"El Cantor De La Montaña, Vol. 7" is characterized by the recurrence of religious themes. The album opens with the aguinaldo cagueño “David y Goliat” where Ramito recounts the Hebrew Bible story of David’s victory over Goliath. It was “with a rock that David knocked down Goliath,” sings Ramito, taking the giant’s sword and “decapitating” him, thus allowing the “Israelites” to defeat the “Philistines.” In “Moisés el profeta,” also an aguinaldo cagueño but played at a faster tempo, Ramito shares another classic Hebrew Bible story, that of Moses. He highlights how, as a baby, Moses was hidden for “three months” because of the Pharaoh’s order to “slit the throats” newborn male Israelites. Ramito’s specificity regarding how these murders were to be conducted seems to serve a dramatic purpose; there is no mention of this in Exodus. Next, Ramito narrates how Moses was put in basket in the Nile River, making a curious addition to the story. According to the singer, Mary—a character from the Christian Bible—“was vigilant as the beloved child sailed” and “did not lose sight of the footsteps of the basket.” As if to justify his “exegesis,” Ramito ends his decimilla with the same pie forzao: “as I have read.” Mary’s presence in this song, though odd and historically inaccurate (the name of Moses’ mother was Jochebed, and the name of Pharaoh’s daughter, who rescued him, was Bithiah) can be seen as Ramito’s use of poetic license: by bringing Mary into the Hebrew Bible he links the story of two babies (Moses and Jesus) whose lives were inextricably linked to powerful female/motherly figures.

In yet another aguinaldo cagueño, “No me llores madre,” Ramito specifically addresses the story of Jesus, and the humiliations that he endured in his via crucis. According to Ramito, when Jesus was agonizing on the cross, he said “Mother, do not cry for me,” a line that works as the pie forzao of the song. Ramito beautifully portrays Jesus as being more concerned with his mother’s emotional pain than with his own physical pain: a testament to his willingness to die for the sins of others as Ramito underlines. In the light of this song, we can listen to the previously discussed aguinaldo, “Moisés el profeta” (which merges the Hebrew and the Christian Bibles) as a sort bridge between the opening aguinaldo “David and Goliath”—set within the Hebrew Bible—and “No me llores madre”—set within the Christian Bible. The fact that “Moisés el profeta” is positioned between the other two aguinaldos reinforces the plausibility of such an interpretation.

The song “Virgen María,” classified as a “llanera” (but not a seis llanera insofar as it is not sung in décimas) also has religious connotations though less than one might expect based on the title. Here the Virgin Mary is not the subject matter but rather a means towards an end. The chorus directly address Mary asking her to illuminate Ramito’s path so that he may conquer the woman that he loves: “you know that I love her, she must be mine.” In his stanzas, Ramito too sings to the Virgin in a few lines stressing the request: “Virgin, I will offer you my life if you grant me her love.” After the second stanza, during the musical interlude, Ramito specifies that he is asking help from Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Overall, though, he addresses the woman that he is courting, emphasizing his love for her. Among the musical highlights is the cuatro solo right after Ramito mentions Our Lady of Mount Carmel, though its impressive accompaniment throughout the song (a mix of scales, arpeggios and playful riffs) is no less impressive.

“Con sabor a pollo” could be heard as a follow up to “Virgen María.” It is the story of what happens after Mary grants Ramito’s wish. In this playful plena, the woman desired by Ramito is described as a “gallina” that tastes like “pollo.” With this expression Ramito is implying that, though this woman is an adult (“gallina”, a grown female chicken) she tastes like a young chicken (“pollo”) not to be confused with a newly hatched chick. Generally, in the Spanish language, one does not eat “gallina” but “pollo.” Typical dishes include: “arroz con pollo” (rice with chicken), “pollo frito” (fried chicken), “pollo a la plancha” (grilled chicken). Though one can also have “caldo de gallina” (chicken soup); but, then again, “sopa de pollo” is more common. Overall, then, the word “pollo” is more closely related to the culinary experience than “gallina.” And typically, one eats chickens (“pollos”) that are young: three to four months old (their meat being of a better quality at this age). Moreover, in colloquial Spanish, “pollo” is used to refer to someone who is deemed beautiful/attractive (“¡qué pollo!”). It is these myriad associations that Ramito is evoking when he says that this woman is “a gallina con sabor a pollo” (whose “waist is like an earthquake”) thus linking culinary experiences to sex; an association found across many cultures. Throughout this plena, one can hear the panderos and also the tres cubano, a stringed instrument somewhat similar to the Puerto Rican cuatro, but native to Cuba. As the listener may be able to appreciate, the tres has a heavier sound than the cuatro (a less brilliant timbre) and the way in which it accompanies throughout the piece relies on montunos or vamps (brief rhythmic melodies) rather than scales or the arpeggios emblematic of jíbaro music.

The “meremplé” “Lo tuyo” (“meremplé” suggesting a blend of Dominican merengue and Puerto Rican plena) evolves around the same topic. Accompanied by the Cuban tres, the panderos, and the accordion, the chorus goes: “I have a little something for you/when you want it, let me know.” Though Ramito is not as explicit as he is in “Con sabor a pollo,” he asks the desired woman to “come close to me, my love, because this little something is for you” later adding: “this sweet caramel is for you.” While “Lo tuyo” and “Con sabor a pollo,” seem to suggest that Ramito associates sexual intercourse with Afro-Caribbean sounds (therefore reproducing a widespread racial trope that links Blackness to sexual prowess), the scenario is more complicated. On the one hand, as Ramito in a quite idiosyncratic (and mistaken) statement told Peter Bloch in La-Le-Lo-Lai: Puerto Rican Music and its Performers, in his view the plena was not really Afro-Puerto Rican and urban; it was rather closely connected to Taíno Indian traditions and the mountain (1973: 33). On the other hand, Ramito’s sexual exploits are actually explored somewhat in depth in the presumably non-Black seis enramada “En cada pueblo un querer.” “Presumably” because, as has been noted by Angel Quintero Rivera and Luis Manuel Alvarez, jíbaro music (seises and aguinaldos) is largely informed by the rhythms of the Afro-Puerto Rican bomba, effectively sounding out a “camouflaged drum” (1). In the end, drawing a firm conclusion regarding Ramito’s view on the relationship between Black sound and sexuality based on this evidence, is not possible. In “En cada pueblo un querer” Ramito proudly mentions by name the many women that he has slept with throughout his career, relating each woman to her respective town. In some occasions, he even provides the full name of these lovers: María Ferrer, from Ponce; Luz Guerrera from Río Piedras. It is unclear whether these are names of actual people or if they are made up. The last décima dwells on the sadness that Ramito feels at being alone after all these affairs. Now he has only the memories of his past life as a jíbaro version of Don Juan.

Another song worth highlighting in is “El desafío,” a seis controversia. Here, Ramito argues with his brother, the talented trovador Juan Morales “Moralito.” The topic is the Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France, a book of chivalries of Medieval France translated to Spanish in 1521. Ramito and Moralito narrate part of this epic discussing the role played by characters such as Oliveros, Roldán and Carlo Magno. Finally, the album includes the love songs “Vendo uno ojos verdes,” a seis con décimas and “Sin remedio,” a llanera, not a seis insofar as it is not sung to décimas but to quartets; “El amor y el tiempo,” a seis mapeyé where Ramito, using a voice timbre reminiscent of Daniel Santos laments the passing of his beloved, and “Camino del cielo” a bolero that seems to ruminate on the same topic.

Throughout the album, the major musical highlights are the interplay between the Puerto Rican cuatro and the clarinet, and the tres cubano played in the plenas.

(1) See: “The Camouflaged Drum—Melodization of Rhythms and Maroonaged Ethnicity in Caribbean Peasant Music” (1994).

-Dr. Mario R. Cancel-Bigay