentiments of Puerto Rican cultural nationalism are expressed in “Puerto Rico y yo” and “El borinqueño ausente.” Both are narrated from the perspective of a Puerto Rican who does not live on the Island; a reality endured by more than 800,000 Puerto Ricans who, between 1940 and 1970, had migrated to the US in an effort to escape poverty. Not surprisingly, Ramito, who lived in New York City between 1960 and 1972, was revered by an ever-increasing Puerto Rican diaspora. In “Puerto Rico y yo,” the sadness of the Andalusian-reminiscent chords of the seis mapeyé, a seis that is nevertheless based on the Afro-Cuban rhythm known as habanera (5), is turned into nostalgia for the homeland when Ramito sings “If I die far away/far away from my beautiful land/may I be buried in the mountains/of the countryside where I was born.” Whereas in “El borinqueño ausente,” the contrasting upbeat tempo of a seis chorreao serves to convey the same idea.
Among the other highlights of the album is “Huérfano de madre,” a seis mariandá. Despite the mariandá’s joyous sound—like the seis chorreao it is in a major “happy sounding” key, and based on a rather lively if slightly slower tempo—its lyrics are about loss. Ramito reflects on his mother’s passing. In a brilliant use of word painting, Ramito’s voice simulates to cry at the end of several lines. Nowhere is this more poignant than at the beginning of the second décima. Then Ramito sings: “I will never be able to forget her/she was my love and my star/When I remember her/ I just feel like crying” as his voice nearly breaks down sobbing. Ramito revisits his mother’s passing in the equally heartfelt aguinaldo cagueño “El último adiós a mi madre” applying a similar vocal technique. Like the prior song, the mother’s death is mostly sung from Ramito’s point of view, but in the third decimilla (the third stanza) there is an unexpected shift. Ramito has his mother “speak” to him as she is convalescing. She “tells” him to watch over his siblings adding that her “soul” will never forget him: “I will help you Ramito/from the other life.”

Other songs, such as “Juana de Arco” and “Mujer traidora” are also worth highlighting insofar as they offer two different views on women. In the latter, a seis mapeyé, Ramito sings about an ex-wife who left him because he ran out of money, thus “stepping on his pride.” He describes her as a “hypocrite,” a “witch,” a “liar,” and someone who will “pay for what you are, damn treacherous woman!” This song stands in stark contrast to the aguinaldo orocoveño “Juana de Arco” where Ramito, showcasing his knowledge of world history, celebrates the life and legacy of Joan of Arc, the “French Goddess” and “heroine” who was “burnt and thrown/in the waters of Senna.”

The album closes with “De tan alto a tan bajo” where Ramito continues building on the subject matter of “Mujer traidora,” this time in the style of the seis fajardeño. Ramito sings that his wife exchanged “gold for copper,” the “sun for the moon” and the “river for a lagoon.” Hence, what was rather implied in “Mujer traidora” and “Paloma” (another seis mapeyé which seems to deal with the same issue) is now explicitly stated: Ramito’s wife left him for another man. This suggests that, in order for the listener to get the “full” picture of Ramito’s tragic love affair, one must listen to the whole album putting one song in conversation with the other.

Overall, in this album Ramito exposes the listener to a diverse selection of musical genres, lyrical topics and emotions.

(1) De la montaña venimos (2014 : 396).
(2) daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/how-que-bonita-bandera-became-a-revolutionary-puerto-rican-anthem?curator=MusicREDEF
(3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J3z5uvQXZ0
(4) www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK9XuyA7OS0
(5) See Angel Quintero Rivera and Luis Manuel Alvarez. “La música jíbara en la salsa: la presencia viva del folklore” in Cocinando suave edited by César Colón Montijo (2015: 223).

-Dr. Mario R. Cancel-Bigay