00:00Grating, well, back then we didn't know, but grating is like when you take the cassava and grate it, the
00:09"Rasa," I don't know how to say it here, like that, or a really close little dance, but like that, and the madness, without knowing,
00:19That's what stuck.
00:36One day on tour with that group, we were in Russia, in Moscow, and we were in a disco
00:49They're dancing, and they put on a Sandy Papa song, and all the Russians are going, uh, uh, uh, uh, with Sandy Papa, and
00:58I said, wow, what is this?
00:59Why? That's how the idea came about, you know what? Something has to be done, we're Latinos, we have to
01:06to do something for, and when it arrived, that's when something was invented with the accordion, the accordion man, who is
01:12a master in his art, and what emerged was "guayando," and many record labels rejected him.
01:23Back then, because, uh, uh, they said it was very folkloric,
01:29The accordion, with rapping, and that, no, no, no, no, no, we don't want, we don't want, we don't want that, excuse me, no,
01:37So, oh, well, then, an independent record label was the one that said, you know what?
01:45I like the novel, but, come on, let's go, let's see what happens with this one, let's just let it go, and that's it.
01:52Yeah, yeah, I won't say anything more from there, you already know the rest.
02:01Ever since you hear "guayando," everyone's like, "Dude, what's this?" Come on, and that was testing the
02:09microphone, which is, so, so, so, hey, it is said, testing the microphone, grinding, and it was recorded, and from there it started
02:16the thing.
02:23But I will say, from so much habit of singing it, I find that sometimes I just...
02:29My mouth is singing to me alone, and I'm watching everything that's happening, I see that someone is buying
02:36Some hamburgers, yeah, or there's, whatever's going on in the back, and that, and that,
02:42But it's the custom now, and one gets used to it.
02:53My childhood, wow, good question, I've never been asked that.
02:58My childhood, from what I remember very well, I remember that my dad worked a lot, a lot, a lot,
03:07He worked very hard, like in a butcher shop, getting up in the wee hours of the morning.
03:11And he would come back, uh, in the afternoon, very late in the afternoon, and I always remember my dad working very hard, on everything,
03:21And business, he had a clothing business, a place, then he sold it, uh, he had,
03:29Yes, when I became a teenager, I remember a bread route I had, with a truck, and we would deliver it.
03:38bread to all, like shops, supermarkets, and things like that,
03:41But always, my dad always, uh, took care of them, always, always kept them well dressed, and he would tell them
03:50My mom, you, don't worry, I'm working.
03:53Just take care of my children, and that's what happened, yes, I remember that my dad always
03:58working, and he always gave me what I wanted, birthdays, that's what it was, but, food everywhere,
04:05And, music, bah, not me, no, really, wow, incredible, really.
04:16Ah, no, back then, things were very, very dangerous, yes, that's true, we're not going
04:22to cover the sun with a finger,
04:25It was very, very dangerous, but if you're going to be afraid, you're not going to go out on the street, you have to face it.
04:33Things are as they are, you know what I mean.
04:34So yes, it was very dangerous to ride on it, on the train, on any public transport, back then, sometimes
04:43I,
04:43When I went to high school, or I don't know how to say it here, to secondary school, I
04:48I think they call him, okay,
04:50Uh, I saw people with backpacks like that, and someone came up behind them with a knife, he, he
04:57It opened, then, with the movement of the train,
05:00And they emptied it, they took the money, and, imagine, one has to stay quiet, no, one might be a snitch.
05:08The fights were sometimes over territory, or, well, maybe someone gave you a dirty look; they were over silly things.
05:19If someone stepped on your shoe, a fight would break out. I mean, a lot of people died because of that, because of something stupid.
05:27so big,
05:28They step on your shoe, and you fight and die over something so stupid, you know what I mean?
05:36But, the atmosphere was really, really intense, yes.
05:44Yes, obviously, imagine, I, you know, you had, I grew up in a neighborhood, Upper Manhattan, Washington Heights,
05:55And back then, in the eighties and in those times, all the classic merengues were played,
06:01that we dance to nowadays, you know what I mean, like Bonicepeda, Sergio Vargas, Wifrido Vargas, all that,
06:09Then, if you went down a few more blocks, to 116th Street, you had the whole Puerto Rican neighborhood,
06:16You had all the salsa, live and direct, you know what I mean, I listened to Fania, this, that,
06:23Tito Puente, that's what it was, you know, for me, I think I was born at that moment,
06:29I experienced it all, I lived through all of that, all those live music performances, seeing the performers live,
06:36And that's something you carry with you; those born after 2000 don't know how to...
06:44feel that,
06:45as I felt it.
06:53My dad and my mom have been in the United States for about sixty years now,
06:58They are already Americans, Americans now, yes.
07:02My mother left with her siblings and mother, but it wasn't anything political.
07:11My dad did leave because he was against what was happening there.
07:24That situation is horrible, horrible, horrible.
07:28No, no, I don't agree that families should be separated.
07:34You understand me, I don't agree with that.
07:38Well, you know, there are a lot of people who don't, who don't talk about that.
07:42But I do, I do think that's horrible.
07:45If someone comes to a country to make a living, to improve their life for their family,
07:51I believe he should be given the opportunity.
07:55Now, if you come here to commit crimes, to steal, to kill and all that,
07:59Yes, they should get you out, but families... there are some families who have been there for years.
08:09and they separate them from their children, they abandon their children because they are American,
08:13But either the dad or the mom, who is a single mom or something,
08:18la, la, la they deport her after so many years there.
08:22Do you understand me? Who are the ones who clean the yards?
08:26Who are the people who work in restaurants, cooking, washing dishes,
08:32earning a living?
08:35We are the Hispanics, we are the Latin Americans.
08:39And to think about it, there are many people there who are already afraid to go out.
08:46You know?
08:46So, the children go to school in fear.
08:51I don't think we should live like this.
08:54Not at all in the world should one go through that.
09:03Until God gives me, gives me the strength,
09:06I still have the strength to say,
09:09But now, when he says nothing more,
09:12uh, you have to go slow, slow step, ok, that's it.
09:22Mr. Fulano, Bonnie Cepeda and Marco Díaz
09:25at this retro party, October 9th,
09:28there in La Gringa 93.
09:30You can't miss it because it's a night
09:32merengue, vallenato,
09:35That's it, they have a bit of both worlds.
09:37So go there, I guarantee it.
09:40that they're going to have a great time.
09:47Especially in Bogotá, oh, wow, yes, it is,
09:50Yes, but a merengue singer.
09:52When I first arrived,
09:54that he had already returned to the country a couple of times,
09:58I noticed and I said, wow,
10:00But here they really do move to the meringue.
10:03But now the popular one is coming in,
10:06popular music,
10:07Wow.
10:08I actually made a popular one,
10:12but the babble never came out.
10:15We spoke with,
10:16I don't want to mention names,
10:18We spoke with a popular singer,
10:21but the management never reached an agreement.
10:31very breaking,
10:33super breaker.
10:35Here,
10:36when first
10:37I arrived at
10:39to do the concert,
10:41It caught my attention that
10:43We sang in a really big place
10:46and people climbed up
10:48on the table
10:49and in the chair.
10:51And so,
10:52you know,
10:53in other parts
10:53They kick you out of the nightclub
10:55If you do that,
10:56But not here.
10:56the rumba is
10:58phenomenal.
10:58Thank you!
11:03Thank you!
11:18Thank you!
11:20Thank you!
