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En Barranquilla Me Quedo. Joe Arroyo dies at 55.
28/07/2011
Singer and composer Joe Arroyo has died in a Barranquilla hospital on 26 July 2011. He was 55 and had suffered from diabetes. For Colombia, and the whole Latin world, he was one of the greatest salsa artists of all time.
Born in Cartagena in 1955, Alvaro José Arroyo was already singing publicly aged 8. The coastal city faces the Caribbean and Arroyo was immersed in soca, calypso and merengue as well as the Afro-Colombian rhythms champeta and porro and the national dance craze salsa. In the 1970s he rose to fame as the lead singer with Fruko y sus Tesos, who took him on when he was just 17. His solo career took off in 1981 when he released Arroyando, recorded with the musicians that would become his band La Verdad (The Truth). As his success grew so did his cocaine addiction, according to reports at the time, and he was hospitalised several times.
‘El Joe’ recorded over 20 albums which fused Caribbean and Colombian music – fast-paced tropical salsa with Afro-Colombian foundations. As a key artist on the Discos Fuentes label he wrote some of the biggest salsa hits Colombia ever produced, including ‘La Rebelión’, the chronicle of a 17th century slave uprising which was adopted as an anthem by the country’s urban dispossessed. Other major tracks include ‘Yamulemao’ (a tribute to his African heritage sung in Wolof) and ‘En Barranquilla Me Quedo’ (I’ll Stay In Barranquilla), for the city where he lived most of his life.
As a high profile voice for popular black culture in Colombia he was unique. Combining slick salsa production with folklore and his superb, pitch-perfect vocals he brought a singular sound to the international scene. Thousands attended Arroyo’s funeral and he is mourned by fans of Latin music worldwide.
Joe Arroyo Y La Verdad - En Barranquilla Me Quedo
Julien Bouisset
28/07/2011
JOE ARROYO COLOMBIA SALSA
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Thomas
17/09/2011
This is one big loss in the music industry. I mean every time a legend says goodbye to the industry, the quality and the brilliance of music goes down. These are the songs that makes everyone shake their bodies in the beaches.
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