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Angel Canales “El Diferente“
Legendary Puerto Rican sonero
Angel Canales has quite a nickname –
El Diferente (The Different One). He got that name because of two
reasons. The first reason is because music industry people, the
marketers and image-maker types that is, were consistently unable to
take Angel Canales’ extremely unusual style and place a label on it
for the convenience of the marketing department – a source of
frustration in the increasingly image-driven music industry of the
late 70’s and 80’s. Here was this big, bald Afro-Rican man with a
singing style that defies a neat description…the best I can do is to
say that he’s almost like a male
La Lupe without the hysterics, an
unusual voice for sure, singing his words with feeling, sometimes a
high nasal voice, sometimes wavering between high and low, slurring
his words, twisting and undulating in a way that lets you know he is
singing from the heart, with originality, a genius for sure…and the
marketing department just didn’t get it! The other reason he got the
nickname is because he never gave in to the pressure to conform to the
image-makers’ demands. The popularity of the 1980’s “salsa romantica”
(derisively called
salsa monga by some) was a difficult
time for Canales, as his edgy and iconoclastic style was literally the
opposite of salsa romantica, and he was pressured to change his style
to the new taste, but he didn’t, and for that you’ve just got to
respect the man!
However, there was a downside to not
succumbing to the pressure of the music industry, which was that over
the years, despite the support and respect of salsa fans and salsa
musicians throughout the world, his music received less and less
airplay on the radio, which resulted in less sales of his records and
therefore less concert dates. This finally became too much for the
man, and in 1990 in a burst of self-destructive flamboyance (which I
don’t blame him for one bit), he threw all his arrangements into the
ocean, thus ending his salsa career (at least for several years).
Canales loaded up his family and his possessions, moved to Miami,
started a successful diamond-cutting business, and that was that.
Being a commercial success is one thing,
but being a true artist is another thing, much more difficult and
sometimes very painful. Angel stuck to his convictions, and for that,
he will live on in the annals of salsa history as one of the most
respected and most unique soneros of all time. Plus, he’s not
finished yet. He’s had a comeback tour or two, and with the increased
interest in classic 1970’s and 1980's salsa, his songs have received
much play both in clubs and in big-city radio stations.
ESSENTIAL
ANGEL CANALES TUNES !!!
Bomba Carambomba, Brujeria, Lejos De Ti,
Mi Irmita, Ana Isaoco, Aguardiente, Sabor Los Rumberos Nuevos - all
available on CD from
Descarga,
Amazon,
Tower Records, and hopefully your
local, independent music store. |
