"Ritmos Y Cantos Callejoros" (SALP 1477) is a stripped-down affair, with the emphasis on what the title simply states as “Street Rhythms And Songs” — a rich and complex bed constructed of Rafael Cortijo and his childhood friend and protégé, Francisco "Kako" Bastar’s beloved traditional Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena rhythms.

Far from being a field recording style folkloric album, these Afro-Boricua beats are anchored by bass and piano and topped by catchy, beautiful melodies propelled by a strong “street chorus” with entertaining lyrics that range from the humorous to the sublime. Again, though there is no brass and there are no mambos or cha cha chas, Cortijo assembled a potent group of musicians and singers all the same, with the lead vocal being the great Puerto Rican singer and composer (and Cortijo’s childhood friend) Rafael “Chivirico” Dávila (August 2, 1924 – October 5, 1994). And though they are not credited on the LP, from Ansonia’s internal session payout records we can infer several important people accompanied Cortijo and Kako, namely Ismael Rivera, Sammy Ayala, Willie Bobo, Javier Vázquez, as well as someone called “Mangual” (most likely the famous percussionist José “Buyú” Mangual, Sr. though it could be either of his sons, José Jr. or Luis), and several others identified only as Gilberto, Virginia, Popiro and Ruigo.

Javier Vazquez’s piano was mixed way down so what jumps out are the percussion instruments and the vocals. In the bomba, there are four primary instruments: las cuás (two rhythm sticks), la maraca, and two barrel drums (tambores de barril): the tambor segundo aka burleador or segundo (marking the basic pace) and tambor primo aka requinto or subidor (that improvises over the basic rhythm of the seguidor). The album kicks off with a showcase for those drums (though they are most likely played on congas) with the playful and tongue-twisting plena “Chiviriquitón,” written by Ismael Rivera. It’s one of the more popular tunes seeing its debut on the record, though there are several plenas that have since become beloved “standards” on the Puerto Rican folkloric and holiday music scene, including “La Madama” and “Ure Caracoles”.

However, several songs on the LP were already well known and associated with Cortijo (albeit in fully orchestrated arrangements with brass), especially the bombas “Alegría y Bomba”, “Las Ingratitudes”, “Juan José” and “Maria Teresa,” which were all hits from Cortijo’s original Combo in the 1950s, and Rafael Cepeda’s foreboding plena “A La Verdegué,” which debuted in 1962 with El Gran Combo. Meanwhile, Puerto Rican bohemian composer Claudio Ferrer’s old hit for the Cuban charanga band Orquesta Aragón, "Yo No Bailo Con Juana" is re-envisioned here as a plena to great effect.

As with the bombas on the album, the traditional bodiless pandereta frame drums of the plena are replaced with congas and the güiro scraper, played by Sammy Ayala. Multiple cowbells accentuate the distinctive plenero beat, lending the entire album a much harder street edge than some of the more folkloric bomba and plena recordings that would be recorded in subsequent years during the Afro-Puerto Rican roots music revival starting in the 1980s. Thankfully, the most traditional elements of the bomba (its complex cross-rhythms) and the plena (its penchant for topical and humorous lyrics) are left intact and shine through on the record, giving us a unique hybrid snapshot of modern urban Latino folklore as it evolved in real time on the streets of El Barrio in NYC fifty years ago.

-Pablo Yglesias