Yomo Toro

My name is Yomo Toro. I was born in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico, in a village called Guánica, in a neighborhood called Ensenada where there was a sugar cane processing factory--one of the largest in the Antilles--actually, I think it was the second biggest (the biggest was in Cuba), the second biggest of the Antilles. It was in Guánica. It was called the South Porto [sic] Rican Sugar Company. The neighborhood folks made their living there, they worked at the processing factory. Some did one thing, others did something else. My father was a "technician," in other words, he drove. He was a driver, he drove the machines that loaded the cane that arrived for the mill. There were four mills.And there's where I came from. It all began with the fact that my uncles all worked at the sugar mill. And then on weekends they'd get together. They were called The Roosters, and they weren't professional but they played a little music. I had an uncle who played cuatro, another played the guitar, another the flute, another clarinet, each one in their own manner. And among them, the cuatrista was my father who played the cuatro. And at six, when I was six years old, my musical restlessness began, and that was in Ensenada, Puerto Rico.When they went to play on weekends, little dances in homes here and there, well, I always went along. I remember that my father hung his cuatro from the wall. And I remember that I used to handle the cuatro--or better said, fondle the cuatro--and from that came my desire to learn how to play music, to do something musical with my life. And that's how I started, and when I was fifteen more or less, I played in school. And we were three kids who were students in the school and we were called "the school band."And in that way I played during all the school programs, and I became polished bit by bit until one day a señor from San Juan showed up who was looking for a lead guitar to put together a trio called Los Cuatro Ases de Puerto Rico [The Four Aces of Puerto Rico], which included the [famed singer and composer] Tito Lara. They had spoken to him about a kid in Ensenada which played requinto [a small lead guitar] and cuatro. So he went there and they came looking for me and I played the cuatro and the guitar for him, and he told me to sign a contract and he signed me onto a contract binding me for something like ten years.So that was the first time I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to play and I remember I began to record with Bury Cabán and the Four Aces, and then [the famed singer] José Antonio Salamán. I also began to play with the Universitarios, El Trío Universitario [the University Trio] of San Juan. I played with the [famed trio] Los Antares, with Felipe Rodríguez, I played with Raimundo, and with everybody over there.And the first time I came to New York City was in 1953, with the Cuatro Ases, to play in the Teatro Boricua [Boricua Theatre] which was at 108 Lexington Avenue. That's the first time I came to play in New York City. From there I returned to Puerto Rico again, and then I returned with José Antonio Salamán and with my compadre Polo Ocasio, a tremendous guitarist from Puerto Rico, among the very best-and we played in the Teatro Puerto Rico, and then I went to Puerto Rico in '56. I came to New York again to play and I remained there living every day till now.I became part of the little New York trios, playing with whatever little group asked me to. I began to make a living from the music. So I have always made a living from music. I don't live for anything else. If you asked me to do something else, I'd crash and burn, you know. But I've always lived off my music, and I have always done the same thing.Yomo Toro and the legendary Diómedes "Yomi" Matos warming up before a concert in 1998 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where the PR Cuatro Project participated.And then about 1970 I started to record Salsa, which was when Willie Colón appeared, and I was pestering Hector Lavoe and the [Orquesta] Fania people. He decided to do a Christmas LP, but they wanted to use an electric guitar. At the time Willie Colón was completely adapted to the Puerto Rican cuatro and to traditional Puerto Rican music, for the simple reason that he was into Salsa, Salsa orchestra dance music. But they called me and told me to show up with an electric guitar to record with Willie Colón and instead of taking an electric guitar I brought a cuatro[editors note: Willie Colón remembers that he hired Yomo to play cuatro, not electric guitar, for that gig]: I hung it from my back and went to the studio.I remember that when I entered the studio, Pacheco was directing the recording, and when he saw me with the cuatro he said, "Ha! Who are you going to play with, [jíbaro troubador] Ramito?" and I told him, "no, no, with Willie Colón. I'm doing the Christmas LP." And they kept quiet and said nothing, but when I began to record with them and they started to record, Willie Colón told me-I remember-"I've never had as happy a moment as this. I think this is going to be a hit." And so it was, exactly, one of Fania's greatest hits, which to this day, Asalto Navideño, which I did with Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe, has been and will always be a standard forever, because when their records wear out, people always buy another one.During the late '60s and early '70s I hosted a tv show called the Yomo Toro Show on New York's Channel 41. The show, which featured interviews and entertainment from a host of Latin personalities, was on for seven years. 1969 was an especially fruitful year for me at that time, when I recorded Tribute to Arsenio with the Larry Harlow Orchestra -- an incredibly influential salsa album.In the '70s, '80s and '90s my career continued non-stop. I appeared on over 150 albums, recording solo albums for Fania, Island, Rounder and Green Linnet Records. I broke back into television and film, playing in commercials for several major international companies and working on the soundtracks for several films, including Crossover Dreams with Ruben Blades and Woody Allen's Bananas. I broke out into many different genres, recording with Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, Linda Rondstadt and David Byrne. In 1994, however, I returned my focus to a single band, playing in the Latin Legends with Larry Harlow and Aldaberto Santiago.I went on to become one of the Fania All-Stars, and to this day I am one of the Fania All-Stars. And I remained living in New York to this day, I spend my time traveling all over the world and thank God, music has been good to me and I've always been in the musical struggle, as we call it. Thank God, I don't have any vices, I don't drink, I don't smoke cigarettes of any kind. I eat very well, that's true, I get fat, but I don't care, you can easily get over that, but if one drinks and smokes a lot, you can get heart trouble, and get things that are bad for the music, but thank God, to this day I'm 73. I'm no kid anymore. And to this day I've been involved with many cuatristas and the kids of today who are virtuosos, cuatro virtuosos like Edwin Colón Zayas, Pedrito Guzmán, Prodigio Claudio. I've had the opportunity to play next to them, and I have spent real good times with them. And when I get to die, I'll die laughing, like this: [he grins with a face full of teeth].You can also check out my personal myspace page at MYSPACE.COM/138282945To all my fans and friends: Thank you for your support and love. I love you all right back and appreciate the love you have shown me through the years. God bless you all.