Letter From Rich Vega

 To Tony Vargas

 

Editors Note: This letter so impressed us that we have asked Rich to be a regular contributor to Salsamundo. He is 19 and a true appreciator of real Salsa. His monthly column will be titled The Young and Informed. 

 

"Yo se que no te gusto.....que yo plantara bandera!" ha haaaa...........

Hey Tony, what's up? Hey man, I really appreciate your response. I gotta tell ya, I wasn't expecting a response and much less, that fast. Killer.

So anyways.......bachata and rancheros huh? LOL. That's funny man.

It ain't THAT bad down here but we are probably weak in other areas just as well. Basically, WE SUCK TOO.

 

I mean, who the hell is this "Kevin Ceballos" cat?????? I mean, can anyone with a nice voice come out with their own "Salsa" record these days!?!?! And these Son by Four dudes. What the &@*$^. I mean, make up your mind, do you wanna sing weak Salsa, OR American dance music! HELLO!

Tony man, Salsa these days is so commercial its sickening. Ok, Ok, Ok, yes these young cats (and kittens, BK Star, India, etc) may indeed be very talented singers and dancers or whatever but uh......................DONT TRY TO CORRUPT AND MISLEAD OUR MUSIC!!!!!!!!! The sad thing is Tony, they're winning people by the multitude. People that know not better. People that have never had the chance to listen to hits like "Fuego en el 23" or "Che Che Cole" or "Mi Desengano". The good thing is, luckily, there are people such us you and your team spreading the good word. Like the words of Ruben, "dando esperanza a las caras plasticas". heehee

 

Now, what you're doing with the club thing man, man, that is just straight up, THE BOMBA! Man, if they ever even did half of that down here, forget it boy, I'd be there day in and out. OK, so maybe there's like one club down here that I have to admit plays some good salsa; Club Copa, BUT, they need to expand. The dance floor is like the size of my bathroom. And when you fit 200+ people in such a small room, boy, it might even smell like my bathroom.......ha!

 

So yeah man, I got a small collection, probably about 100 CDs or so. I just started listening to real Salsa probably about one year ago. My very first classic album was El Sonero Mayor, Ismael Rivera!!!!!! It was like his greatest hits on one CD. I got the idea from something I had read in Salsamundo on the classic Salsa page. In fact, because of that I got into Poncena, Roena and thus created the start of this never ending journey and I'm loving every minute of it.

 

 I remember I started out with Jerry Rivera, and then Marc Anthony and BK Starr. But I'm the type of person that seeks the fundamental truth in things, life, music, relationships, etc. So, with that in mind, I wanted to expand my horizons with this music thing and that's when one day I stumbled onto an interview with some guy and Sergio George on some website. And in the interview, the guy asked Sergio about what he thought about Cuban critics calling his style too noisy and watered down Cuban music? And he would respond, and in his response, I remember faintly, that he compared himself to Willie Colon and how he was also criticized back in the day but now look at him. And this puzzled me cause at that time, I thought Sergio was the man. I mean, he had made Marc Anthony, he had done music for Victor Manuelle and those albums at that time were "pegao", you know.

 

And you know, I had to find out who this Colon guy was and had to hear some Cuban music. Cause if what Sergio was doing was watered down, boy, I wanna hear the REAL THING. And so, my adventure began and I started visiting your site more and more and would stay up reading about Poncena and about "what happened to the SONEROS". (Which reminds me, what the hell DID happen to them). Even one that I had faith in is letting me down, won't mention names but he's a young guy.........). I even played the Salsa trivia game a few times here and there. That's were I learned about names and nationalities and stuff. Good stuff ya'll got there.

 

So here I am. A 19 year old guy, not being able to talk to anyone around here about REAL Salsa. Its like they tell me "ahhh, you like that old stuff, that's what my grandfather danced to." And I'm like, "whatever buddy, first of all, you don't know JACK. Second of all, your music all sounds the same, third of all, your grandfather was real!, fourth of all, I don't like pop music, fifth of all, I have an album from 1999 that will BLOW your little music away (W. Rosario, Back to the Future), sixth of all, you can't dance to your *#&$. Seventh of all, can you even name ONE instrument. Eighth of all, don't you get tired of listening to the same words and music with different people's voices???  Ninth of all, (and the list goes on...........),tenth of all, did I mention, you don't know JACK.

 

And see, there's like absolutely no one over here that knows and appreciates real Salsa. Salsa Gorda. Salsa Heavy. Salsa DURAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Rincincaya.

 

So yeah man, I know this email kinda overextended but I guess I had to let out some stuff.......heehee.

 

So yes kid, you can post my script on the site. It'd be an honor and pleasure. Let these folks know what's up. Thanks again DJ Tony, pleasure to hear from ya'll and take care.

-Richard, the7thvega-

"el hijo de obatala......ya se cooooooomenso......."