Volume XLVIII Numbers 1 & 2 Spring / Fall 2011

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. Peter Derrick, EditorDr. Elizabeth Beirne Dr. Gary HermalynMr. Patrick Logan Ms. Kathleen A. McAuley

Ms. Catherine Pellicano

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1

FROM PUERTO RICO

TO FRANCE TO

THE SOUTH BRONX:

RAFAEL HERNÁNDEZ AND

HIS LEGACY IN THE BRONX

by Elena Martínez

Rafael Hernández was a prolific composer of the popular music of hisday, such as boleros (romantic ballads) and guarachas (up-tempo humorousanecdotal songs), styles that originated in Cuba. He took those genres andcreated melodies and lyrics that pertained to his homeland, thereby givingthem a distinct Puerto Rican voice. Today he is considered not just thegreatest Puerto Rican composer, but one of the best in Latin America,because many of his songs, such as the anthem, Lamento Borincano, alament about a poor farmer who can’t sell his goods, resonated throughoutthe region. His work and legacy also have a place in this country’s jazz his-tory, and have left a lasting mark on The Bronx’s musical and physicallandscape as well.

Early Life

Rafael was born October 24, 1891 (or 1892 depending on the source) inAguadilla, Puerto Rico, to Miguel Angel Rosa and Maria HernándezMedina, who were Afro-Puerto Rican tobacco workers. He and his threesiblings, Victoria, Rosa Elvira, and Jesús, were inspired by their grand-mother, Crisanta Medina, to take an interest in music. When he wastwelve years old she began to pay for Rafael’s music classes. He learned thecornet, trombone, bombardino (valved horn with a range a little higherthan a tuba), guitar, violin and piano. His brother, Jesús, nicknamed“Pocholo,” played clarinet, and Victoria was an accomplished violinist,cellist, and pianist. Not surprisingly, the siblings came from the town thathas been called, “El pueblo donde hasta las piedras cantan” (“The town whereeven the rocks sing”).

5

6 Elena Martínez

His professional musical career started in 1914 when a Japanese circus,El Circo Kawamura, owned by the Kawamura Brothers passed through hishometown on their tour of Latin Amnerica. The owners heard ofHernández’s musical abilities and hired him to tour the island with them.Upon arriving in San Juan, Rafael made connections and began playing invarious bands including the banda municipal which was directed by ManuelTizol (the father of valve trombonist Juan Tizol, who would later play inDuke Ellington’s band), as well as playing in the Orquesta Sinfónica as aviolinist. He also played the bombardino bajo in the orchestra, Sombras dela Noche, directed by Carmelo Díaz Soler at the Tres Banderas theater(though some sources say he formed the orchestra known as Los Jolly Boysto compete with Díaz Soler’s band). It was at this time that he began writ-ing and composing songs in earnest.

World War I

In 1917, the 26 year old Rafael met the renowned African-Americanbandleader James Reese Europe. This meeting drastically changed Rafael’slife and led to an important event in music history. James Reese Europewas a highly regarded bandleader in New York City. He had founded theClef Club in Harlem, which functioned as a union and agency for African-American musicians who were pretty much ignored by the AmericanFederation of Musicians. In 1912, Europe started an orchestra of over 100musicians and the following year it was the first Black group to playCarnegie Hall. Europe’s prowess as a bandleader and conductor would beestablished for mainstream audiences, when he became the musical direc-tor for Irene and Vernon Castle, the dance partners who were responsiblefor igniting the tango rage in the United States prior to World War I—North America’s first love affair with Latin music and dance.

As the U.S. was about to enter WW I, Europe signed up for service andbecame part of the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment of the New York NationalGuard. (On June 2, 1913 the governor of New York had signed a bill thatgave New York its first Black National Guardsman troop in the 15thRegiment.) Though it was a Black regiment it had a White commander,Colonel William Hayward, who was a military music enthusiast.Hayward’s dream was to have a regimental band that would be “the bestdamn brass band in the United States Army,” as he has been so famouslyquoted. Europe, now a Lieutenant, started putting together this band. Itincluded Harlem dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson as a Drum Major,along with Noble Sissle, who would later gain fame as a jazz composer andbandleader. Charles “Luckey” Roberts, the stride piano player who hadoccasionally played in Europe’s Clef Club orchestra for the Castles wasalso part of the band (Roberts was poplar through the 1920s and 1930s andRafael must have met him through the regiment because he would per-form in Roberts’ band not too long after the war ended). Other notablesin the regiment included the baseball player Spottswood Poles of the New

York Lincoln Giants, and Bert Williams, a popular vaudeville star, whoperformed with the 15th Regiment during their recruitment period inNew York before they left for active duty.

An infantry band normally consisted of 28 individuals, though Europewas allowed to recruit as many as forty at first (Harris: 17). Europe felt thatthe minimum of 28 musicians would not work for playing the music hewanted to play. Probably due to Europe’s reputation as a bandleader he wasgiven more leave than others would have gotten. At one point the regi-mental band reached 65 musicians, but most were not actual soldiers and“few were willing to enlist” (Harris: 67). Europe recruited Black musiciansfrom around the United States but after some rehearsals came to the con-clusion that the clarinet section was “disappointing” (Badger: 45). Sowhen he decided he needed to search outside of New York to find the bestreed musicians, Hayward facilitated his request. Europe’s plan includingfinding flute players too because along with the saxes and clarinets of thereed section these instruments served the same purpose in a military bandthat strings did in an orchestra.

To complete the band Europe needed these players on short notice andthey had to have three requirements: they had to read music well, be disci-plined, and most importantly, had to be Black. He traveled to Puerto Ricoand recruited 18 Afro-Puerto Ricans from the island’s municipal bands.1The versatile Rafael Hernández would play trombone for the regimentalband—and trombones were important instruments in military bands as wellas early jazz bands. His musical talent was noticed, as the trombone section“was the outstanding feature of the band” (Gracyk: 26). But two questionsarise from Europe’s trip to Puerto Rico. First, how did he know about theamazing musical talents of the Puerto Rican musicians? Some sources pur-port that the Puerto Rican bass and tuba player, Rafael Escudero had playedin Europe’s Clef Club Orchestra; and that there were Puerto Rican musi-cians in Europe’s Syncopated Society Orchestra which played for theCastles, so Europe then would have been familiar with the quality of musi-cians from Puerto Rico (Thompson and Moreno de Schwartz: 3).Bandleader Manuel Tizol whom Rafael had played under in San Juan, wasknown on the music scene in New York because he regularly contractedorchestras from New York to play in San Juan. In fact, Manuel Tizol likelyhad pre-selected some potential musicians for Europe prior to his visit to theisland, therefore Rafael Hernández would certainly have been on the list ofcandidates (Thompson and Moreno de Schwartz: 4). And lastly, the VictorTalking Machine Company had been in San Juan in early 1917 on a record-ing tour and Tizol’s band had recorded for them. Europe also recorded withVictor so through the record label he would have been aware of Tizol’s work(Glasser 1995: 55). Other musicians who were recruited from Puerto Ricoincluded clarinetists Pocholo, Rafael’s brother, and Rafael DuchesneMondríguez, who came from a leading musical family on the island.

From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy 7

The reason there were many well-trained musicians of African ances-try on the island in large part comes from the tradition of the bandasmunicipales (municipal bands) common throughout Latin America. Thesebands were modeled after military bands and would play in the mainsquare or plaza of a town (the Church and the military provide mostaspects of public music in the 19th century Spanish Caribbean). In thisway the regimental bands helped to disseminate popular, contemporarystyles of music to the public. Most local communities didn’t have all thenecessary personnel to form a complete band so until the 1880’s gaps inthe personnel were filled by military band members, especially in the big-ger municipalities of San Juan and Ponce, where these musicians wouldlater become active as local educators as well. These changes would con-solidate the disciplined European military aesthetic to the local sound(Díaz Díaz 2008: 235). An important step for this tradition in Puerto Ricocame when the Ponce Municipal Band was formed. It was founded in 1883by the great composer of danzas and marches, Juan Morel Campos, andstill performs in the Ponce plaza on Sundays, making it the oldest munic-ipal band in the Caribbean.

Many of the Puerto Rican musicians who were part of James ReeseEurope’s regimental band started their careers in municipal bands on theisland. Due to this training they brought with them important skills whichmade then invaluable to Europe. Their training was rigorous and theyspent many years leaning music theory and solfeo—the ability to sight singwritten music. They could read music on an extremely high level and playseveral instruments (Glasser 1995: 35). This gave them a step up overmany African-American musicians who due to Jim Crow segregation lawsin the United States did not have access to music education and theinstruments, specifically the expensive ones like brass instruments. In theU.S., they also had to work within segregated circuits: “With the linesbetween classical and popular music more strictly drawn in the UnitedStates than in Puerto Rico even the most qualified African-Americanmusician would more likely be found in a minstrel show than in a sym-phony orchestra” (Glasser 1995: 59). An additional factor making it moredifficult to recruit musicians in the U.S. may have been that establishedAfrican-American musicians who worked in the nightclub scene in theU.S. probably “no querían abandoner sus puestos por la exigua paga y elriesgo que la guerra significa” [they didn’t want to abandon their positionsfor the paltry pay and the risk involved in war](Diaz Ayala: 43-44; Harris:72). It is likely that when the Puerto Rican musicians accepted Europe’soffer to take part in his band, they weren’t aware they were soon going tobe shipped off to play at the front.

This brings us to the other question regarding Europe’s trip to PuertoRico—how could individuals from this Caribbean island be enlisted into

8 Elena Martínez

the United States military? Puerto Ricans have had a unique relationshipwith the United States since 1898. The passing of the Jones-Shafroth Actin Congress on March 2, 1917 imposed U.S. citizenship on Puerto Ricanswhich facilitated the recruitment of Puerto Ricans into the military. Sincethis happened right before the U.S. entered into World War I, was it toprovide more eligible men for the armed services? Scholar José Cabranesstates that “U.S. citizenship wasn’t a prerequisite for conscription into thearmed forces” (Cabranes: 16).2 But then why include the issue of citizen-ship into legislation at this time? For years the Bureau of Insular Affairs ofthe U.S. had attempted to amend previous legislation such as the ForakerAct and grant citizenship to Puerto Ricans hoping it would end their dis-satisfaction with the colonial administration (Cabán: 198). The UnitedStates also realized it might soon enter the conflict in Europe (the U.S.eventually declared war on Germany on April 6th), so it needed to affirmits control over Puerto Rico since the island would be a key element in thedefense strategy of the Caribbean (Ayala: 57). Congressman Henry AllenCooper of Wisconsin summed it up at a Congressional Hearing for theJones Act:

We are never to give up Porto Rico (sic) for, now that we havecompleted the Panama Canal, the retention of the islandbecomes very important to the safety of the land, and in that wayto the safety of the nation itself. It helps to make the Gulf ofMexico an American lake. I again express my pleasure that thisbill grant to this people citizenship (Maldonaldo-Denis: 106).

Whatever the reason, when the Selective Service Act of 1917 waspassed two months after the Jones Act, men on the island became eligiblefor conscription. Nearly 2,000 Puerto Rican men were sent to Panama—these were for the strategic defense purposes thought necessary by many inCongress. However, a total of 17,855 actually served in World War I—andnot just in the Caribbean (Cabán: 202).

So 18 musicians from Puerto Rico sailed to New York and were enlist-ed in the 15th Infantry Regiment. In his memoirs Noble Sissle recountsthe obstacles encountered by them such as a climate radically differentfrom their homeland and the language barrier. But musically, they contin-ued to excel. The regimental band played a concert at the ManhattanCasino and were reviewed in The New York Age by critic Lester Waltonwho was extremely impressed by them. He commented, the “dozen ormore Porto Ricans who made up the reed section they cannot be excelled”(Walton: 6).

On July 15, 1917, National Guard troops were mustered into federalservice. So in early 1918, the regiment sailed for France and was the firstAfrican-American military unit to ever land in Europe (Harris: 152).Under orders from General John Pershing, the commander of the U.S.

From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy 9

forces, and following the War Department’s segregation policy, Blackswere not allowed to fight with the White U.S. Army. As there were notenough Black regiments to form their own division, the 15th Infantry was“temporarily detached” from the U.S. Army and were put under the com-mand of the French Army as part of the 16th Division. They were nowcalled the 369th Regiment (Shack: 20). The regiment soon gained thename, “Hellfighters,” for their prowess in battle, and became one of themost decorated on the European Front, even getting the French Croix deGuerre. The musicians in the regimental band did not actually fightbecause customarily band members act as stretcher bearers in theAmbulance Corps. But the band (by this time in France it included 44members) gained its own recognition as it is credited with introducing jazzand ragtime to the European continent. The music that heralded jazz hadprobably been played in Paris before, but the 369th Regiment band intro-duced this music to the French working class (Harris: 155). In 1917, theband played in 25 French cities, performing for both French civilians andAllied soldiers who were at first astonished and then entranced by themusic they heard. It was basically ragtime music designated for marchingand not considered jazz (they didn’t improvise which is a major feature ofjazz) but the music contained many jazz-like elements—“breaks, riffs, andtrombone smears” (Ward and Burns: 68).

After serving 10 months in France and 191 days under fire—thelongest time spent by any U.S. regiment during the war (Badger: 36), the369th U.S. Infantry Regiment triumphantly returned to the United Stateswhere they were the first African-Americans to march down FifthAvenue. A smaller version of the 369th U.S. Infantry band began record-ing for the Pathé label in May 1919 and toured briefly until James ReeseEurope was murdered by one of his drummers after a concert in Boston.Following this unfortunate tragedy, the group disbanded and the musicianshad to strike out on their own. Although the register for the recordingshave been lost, historian Reid Badger writes that some of the Puerto Ricanmusicians were involved including, Rafael (who had been a sergeant inthe band during the war), his brother, Pocholo, Eligio Rojas, AntonioGonzalez, and Arturo Ayala (Badger: 237). So of the four trombonists inthe recording sessions, one was likely Rafael. Tim Gracyk writing aboutthe recordings comments, “One solo moment deserves our special atten-tion. It is the trombone break at the end of ‘Memphis Blues.’ These twoswift bars reveal a melodic swinging improviser who is fully in commandof his horn” (Gracyk: 28). Could this have been Rafael?

James Reese Europe’s decision to bring musicians back from PuertoRico, many of whom would settle in New York City after the war, wouldchange the face of New York’s and Latin America’s music scene forever.Unfortunately with the exception of Ruth Glasser’s book on Puerto Ricanmusicians in New York City between the world wars, the future of the

10 Elena Martínez

From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy 11

musicians of the 369th and their service during the war is left out entire-ly or treated as a footnote in most historical accounts of the regiment(Shack, 2001; Nelson, 2009; Burns, 2001). The one place where there ismore than a passing reference to them is in Nobel Sissle’s memoirs fromhis time with the regiment; however his account tends to be patronizingtowards the Puerto Rican recruits. Sissle and these later writers who domention some of the musicians by name never explain their later signifi-cance. e—for instance, Rafael Hernández, for instance, achieved interna-tional fame, at a level on a par with that of Nobel Sissle.

Musical Career in New York and Cuba

Between the two World Wars, as New York’s Puerto Rican communitywas rapidly growing, New York was becoming the world’s capital for allthings related to the music industry: recording, sheet music, piano rolls,and radio. The late 1920s and early 1930s also saw the rise of theatershows, movies, and variety shows organized by professional promoters.Puerto Rican musicians found a welcoming environment in which tomake their own music—plena, danza, seis, aguinaldo—as well as to play inthe many Cuban ensembles gaining popularity. Scholar Ruth Glasser,states that “New York City gave birth to the golden age of Puerto Ricansmall-ensemble music” (Glasser 1995:130). Nonetheless, the Puerto Ricansongs that were classics among the migrants were not played outside of thecommunity, whereas Cuban musical styles would ultimately became themost popular Latin American musical import.

Into this milieu in February 1919 Rafael settled in New York City.While he wanted to continue a career in music, when he couldn’t find gigshe began working in a factory which made screws and bolts. But he soonfound work with the Harlem stride pianist Luckey Roberts. In 1921 he wasoffered the job to direct the orchestra of the Teatro Fausto in Havana andwent to Cuba. There he composed songs that would become part of hiscelebrated repertoire such as, Capullito de alelí and the guaracha entitled,Cachita. The latter is an example of the universality of his music as Rafaeldidn’t limit his songs to a Puerto Rican themes only. “Cachita” has manyassociations with Cuba. The title is the nickname for the Virgin of Charity(La Caridad del Cobre), the patron saint of Cuba, who is also associatedwith the West African deity, Ochún in the Yoruba religion known asSantería in Cuba. Ochún is often represented as a sexy woman, andCachita is also a slang term for a flirtatious woman. In this song Cachitaloves to dance to the Cuban rumba and the sound of the percussion.

By 1925 he was back in New York City and worked as an accompanistfor the tenor Francisco Quiñones. In 1926 he organized his own trio—with the legendary Manuel “Canario” Jímenez as first voice, SalvadorIthier as second voice, and Rafael himself as the first guitar. TrioBorinquen (the indigenous name for the island of Puerto Rico), as they

were called, recorded for the Columbia label. Canario left the group aftera few recordings (in later years he would popularize the Puerto Ricanplena). When Canario left Rafael replaced him with the Dominican singerAntonio Mesa. In 1928 the group made their first visit to Puerto Rico andlater traveled to the Dominican Republic to perform where they calledthemselves Trio Quisqueya (the indigenous name for the DominicanRepublic) to appeal to local crowds.

Lamento Borincano

In 1927, Rafael started a music store with his sister, Victoria. The leg-end has it that the song Lamento borincano, considered to be his mostfamous work, was composed there. According to Rafael:

. . . Un día en que se está bruja y llueve mucho, uno de mis compañerostenía una botella de ron de Puerto Rico, A medida que nos pasábamos labotella, se agolpaban los recuerdos de nuestra islita y nuestras mentes vola-ban a los soleadas playas de la tierra distante. Las palmeras y todas las cosasbellas de allá. Se no aparecían ese día como la imagen del Paraíso. La nos-talgia de esta fría tarde de tristeza atraía mis dedos hacia el piano casi des-mantelado que había en el rincón y comencé a tocar la melodía del“Lamento borincano” (Rico Salazar: 191).

[One rainy day one of my friends had a bottle of rum from PuertoRico. After passing around the bottle, the memories of our belovedisland accumulated and our minds flew to thoughts of the sunny beach-es ion our distant land - t. The palm trees and all of the beautiful thingsfrom there. That day it felt like an image of Paradise. The nostalgia ofthat cold day, full of sadness, caused my fingers to play on the piano inthe corner, to practically dismantle it, and I began to play the melody ofLamento borincano.]

Canario would became the first of many singers and bands to recordthis song. Composed during the Great Depression, Lamento bborincano,related the tribulations of a poor jíbaro (peasant farmer in Puerto Rico).People here in the U.S., in Puerto Rico, and throughout Latin Americacould relate to the economic hardship described in its verses. Some of itslyrics are:

Pasa la mañana entera sin que nadieThe entire morning goes by and no one

pueda su comprar ¡ay! su carga comprar.can buy his produce.

Todo, todo esta desierto, el puebloThere is nothing but desolation, and the people

esta muerto de necesidad ¡ay! de necesidad.are dying of starvation.

Se oye este lamento por doquier

12 Elena Martínez

From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy 13

The lament can be heard throughouten mi desdichado Borinquen, sí.

my unfortunate Puerto Rico, yes.Y triste, el jibarito va llorando así,

And this sad and forlorn jibarito goes crying like this,pensando así, diciendo así por el camino:

thinking like this, saying this as he walks down the road“¿Qué será de Borinquen mi Dios querido?

“What will become of Puerto Rico my dear God?¿ Qué será de mis hijos y de mi hogar.?”

What will become of my children and my home?”

During this time Puerto Rican musicians based in New York City com-posed some of the songs that are now considered standards in the reper-toire of Latin American popular music and have become unofficialanthems among the Puerto Rican community, such as Lamento Borincano

Rafael and Victoria Hernández.Courtesy of Mike Amadeo.

by Hernández and Sin Bbandera by Pedro Flores. Music historian JorgeJavaríz comments upon their music: “The bulk of what we call popularPuerto Rican music was written and recorded in New York. Puerto Rico isthe only Latin American country whose popular music was mainly creat-ed on foreign soil. The curious thing about this phenomenon is that it wasprecisely in those years that the popular Puerto Rican song became morePuerto Rican than it has ever been before or since” (Glasser 1995:90).

Later Musical Career

In 1930, Rafael made his first trip to Mexico (though sources have var-ious dates for his trips back and forth to Mexico). He would end up livingthere off and on until the mid-1940s. At the end of 1931, he returned toNew York City and organized Grupo Hernández to accompany Pilar Arcoson recordings. He then started a band called Grupo (or at times Cuarteto)Victoria, named in honor of his sister, and they made their first recordingin 1933 on Victor Records. This band included Davilita as the first voice,Rafael Rodríguez as the second voice, Francisco Lopez Cruz as the first gui-tar and Rafael as second guitar.

In 1935, Rafael returned to Mexico and it is during this time that hecomposed some other of his most famous songs, such as El cumbanchero,Amor ciego, and Noche y dia. During this time he also worked in Mexicancinema during its “Golden Age” providing music for many films and alsoappearing in three which starred Mexican comedian, Cantínflas: Aguila osol (1937); El gendarme desconocido (1941), which also featured fellowPuerto Rican Mapy Cortés; and Carnaval en el trópico (1942).

In 1939, he was again back in New York City and he added vocalistMyrta Silva (she had been the singer in Sonora Matancera in Cuba andwas replaced by Celia Cruz) to Grupo Victoria, and a young Bobby Capóto replace Davilita. In 1940, Rafael returned to Mexico, married MariaPerez and had four children with her. In 1947, he settled in Puerto Ricowhere he lived out the remainder of his life. The Governor of Puerto RicoLuis Muñoz Marín would later name him the Director de la Sinfonieta andhe also worked as the Musical Consultant for WIPR. He passed away onDecember 11, 1965 in the Puerto Nuevo Hospital de Veteranos de SanPatricio. Of the many renowned composers in Latin America, he is amongthe top three with Agustín Lara (Mexico) and Ernesto Lecuona (Cuba).Of these he was the most prolific with more than 2,000 songs, as well asthe most versatile, composing songs in Puerto Rican styles of the plena anddanza, as well as the Cuban genres of bolero, guarachas, son, and rumba(Díaz Ayala 2000: 244).

Victoria Hernández and the Music Store

With a life full of so much traveling from Europe in World War I, laterto Mexico and Cuba, where does Rafael fit in the history of The Bronx?

14 Elena Martínez

Rafael has a direct connection to a music store named Casa Amadeo onProspect Avenue in The Bronx. But the story of Casa Amadeo actuallybegins in East Harlem. After being discharged from the U.S. military fol-lowing World War I, Rafael along with his sister, Victoria, and other fam-ily members settled in New York City. In 1927, after working as a seam-stress in a factory and teaching embroidery to the daughters of Cuban fam-ilies, Victoria bought a storefront for $500 and opened AlmacenesHernández (a.k.a the Hernández Music Store), in East Harlem, at 1735Madison Avenue. According to Victoria it was the first Puerto Rican-owned music store in New York City: “Yo fuí la primera puertorriqueñaque puse un negocio de discos de música. . .la única tienda de música puer-torriqueña”/ I was the first Puerto Rican woman that owned a music busi-ness. . . the only store of Puerto Rican music (Interview with Glasser,3/21/89). To accommodate her growing business, Bartolo Alvarez, musi-cian and founder of the Casa Latina music store, remembers: “Victoriamoved the store from there because she had a very small store and she hada piano in the back because she was a music teacher. She moved to a big-ger store at 1724 Madison Avenue” (Interview with Martínez, 2001).

Besides selling records and giving piano lessons, Victoria served as abooking agent for many Puerto Rican musicians and acted as a liaisonbetween the major record companies and the Latino community–the largecompanies felt the small business owners would be more in touch with thepreferences of their community and therefore better arbiters of what wouldsell. Unlike the large megastores of today, music stores served many otherpurposes, other than the selling of records. They were hangouts for musi-cians and were places where bandleaders could find instrumentalists.According to historian Virginia Sánchez Korrol:

As a business venture, the small music store spread quickly throughoutthe colonia hispana and came to symbolize the Latin settlements as thecandy store had characterized other ethnic immigrant neighborhoods.Emanating from these establishments the rhythms of el Son, la Guaracha,Puerto Rican Plenas and Aguinaldos combined with the romantic Bolerosand Danzas to serenade the Spanish-speaking neighborhoods day andnight, nurturing a continuation of vital cultural expression rooted inPuerto Rico and Spanish America (Sánchez Korrol 1993: 80-81).

In this emerging music and recording industry, local music stores playedan important role. For instance, the Spanish Music Center in East Harlemwas opened in 1934 by Puerto Rican Gabriel Oller. He sold recordings,pianola rolls and guitars. In the back of his store he recorded the music ofneighborhood tríos and cuartetos for Dynasonic label, the first PuertoRican-owned recording company (Salazar 1980: 91). Later in 1949, whenCasa Latina on 110th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem was boughtby the Puerto Rican musician Bartolo Alvarez, it too had many roles in the

15From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy

music industry. The store sold music and instruments and in 1950 Bartolofounded Alba, where pianist Charlie Palmieri first recorded as a band-leader with the band Carlos Palmieri y su Conjunto, and later RivalRecords, which recorded some of the most popular artists at the timeincluding the Puerto Rican singer Davilita.

Victoria also was involved in the recording, producing, and marketingof numerous records. In the same year she bought the store, Victoria start-ed a record label called Hispano. Victoria remembers, “Fuimos losprimeros puertorriqueños que hicimos discos. Grabamos dos veces.”/Wewere the first Puerto Ricans that made records. We recorded two times.(Interview with Glasser, 5/11/89) The label produced records by LosDiablos de la Plena and Las Estrellas Boricuas which recorded Rafael’sfamous song, Pura Flama (Pure Flame). Unfortunately, although therecords sold well, she had to close the company when her bank went bank-rupt at the start of the Depression in 1929.

The store helped financially support Victoria’s family and gave Rafaeltime to write music. Victoria supplemented the family’s income by givingpiano lessons (her students included two young neighborhood boys whowould later become internationally known Latin music performers—TitoPuente and Joe Loco). Rafael wrote and played his music in the back ofthe store. Though Victoria was an accomplished musician, she dedicatedherself to the business aspect of the industry; at that time being a businessowner was more respectable than being a musician, especially for women.In Victoria’s case, it may have also been her calling. She remembers sell-ing fruit to her neighbors as a young girl, “Yo siempre he sido comerciantede chiquita. . . Desde ocho años yo vendí todos que lo encontraba”/ I hadalways been a commercially-minded as a child. . . Since I was eight yearsold I sold everything I could find (Interview with Glasser, 3/21/89). Shewas one of the only women playing a role in this early music scene as wellas being one of approximately sixteen women, or .5% of the Puerto Ricanfemale migrant population, who supervised or owned their own business-es in the mid-1920s according to historian Virginia Sánchez Korrol(1996). Ironically, Bartolo Alvarez said he was inspired to become a musi-cian at the age of fourteen when he started stopping by AlmacenesHernández and listening to Rafael Hernández play music (Interviews withCarp 1994; Martínez 2001).

In addition to running Almacenes Hernández, Victoria served as amanager for Rafael’s group, Cuarteto Victoria, organizing tours and record-ing dates. Her role as a booking agent extended to serving as intermediarybetween representatives from record labels such as Victor and Decca, andthe musicians the companies were seeking to record. Bandleaders wouldalso contact her looking for musicians and other necessities, “[Xavier]Cugat me llamaba para buscar músicos y me llamaba para que le mandaramaracas y mandar palitos.”/ Cugat called me to find musicians and called

16 Elena Martínez

me to send for maracas and claves (3/21/89). Victoria, in this capacity,became known to musicians as La Madrina (“the Godmother”).

In 1939. Victoria and Rafael sold the music store Hernández to LuisCuevas, another entrepreneur and record producer from Puerto Rico, andmoved to Mexico. After a failed business venture, Victoria moved back toNew York and settled in The Bronx in 1940, in the vanguard of a similarpath soon to be followed by many other Puerto Ricans who would migratefrom the island to East Harlem and then to The Bronx. In 1941, sheopened Casa Hernández at 786 Prospect Avenue on the first floor of theManhanset building, where she continued to sell music and clothes andgive piano lessons. She lived on the third floor of this apartment buildingand when he visited New York, Rafael would stay there.

When one walked through the door of Casa Hernández, the left side ofthe store had merchandise cases filled with music and instruments, and alistening booth where patrons could listen to the latest 78s; to the right,dresses lined the wall. This eclectic assortment of wares was not uncom-mon. It wasn’t until the late 1940s that music shops became more special-

Mike Amadeo in front of Casa Amadeo, ca. 2000.Photo by Martha Cooper/City Lore.

ized in their wares.This inventory was reflected in Casa Hernández by thepainted lettering that remained until recently above the front door,“Novedades” (Novelties). Victoria’s decision to include clothing amongher wares reflects another aspect of the Puerto Rican migration experi-ence—how women migrants made their living in the garment industry.3

Victoria continued to give piano lessons to budding musicians in theneighborhood, though she came to rely on selling her dresses more thanthe music. In 1965, when Rafael died, Victoria lost interest in the businessand turned over management of the store to her friend Johnny Cabán(Martínez 2000). Later in life Victoria married Puerto Rican entrepreneur,Gabriel Oller, who had opened the Spanish Music Center. She died inTrujillo Alto, Puerto Rico in 1998 and was buried in her brother’s tomb inthe Old San Juan Cemetery.

In 1969, the store was bought by the composer/musician Mike Amadeowho still owns it today. Miguel Angel Amadeo Rodríguez was born in 1934and moved with his mother and brother from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, toNew York City in 1947. As a teenager he had worked in Casa Latina inEast Harlem, and later he was manager at Casalegre, down the block fromCasa Hernández, which was owned by Bartolo Alvarez’s nephew, AlSantiago, giving him experience in the business side of the music. But heis also a prominent bolero composer in his own right (he began writingsongs at the age of 15) and many well known musicians have recorded hiscompositions including Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Pachito Riset, SantitosColón, and El Gran Combo. He is the son of another important PuertoRican composer, Alberto “Titi” Amadeo (and ironically Titi’s most popu-lar composition was a bolero called, Adorada Iillusion which was recordedby Cuarteto Victoria in the 1930s). Mike is considered “the most impor-tant Puerto Rican composer living in New York” (Salazer: 214).

During the mambo era of the 1950s, every weekend hundreds of peopleflocked to The Bronx on its many subway lines, to listen to the sounds ofLatin music, or individuals from the local community walked to the near-est bars and clubs to listen to their favorite bands. Today, The Bronx is stillconsidered the “Borough of Salsa.” Through the years, due to the changesin the neighborhoods and troubles in the borough during the 1970s and1980s that is referred to as “the burning of The Bronx,” most of thesevenues have been razed, stand empty or have been renovated into otherstructures (office space or churches). Casa Amadeo is the only place thathas remained at its original site and stands as a testament oft the borough’smusical history.

Though he changed the name of the store, Mike kept some featuresfrom the days when Victoria owned it: the awning reads “Casa Amadeo,antigua [formerly] Casa Hernández,” and some of the original merchandisecases are still in the store. In 2003, Casa Amadeo was nominated to the

18 Elena Martínez

National Register of Historic Places. It was the first time a Puerto Ricansite from the mainland was added to the National Register. Casa Amadeoalso retains an active role in the Latin music scene. Musicians still callsearching for songs, or if they are in the area they stop by to just talk orplay some songs with Mike (musicians from the neighborhood or thosevisiting from Puerto Rico like members of El Gran Combo, and even localpoliticians may drop by and sing a song while Mike plays the guitar). Mikefeels a loyalty to the neighborhood, not just by having a presence there,but by helping other community organizations. For many years he helped52 People for Progress with their annual summer series of Latin music con-certs by helping to organize a concert of trios at a nearby park.

Casa Amadeo and its history mirror the Puerto Rican experience inNew York City and especially The Bronx from the store’s opening in the1940s, just prior to the great postwar Puerto Rican migration to the main-land. The jobs that were available to them, the obstacles they had to over-come and the music that defined them and helped them get through it all.While the media called The Bronx a symbol of urban decay, it continuedto provide a context of musical and cultural creativity. It stands as a sym-bol of New York’s legacy to Latin music, a cultural expression that devel-oped here, yet has eclipsed its New York City origins. Latin music is nowa worldwide phenomenon and one of this century’s most influential pop-ular music. And the store’s historical trajectory began when a young musi-cian, Rafael Hernández, musically trained in the island’s tradition of ban-das municipales, decided to enlist in a very special regimental band.

! ! !

[Thank you to Bobby Sanabria and Alberto Hernández for their help inthe creation of this article.]

From Puerto Rico to France to the South Bronx: Rafael Hernandez & His Legacy 19

NOTES1 Every source lists a different number of recruits from Puerto Rico. Noble

Sissle’s memoir states Europe “enlisted fifteen of the best Porto Rican musicians”(51); whereas a document from the James Reese Europe Collection at theSchomburg Manuscript Collection lists 18 musicians; while the ship manifests onthe Ellis Island Passenger Search, ellisisland.org, also lists 18 musicians arriving onat least three different ships but a couple of names are different from the documentin the Schomburg collection. According to the Ellis Island passenger manifeststhey came in three groups to New York. The first group came on board the SSCaracas along with Europe on May 5, 1917, and were enlisted the same day theyarrived in New York City, May 11th. The second group included Rafael Hernándezand his brother along with Eligio Rojas and they arrived July 23rd. The last grouphad Duchesne (the nephew), Cruz, and Sánchez and arrived on August 6th aboardthe SS Brazos.

2 According to Cabranés, the Jones Act did not affect the issue of Puerto Ricansand the draft, because conscription never had anything to do with citizenship.“Aliens” were drafted into service in the Civil War, the Spanish-Cuban-AmericanWar etc. In the Gonzales v. Williams case (1904), it conceded that Puerto Ricanswere allowed entry into the United States and couldn’t be deported. This rulingalso stated that they could be drafted into the regular army. However, scholarEfrén Rivera Ramos feels Cabranes may overstate his case and comments: “If notconscription, certainly. . . strategic preoccupations figured principally among theconsiderations borne in mind by American decision-makers” (147).

3 There weren’t many options open to women for work, but domestic help andneedlework employed large numbers of the migrants. Needlework of various kindsand lace making has a long history in Puerto Rico and after World War I becameespecially important when there was a halt to the export of these materials fromEurope. In the 1920s, Puerto Rican women became a major segment of the gar-ment industry’s labor force.They replaced the jobs that were once held largely byJewish and Italian women in the trades of dressmaking, accessories and children’sclothing (Ortíz 1996: 58). Needlework of various kinds and lace making has a longhistory in Puerto Rico and after World War I became especially important whenthere was a halt to the export of these materials from Europe.Not only did many ofthese women work as seamstresses in factories but, as in Puerto Rico, many workedat home doing piecework where they could supplement their family’s income whilealso taking care of domestic duties (Boris 36; Sánchez Korrol 1996: 59).

20 Elena Martínez

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