Ismael Rivera Was a Master of the Clave

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This post is also available in: Español

October 5th is the birthday of Latin music legend Ismael Rivera “El Sonero Mayor”. It happens to be just a couple of days after the passing anniversary of his legendary partner, Rafael Cortijo.

In my opinion, Maelo became such an influential singer in Latin music because he and Cortijo, his early musical partner, did things differently than the other bands and artists.

Note: this blog was originally published on Latino Music Café on October 9th, 2010.

Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera with Beny Moré.
Rafael Cortijo and Ismael Rivera with Beny Moré in New York. It was Beny that gave Ismael the nickname of “El Sonero Mayor” when he saw him sing.

Back when I was a “pre-teen”, “Dime Por Que“, included in the 1972 Salsa album “Esto Fue Lo Que Trajo el Barco” was one of the songs that defined for me the richness of Salsa music. In part, it helped make me a Salsa fan. It impacted me so much that I can still remember the 1st time I heard the song. It was in my mom’s car returning from swim class. My mother wasn’t a Salsa fan, but in those days there weren’t radio stations dedicated to Salsa. Most radio stations played a bit of everything. “Dime Por Que” became very popular and was played on the radio frequently.

La Clave and Ismael Rivera Singing Style

The thing about “Dime Por Que” that reflects the big contribution Ismael Rivera made to Latin music was that he was a master of singing around the clave. He would come up with phrasing to fill in and make the timing for his “soneos” come in at the right time.  Maelo used phrases like “bitukilatinbin“, “yembere cu yeyeo” “maribelemba” and others to sing all around the clave, but without ever missing its timing.

Ismael Rivera 1972 Esto Fue Lo Que Trajo el Barco
Ismael Rivera’s “Esto Fue Lo Que Trajo el Barco” (1972) included the hits “Dime Por Que” (one of my first Salsa favorites), “Incomprendido” (written by Bobby Capó), and “La Gata Montesa“.

Ismael Rivera always kept the clave in front of him. If you go to YouTube and watch some of his videos of the time when he was part of Cortijo y su Combo, you can see that he tended to keep marking the clave with his fingers in a very purposeful manner. Maelo would sing all around the clave without missing a beat, which was not done at that time.

So Maelo is widely attributed with being the father of singing around the clave. This practice was widely imitated later and became popular with the “soneros” that came after him. In his rendition of “El Cumbanchero“, Ismael sings “…a mi me dice El Sonero Mayor, porque vacilo con la clave y con el tambó“.

Other Masters of Clave

But there is some controversy about this, as others attribute this style of singing around the clave to Cuban great Benny Moré (you can read my blog “Beny Moré: Cuba’s King of Rhythm and Improvisation” HERE). Both, Ismael and Benny were “soneros” ahead of their time.

Another great singer of the time that evolved her style to sing around the clave was the great Celia Cruz. Celia would do this by singing things like “a-la-la eh oh-lo” or similar simple phrasing to fill in around the clave. Benny More would come up with things like “bele bele ben“. But singing around the clave is not just coming up with fill-in phrasing. It is being conscious of the timing of the “soneos” themselves.

Here’s a YouTube audio clip of Ismael Rivera singing “La Cumbita“, where his ability to sing around the clave is highlighted.

The One and Only “Sonero Mayor”

Ismael’s aggressive style of singing, along with his down-to-earth voice and “soneos”, made his songs very entertaining.

For Ismael Rivera, singing around the clave came so naturally that it was hard to notice what he was doing. As a “pre-teen” I had no knowledge of the clave or what Ismael was doing. I just knew it sounded very good, and to this day, I cherish listening to “Dime Por Que” and almost all of Ismael Rivera’s repertoire.

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7 Comments
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  3. […] from “Aguinaldo” to “Bomba”, and even “Salsa”. On the latter, Ismael Rivera was one of his favorite singers, having made famous his songs “Incomprendido” and […]

  4. […] It’s hard to mention Cortijo without mentioning Rivera. It’s like “arroz con habichelas”. And rightly so, we remember Rafael Cortijo mostly for the outstanding contributions he made to Latin music with lead singer Ismael Rivera. […]

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  7. […] there were several songs like this back then. For example, Ismael Rivera released “Si Te Cojo” the year before “Comedia” with a very similar […]

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