Vicente Velázquez Santana

Vicente Velázquez Santana was a puertorican musician, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico on October 17, 1902. Upon moving to New York City in 1927 in search of work opportunities, when things got tough he decided to form, together with fellow friends/musicians mostly from Ponce (among them Mateo Malavet and Rafael "Tripopi" Capacete), a musical group to play the relatively new rhythm of plena that was very popular back in Puerto Rico. Vicente played the guitar in the group. The group became very popular in the hispanic, particularly puertorican, community. Manuel "Canario" Jiménez, already an established singer in NYC, became aware of the group and their music and arranged for them to record various numbers with the Victor Talking Machine Co. under the name of Canario y su Grupo. Between April and June, 1929 the group recorded some of what later became iconic plena songs such as "El Obispo", "Temporal Temporal", "Santa María", "Cuando las mujeres quieren a los hombres" and "Enojo de Elena" (the latter authored by Vicente). Later in 1929, after departing ways with Canario, the group recorded as "Los Reyes de la Plena" (with Rafael González Levy, Brunswick) other iconic plenas such as "Josefina Josefina", "En la ciento diez y seis" and "Si yo pudiera" (Te quiero ver), this last one also authored by Vicente. That same year the group also recorded as Grupo Ponceño and as Pleneros Sureños with Plácido Acevedo. In 1930 Vicente returned to Puerto Rico and stayed away from the commercial musical environment becoming a farmer in rural Ponce. This until around 1948 when he moved back to urban Ponce and became a member of the folkloric group: “Aires de Borinquen” led by singer/composer Arturo Silvagnoli Nieves, this time playing the instrument for which he was better known, the diatonic accordion or "sinfonía". In the early 1950's he became a member of the musical group led by Juan Antonio Romero Muñiz, artistically known as “Toñín Romero”. He remained a member of this group almost until the time of his death on November 8, 1976. His "sinfonía" became the heart of the trademark sound of Toñín Romero's "conjunto" in songs like "De lejanas tierras", "Ven dale ahora", "Maria Elena" (music by Vicente), "Tu cintura con la mía" and many others including instrumental numbers authored by Vicente such as the pasodoble "Mi Regreso". He also participated as guest musician in recordings by other musicians and singers like Maso Rivera, "Ramito" and Germán Rosario, among others.