Salsa Rising by Flores Juan;

Author:Flores, Juan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIGURE 20 The Lebrón Brothers, ca 1968. John Storm Roberts Collection, Photos and Prints Division, Schomburg Center, New York Public Library.

Though they are not generally disposed to raise the issue, their marginalization within the music industry might well have something to do with their racial identity and humble social origins, as they were at no point included within the Fania family, even as “poor relations.” As Izzy Sanabria reflected on the Lebrón Brothers in a 1979 article, “The Lebron Brothers were a reflection of that time. Dark-skinned and bi-lingual, they represented the Rican with an afro. The Rican that was caught between two worlds, ‘Black’ and ‘Latin.’ The very things that made them successful, their funk and feeling, held them back and made them undesirable in certain clubs. . . . The Lebron Brothers never conformed to the standards of club owners who resented the prietos (Blacks) con afros.”21 Some of this experience may find expression in their highly popular song from 1982, whose title tells it all: “Sin Negros No Hay Guaguancó.” Interestingly, the song’s lyrics include in their naming of the Afro-based musical genres not only the Cuban rumba guaguancó but Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena as well. In any case, the deep irony of the Lebrón Brothers is that as early proponents of the word “salsa” to describe the music, they barely even draw a mention in the master narrative of salsa history.

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